From the beginning of time the female body has been associated with sex. Women have always been objectified, discriminated against, or treated poorly simply because they were women. Even in the earliest civilizations it was understood and unfortunately almost accepted, that women were treated as objects. From classic Renaissance artwork, such as Ceres and Cupid by Vin Aachen to our modern day Dolce & Gabbana advertisements, women were looked upon as being items. Along with the progression of the mass media has come the progression of women being shown in derogatory ways. As we have learned over the time in which the objectifying of women has reached absolutely outrageous heights, not only does this view of women make them out to be objects that men can “have” but also creates a certain susceptibility to violence towards women. It might not have been broadcasted for the world to see, but the dehumanization of women has always been a dark underlying factor in our society and will continue to be until there is a drastic change in the mass media. As John Berger said in his article, Ways of Seeing, “An image could outlast what it represented.”(72)
The mass media can be easily connected with Karl Marx’s theories. Marx’s ideology that there are only two classes of people, the bourgeoisie or the elite class and the proletariat or the working class, is mirrored in the principles of the mass media. In theory, the mass media is the equivalent of the “power elite”, covertly manipulating the beliefs of society to mold to their attitudes. The rest of us, members of the working class, just soundly accept the representations presented to us in the media and continue to live in our world of false consciousness. According to David Croteau and William Hoynes in their article entitled Media and Ideology, “Media sell both products and ideas, both personalities and worldviews, the notion that mass media products and cultural values are fundamentally intertwined has gained broad...