exploitation in the media

I have thought a lot about this article. It is something that affects me personally, and I can see the truth in what she writes. Although sometimes I feel as if she is going a little bit overboard ("Is the woman in the ad laughing or screaming?" when she is clearly laughing) Some of the other ads are extremely disturbing, such as the little boy looking up the woman's skirt, or the perfume ad. I am routinely reminded of the expectation of men to have power over women; I hear the phrase "pussy-whipped" almost every day, even from men that I consider respectful. Some of the biggest problems that I rememvber were in middle school- I remember the boys in my class rating us from one to ten, there was one that even would go around grabbing girls' butts- he was eventually expelled from sycamore for something involving the sexual harrassment of one of my best friends.
Often times, ads that show the reverse- such as the women staring at the man, etc, are viewed as funny, or feminist because of the objectification of the man. However, as the article states, there is a line to where objectification stops being funny and starts being disturbing, and the line applies to both genders. Unfortunatley, the media seems to put the line in different places for each gender.
Many women might read these ads and immediately target men as the cause of the problem, and men will immediately assume that women will do this, but in truth it is the media that is at fault; and history. In history, men have been the ones in power, and though women are certainly gaining power, the media is resisting by objectifying women and sexualizing them. though it happens with men, it simply happens more often with women.
On the contrary, after reading articles such as this and seeing this type of advertisements, I am continually surprised by how respectful men can be. I am often expecting them to act a certain way and then they don't; and so this type of advertising obviously doesn't affect everyone the way it affects some. That being said, it certainly does affect some- women and men both.
Women are encouraged to be sexual- I see it every day, many girls who lack confidence in their personality or intelligence simply exploit their looks because they are afraid that the other parts of them have no worth. I continually see women accusing each other of being "whorish", or not sexual enough. I see men accusing women of these things- the problem, unfortunately, is much more complicated than "men are pigs" as some women (and men!) will jump to conclusions and say. Each of us is affected by the society we grow up in- sometimes more so than we might think, and sometimes less so. Self-esteem plays a very large role in this; women with more self-esteem are more confident and therefore less "sexual", most of the time. They will put value on their personalities, their intelligence, their gifts, as opposed to their looks. and men will see this and appreciate it. I know for a fact many men that already do. The media needs to begin to encourage women to find that part of them- and men as well- as opposed to putting such weight on physical appearance.