In my lit class we recently read "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl." At one point in the novel, Linda's master threatens her with rape and she decides to get pregnant with the child of another man to prevent her master from taking advantage of her. We discussed in class if her decision to do that was moral or not, and if she even had the opportunity of agency.
As I was thinking about this in relation to the video we watched in class today I started to wonder if the objectification of women in media limits our agency. I don't believe that anyone can completely take away a person's agency, but I do think it can be limited by the poor choices of others.
In the video they discussed how girls don't aspire to positions of power because they don't see other women in those positions. I'm not sure I agree with that logic entirely, but it did make me think about this issue of agency.
I think the idea that the portrayal of women in the media is limiting girls' agency is pretty disturbing. Do you guys think that it does?
Yes, Yes I do. I don't think you can ignore the fact that most of what we think or do is a product of our culture or upbringing. If the Media overwhelming portrays one view of women, it will influence the way we see ourselves. Sure, I'd like to be able to just wake up tomorrow and choose not to be worried about my appearance and my relationships and whether I am good enough, but it's not just that simple. It will take time, considerable effort and divine help to even make progress, because the ideas of the culture are so embedded in all of us. This isn't an excuse, because we can and should rise above those damaging ideologies we are exposed to, but we shouldn't expect people to be able to just choose to be another way.
ReplyDeleteAlso, most of us are lucky because at least we've been exposed to a different way to think about ourselves - that we are daughters of God, that we have inherent worth that cannot be taken away, and that our bodies are sacred. Most girls only have the voices telling them they are objects, that they aren't good enough, that the only thing anyone wants out of them is their body. And unless someone can get through to them with this message, they will never think another way. Their agency is limited. And even then - how often are we told we are daughters of God, yet mostly we still don't act as though we believe it.
Thank you for your comment, Emily! I completely agree! I'm so glad I've had counter messages to what the media says my whole life, but I am still very influenced by the media. It's scary to think about women who haven't had positive messages.
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