Can Males be Objectified?

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Can Males be Objectified?

            I’ve heard (to be fair, I guess we’ve ALL heard) about how often women are objectified through the media. And it’s true, I suppose- I just generally don’t pay much attention to it at this point, though I’m not really sure if that’s from desensitization or perhaps just being jaded. Either way, I guess everyone can agree: women are frequently objectified through various means of the media. But our textbook, Critical Media Studies: An Introduction, brings up an interesting point: can males truly be objectified? For this week’s blog, I am going to try and answer this question (or at least express my opinion on it).

            First, let’s look at what the “experts” say. The authors of the textbook don’t necessarily state that its impossible for males to be viewed as purely sexual objects, though they do provide certain reasons as to why one may support this theory. The authors refer to Richard Dyer, who claims that male objectification contains numerous inconsistencies. For example, while a male model may be displayed in a sexually provocative way, he is still usually portrayed in some sort of powerful position, ultimately refusing to be a mere object. The book then uses a photo of Jason Lewis’ Absolut ad as an example. Although Lewis is naked, he still holds the camera’s gaze and commands the viewer’s attention rather than adopting a more passive stance.

Although I suppose this is technically a matter of opinion, I have to say that I wholeheartedly disagree with Dyer. I believe that not only can males be objectified, but that the media is generating more objectified male material than ever before.

When reading this chapter, I couldn’t help but think of the women at my work, particularly last summer. If you’ll recall, the summer of 2012 was when 50 Shades of Grey first become popular, Magic Mike was in theaters, and True Blood was running on HBO. Needless to say, the seemingly bored female office workers’ excitement was palpable. It was nearly impossible to walk through the building without overhearing one of the women mentioning Matthew McConaughey, Channing Tatum, Christian Grey, or Alexander Skarsgard. It’s important to note that the ways in which these women were discussing such actors and characters were entirely sexual in nature. There was no mention of any plotline or character development, just what the women found physically attractive about them. Surely that counts as objectifying males, right?