Blog Entry 1- Final Draft

After completing additional research and broadening my line of inquiry, I have successfully chosen a topic of which both interests me and should interest you as well. 'From Exploitation to Empowerment': Politicking the Personal > Women in the media. In the beginning stages of my research, I was certain of what topic I wanted to explore, however , I was vague in my line of inquiry. I dibbled and dabbled in different areas, but tried to interrelate them all---the problem however was lack of in-depth research, coherence and relativity. Finally, I have chosen a topic, cohesive with my research, line of inquiry and most importantly my interest. The topic of a woman's sexuality.

The light-bulb finally went off once I started asking myself "Why?" I already knew what interested me, women's sexuality, but I was not aware of "why". Rhetorically, I pondered the "why" factor of such a taboo subject. Why did I care about women's sexuality? Why does it matter, a woman's sexuality? Why would anyone else care about a woman's sexuality? Why is a woman's sexuality important? As I sat in countless English classes, ignoring the significance of asking the "why" question, I was also ignoring the premise of my interest: why did I, a woman, care about women sexuality? More specifically, why would anyone else care about a woman's sexuality? After the "why" question, naturally came the how and the who. How does a woman's sexuality effect society? How is the depiction of a woman's sexuality exploiting to women? How does the depiction of a woman's sexuality in the media effect the stereotypes society place's on women? The "who" factor. Who cares about a woman's sexuality? Who is responsible for depicting a woman's sexuality? Who is the woman behind her sexuality? Who's responsibility is it to depict, advocate and empower the sexuality of a woman? And just like God and later after, Thomas Edison, an inner-voice said, "Let there be light" and my line of inquiry was born.

Specifically, my line of inquiry explores women empowerment through the embrace of their sexuality. My research question: Exploiting or Embraced, soon became Exploiting or Celebrated, to becoming 'From Exploiting to Empowered': Politicking the Personal.' Who knew prepositions could serve a purpose outside of the classroom; in this case the preposition "from" consciously shifts the power of the media in depicting and exploiting a woman's sexuality to the power of women who empower themselves and others through embracing their sexuality. It is a woman's personal responsibility to advocate and own the rights to her sexuality; if she does not embrace the media attention on her sexuality, she allows them to exploit the attention of her sexuality.

It is no secret that women in the media are constant victims/targets of media exploitation, infamously through their sexuality. From advertising to tabloid magazines, the media is responsible for the exploitation of women and prevaricating notion of women's right, or lack thereof. It is the personal responsibility of women, to embrace the empowering nature emphasized on our sexuality and allow it to empower our place in society and in the media---only then are we able to freely and openly express ourselves and advocate the empowering confidence of being a woman. If not, we grant the media and youth culture access to exploiting our sexuality due to the 'embarrassment' or 'fear' of speaking and advocating openly and honestly our sexuality. The purpose of my research was to address the taboo subject of women's sexuality. By embracing ads such as Victoria's Secret, women are able to define and determine their sexuality by their own terms.

My research explored the two contending sides of women in the media: exploitation and empowerment.  As noted in Chyong-Ling's article, Comparing Society's Awareness of Women: Media-Portrayed Idealized Images and Physical Attractiveness; women are easily seen as objects in advertising. Their depiction in ads gives them no place in society, other than the market of attractiveness through their beauty and/or physicality. This in turn places "idealism" and "stereotypes" on women in society; how they should or should not act, their job/responsibility and their subordination. However, the contending side of women in the media: exploitation, is empowerment. 'From Exploitation to Empowerment: Politicking the Personal' advocates a woman's right to freely and openly embrace her sexuality (Women and Sexuality, pg 9). In a woman's embrace of her sexuality, she is able to re-gain control of both her body and life by challenging society's views and determinism upon her sexuality. A recognizable form of women empowered through the embracing of their sexuality in the media is Victoria's Secret. By embracing women's sexuality, we are able to take control, advocate women empowerment and shift the view of women sexuality and empowerment.

As a woman, I feel it is very important that we, as women, do not "shy" away from embracing our sexuality. For as long as we shy away from empowering ourselves through sexual embrace, we allow room for the media to exploit and objectify our place in society in the media; suggesting we are nothing more than mere ideas of objects of affection and desire. It is the personal responsibility of women to identify with and determine their sexuality, if not someone else [media] will.