The Effect of Objectification and Sexism on Young Girls

After some incidents regarding myself, my friends, and troubling things, I decided to write an essay on objectification, sexism, and sexualization. As a female, I have experienced all three of these things and decided to try to change issues that affect women everywhere. While I probably will not change the world with this one essay, I can try. These issues are real, and impact girls and women everywhere.

Objectification. A large, frightening word. A word that so well describes some internalized and normalized beliefs in our society. Objectification occurs when a person is treated as an object, rather than a human being. In this case, we are dealing with female objectification. Female objectification is too common in American culture, normalized by sexist beliefs going back millenniums. As stated by the American Psychological Association, objectification can have devastating effects on women, such as eating disorders, depression, and body shame. Sexualization of young girls starts when girls are taught to do things or act a certain way to be more “feminine”. When we do this, we are teaching girls to objectify themselves. The ongoing sexualization of girls leads to lasting mental health issues. Objectification is an internalized, normalized practice that affects almost every female. 

Sexism. Another daily reality of female life that needs to stop. Sexist beliefs go hand in hand with objectification, sexualization, and harassment. Young women who experience sexism are five times more likely to experience clinical depression than women who have not experienced sexism. Sexist beliefs that Math and Science are masculine, and girls need to be feminine discourages women from entering fields of math or science. As young children, girls in leadership roles are called “bossy” and boys in the same position are called “leaders”.  Sexist viewpoints and remarks impact girls and women across the world. Working with objectification, sexism is an internalized and normalized practice that we, as females, experience every day. 

In this essay, I have attempted to sum up these very difficult problems. While I haven’t even begun to summarize these issues, I hope that this essay will change how you view these problems. These issues are very important, and we need to fix them. Thank you for reading my essay.