I.

Social Issue Definition and Description

1. What is the social issue of your choice?
The social issue we selected for this project is sexual objectification of women.
2. What is the problem?
Sexual objectification occurs when a womans body or body parts are singled out and
separated from her as a person and she is viewed primarily as a physical object of male
sexual desire (Bartky, 1990). The issue mainly originated from the gender stereotype from a
long time ago. There are multiple standards from society to judge women. Besides, women
are always thought as lower than men in all kinds of way.
Evidence of sexual objectification can be find everywhere. For example, it is easy to see
advertisements and media that use womens body to get attention, where males are always
stand at the dominating position, and females are portrayed as conquered objects. The
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has ever teased Democratic candidate
Hillary Clinton in public, saying that if she cant satisfy her husband, what makes her think
she can satisfy America. This phenomenon is not limited in the U.S., but all over the world.
When there are standards of body shape, women may go on a diet. When a woman gets older,
her families and friends will arrange blind dates for her.
3. Why is it a problem?
The objectification of women has been taken for granted as normal. We do not even
realize how much it hurts women.
4. Who is affected by the problem?
First, women are affected by this problem. Fredrickson and Roberts (1997) asserted that
women in varying degrees internalize this outsider view and begin to self-objectify by
treating themselves as an object to be looked at and evaluated on the basis of appearance.
They also mentioned that self-objectification may lead to disordered eating, depression,
and sexual dysfunction. Actually, everyone in our society is affected by the problem. We do
not realize that we keep hurting women.
5. How serious is the problem?
A series of research (Swim, Cohen, & Hyers, 1998; Swim, Hyers, Cohen, & Ferguson,
2001) in the United States found that 94% of undergraduate women reported meeting sexual
objectification comments and behaviors at least once a semester. Other researchers found that
other samples of women also experienced sexual objectification (Hill & Fischer, 2008; Kozee
& Tylka, 2006; Kozee et al., 2007; Moradi, Dirks, & Matteson, 2005). All racial women
reported similar levels of interpersonal sexual objectification experience (for a review, see
Moradi & Huang, 2008). In addition, womens sexual objectification experiences have been
empirically linked to adverse psychological outcomes, including self-objectification, habitual
body monitoring, body shame, internalization of the thin ideal, lowered introspective
awareness, and disordered eating among both lesbian and heterosexual women (Hill &
Fischer, 2008; Kozee & Tylka, 2006; Kozee et al., 2007; Moradi, Dirks, & Matteson, 2005).

What makes it worse is that a lot of women also experience more extreme forms of
sexual objectification via actual sexual victimization (i.e., rape, sexual assault, and sexual
harassment; Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997). For example, research indicates that one in four
women have been victims of rape or attempted rape, and more than half of college women
have experienced some type of sexual victimization (Fisher, Cullen, & Turner, 2000;
White, Donat, & Bondurant, 2001).
II. Media Content and Effects
1. What has been salient themes in the media coverage of the issue?
All the sexual objectification media coverages have a salient theme, which is women are
objects that can be judged by standards. In our previous project, we have done the media
analysis on a print ad called The Ultimate Attraction, created by German luxury automobile
manufacturing company BMW in 2002. The message from the ad typically represents the
stereotype that males are attracted to sexy women and women are objectified as the BMW
cars.
The phenomenon is so prevalent and has been intensified around the world in recent
years, where women are primarily objectified as commodities of male sexual desire without
regard to their personalities or dignities. In recent China, there are multiple social media
trends of challenges such as A4 waist, iPhone 6 legs, Coin collar bone, and pens under breast.
All of the hashtags of these trends ran to the top of most Chinese popular social media. The
trends all objectify women, compare them as a commodity, and judge them by external
appearance. The most influential one is A4 waist challenge, which asserts that only a girl
whose waist is equal or less than the width of a standard A4 sheet of paper will she be
considered as slim.
Apart from the challenge trends, another phenomenon which reflects the severity of the
sexual objectification issue is blind dating. When women get older and are no longer pretty,
their value will be depreciated. In China, these women are named as leftover women or
Sheng nv, who are single and born in seventies (1970s). There is a popular Chinese reality
show called If You Are The One, where a man is surrounded by a group of women, and
start a blind dating. These women have to try their best to show their excellence, in order to
attract the mens attention. On the contrary, the male has over ten options to pick any one of
them. A large number of women attend the show in order to find a boyfriend, and wish
themselves no longer be described as leftover women (aka. Sheng nv). With the
prevalence of If You Are The One, more and more similar reality show appeared on
Chinese television, aiming to solve the leftover women problem in China.
2. What has been emphasized, omitted, or distorted?
In all sorts of media and daily life, we emphasize that women should be judged by the
same standards. Media consider womens bodies as attraction and define the standards of
beauty for them. The message omitted from the media is that society not only forgets to
encourage women to be themselves, but also neglects a woman based on their own
personality and dignity. The distorted message is that all women are just objects. When

women get older and no longer keep beautiful appearance, their value depreciates in the
culture.
3. What has been the effects of exposure to such media content?
We mentioned the recent trends of sorts of challenges above. Because media emphasizes
the importance of womens appearance and figure too much, most of the women dont realize
the essence that these behaviors objectify and distort themselves, but follow the trends. A
large group of Chinese girls are showing off their slim waists behind a sheet of paper on
different social media platforms in China, stirring up a crazy and misleading trend among not
only Chinese but even worldwide women to lose weight, in order to become as slim as a A4
paper. At the same time, women themselves have been gradually omitting their other
characteristics, such as talent and intelligence, but trying to make themselves much more
beautiful to satisfy others.
Besides, the prevalence of blind dating also impacts women a lot. Due to the overexposure to such media content in current society, almost everyone start to judge women
through her age, appearance, and figures. Women also begin to judge themselves in the same
way. Recently, the Japanese cosmetic brand SK-II released its latest campaign
#changedestiny, which thoroughly described the phenomenon of leftover women in China.
In the campaign, most of Chinese women are under the pressure of being unmarried in their
late twenties or beyond. They are depressed, frustrated, and devalue themselves when being
described as leftover women. There is an interviewee talking about a womans experiences,
You become a subject that people talk about, and you get so much social pressure. The
former part of the video ends with the daughter going on blind dates, in order to be out of the
pressure from her parents and friends.
III. Media Literacy Education: Media Analysis
1. What will you do to address the realism (and its subdimensions including typicality) of
media depiction?
As our research and media coverage indicate, sexual objectification is typical around the
world. All over the world, women are more dedicated to pursue beauty as a result of sexual
objectification.
2. What will you do to address behavioral outcome beliefs presented in the media as
compared to the reality?
A lot of media chooses to organize the messages and presents the view by assimilating
the objects to women. Some of the media even gains profits from it. According to the first
person perception theory, people are more likely to believe and accept that positive media
messages influence themselves, but do not affect the third person. Thus male would be
pleased to accept the media portrayal when media messages build a powerful and dominating
male image. As we have analyzed in our previous project, males would be glad to see the
BMW male-dominating ad and purchase the car. In this way, male media consumers become
the main power to make female sexual objectification popular and widespread.

Since female sexual objectification has already become a common belief in our society,
people usually use it to judge others behaviors. It does not only allow males to leverage their
power, but also push women to look down upon themselves. Due to the stereotypes formed
for such a long time, women also began to accept sexism, which means men should always
be powerful because they are in the dominant position. At the same time, women have been
gradually getting used to depicting themselves as submissive. Like what the society thinks
of women, everyone including women themselves, also starts to admit the prejudice and
discrimination based on a persons sex and gender.
IV. Media Literacy Education: Media Production
1. What will you do to address perceived desirability and wishful identification?
Our media production will use present materials which present the idea that women
should choose their own value instead of being judged by others. We plan to use
#A4waistsucks campaign and the advertisement of SK-II. In U.S., a group of people activated
the campaign #A4waistsucks, calling on the action to resist the challenge of sexual
objectification. It encourages women to be themselves. A paper cannot determine their value.
Even if a womans waist does not fit an A4 sheet, she is still unique in the world. Her unique
beauty should not be judged by standards. Another example is SK-II #changedestiny
campaign. It describes the situation of leftover women in China. But at the end of the
campaign, it concluded with a positive outcome. An interview expressed that even if Im
alone, I will be happy, confident, and have a good life. Even if being described as leftover
women, there is another term called powerful women, which means women can have
great careers. The campaign mainly expressed that a womans values should not be judged by
marriage or her age. It encourages women to overcome sexiest pressures and to celebrate
independent women everywhere.
First, these two examples address the situations all women faced. Not every woman in the
world has A4 waist because everyone is different. If a woman is as tall as 1.7m, it is really
hard for her to have a A4 waist. For SK-II advertisement, every woman will reach to a certain
age that and face the problem if they are single. In both two media materials, women finally
choose to be themselves and they gain true happiness from being themselves.
Everyone wants to be happy. This is the desire our production created. Also the media
materials emphasize that the more women join the campaign and take action the more
possible to change the whole society.
2. What will you do to address normative beliefs?
Our media education will make use of normative beliefs to influence women. As the
Integrated Model of Behavioral Prediction (IMBP) theory states, normative beliefs are beliefs
about what others think. It means what others think will influence an individuals intention
and behaviors. In China, there are some crazy and misleading trends of different challenges,
like #A4waist and these trends even spread to different countries. Women began to follow the
trend because they believe the values media portray are correct. On the contrast, we can also
use media campaigns to spread correct values. Actually, some people have already done this

to change others values, like #A4waistsucks and SK-IIs #changedestiny. These two
examples are also our media education materials.
3. What will you do to address action efficacy, self-efficacy, and/or collective efficacy? SRRM
According to Societal Risk Reduction Motivation Model (SRRM), media coverage can
prevent tragedy in common. It requires both individuals and society as a whole to make
changes. As SRRM states, action efficacy refers to the belief in the action effectiveness and
efficiency in reducing the societal risk under consideration. When it works as a societal-level
concept, the action efficacy concerns the outcome of adopting a societal risk-reducing action.
The women in SK-IIs video have already proven that they are able to choose what they want,
and they can achieve their own happiness and independence even if being unmarried.
Self-efficacy points at individuals belief that they have the abilities to carry out a chosen
course of action. In our material, woman will be able to see that they can take actions just like
the group of women in #A4waistsucks and SK-II campaigns. For this part, we should also
emphasize the message to women that they can take action to be happier and stronger, rather
than obsessed too much by the Sexual Objectification from the society.
Collective efficacy means individuals belief that the larger group, organization, or
community that they belong to is capable of carrying out a chosen course of action. It can
moderate the effect of perceived societal risks on willingness to engage in actions to reduce
the societal risk. When each individual has determined to appeal action for themselves, it is
quite imperative for them to cooperate with each other. Collective efficacy tells us that only
when each individual woman unifies with each other, will they be able to create changes for
the status of women, and reduce the societal risk of sexual objectification. Like what we
educate them in our production part, women unify with each other to create the campaign
#A4waistsucks, to resist the misleading social trends of challenges. For blind dating, so called
leftover women found the other of their advantages such as powerful and independent,
even if they are under the pressure of marriage.
V. Evaluation Plan
The counter message we want to present is that women should not feel terrible or even
comply based on social judgements and lower than men. We aim at creating the media
literacy education program to affect and alter females internal perspective about themselves,
from being submissive to independent and not afraid of being who they are. In order to assess
and evaluate the effects of our education program, we will choose first-year female college
students as our research audience, and do an in-depth interview before and after our research
audience watches our media production. Based on the interview, we will compare how much
their attitudes towards female sexual objectification change. In this way, we can better learn
and understand the sexual objectification media impact on women, and how the media
literacy education change their attitudes.
First, we will show them the problem, such as A4 waist campaign or If You Are The
One, and ask them about their attitudes towards the phenomena, before our research
audience watches #A4waistsucks campaign and SK-II advertisement.

Here are some questions might be asked before asking the research audiences to watch our
media production:
i. What do you think is the value presented in the media?
ii. Do you think if this value is common in your life?
iii. Do you feel yourself want to follow the challenge trends to show your A4 waist or attend
the blind dating?
Here are some questions might be asked after our research audience watch the media
production:
i. What do you think is the value present in the media?
ii. Do you think is there any problem about women in current media and our society?
iii. Based on what you observed, do you want to make any change?
After finishing our interview, we will compare our research audiences attitude changes,
and make the conclusion to see if our media education is effective or not.

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