Blog #25

We live in a society in which undoubtedly, sex will sell. The media and popular culture reinforce that men and women have specific gender roles. Men for instance are expected to be masculine, strong, and protective whereas women are considered to be more passive, weak and of course sexy. Furthermore there are products that define what femininity and masculinity are and as a result those products are sold to us and we buy them with the intent that we will represent that image or that we will achieve that status with the purchase of certain things. If we look at advertisements for clothing, perfume and other things, we often see a woman portrayed as a sexual object. Sexualized behavior in the work place is indeed a ‘weapon in the arsenal’ particularly for women as their physique is something that is a central part of their persona, in our society at least as most of the representations are from the male gaze. When an attractive female lawyer wins a case in court for example, men think that it is sexy because according to the interviews conducted by Holly English, often women that are very attractive become a distraction and are not really taken seriously. Therefore, when males actually witness an intelligent and attractive female lawyer become successful, it is a bonus because she is smart and beautiful. Although a woman’s shape and size should really not be relevant, in the legal field it is. Women have the advantage through their physical assets and features to gain admiration and recognition and it is unfortunate that women have to resort to this because there should not be a double standard but then again the male domination has left them with little recourse. If we imagine that we are a juror in a case getting ready to listen to a closing argument from a male attorney, we anxiously await to see what he is going to say and how he delivers it. However, if a female attorney was in that same position and she was also attractive, we would not necessarily be anxious to hear what she has to say so that we can compare it to her male counterpart but we would pay close attention to her movements, the way she is dressed, how she delivers the message, is she too passive or too aggressive (comparing it to the male) and ultimately, we judge her by how she presents herself, physically as we could have been too distracted to have paid full attention to her closing argument. Unfortunately, the cons to sexualized behavior is that women are continuously accused of using sex to make a gain however the truth is that sexualized behavior is what will capture the most attention, then we will pay attention to anything else she might have to say.