Annotated Bibliography

Source #1: Stankiewicz, Julie. “Women as Sex Objects and Victims in Print Advertisements.” Sex Roles, vol. 58, no. 2008, pp. 579- 589. doi:10.1007/s11199-007-9359-1

Summary: The article focuses on the sexualization of women, and the portrayal of women as sexual victims within various popular advertisements. Through the analyzation of various topics (women as vitims, violence against women, sexual objectification of women, etc.), the article worked to highlight the extent to which women are simultaneously sexualized and seen as victims within popular advertisements.

Evaluation: As the source is a scientific journal article, it is free of obvious biases that an article of a different form may have. Although, the women who conducted the research are both very credible. Lots of great points and specific research was brought up, but they did not examine men in their research, and this may lead to the article not being fully informed.

Asses: This source is helpful to me in my research because it discusses the way that women are sexualized in pop culture, in advertisements, by brands that we look up to. “The depiction of women as sex objects who are also victims of aggression inculcates the idea that submission is a desirable trait in a woman. Such images speak directly to the hostility toward women that exists within American culture.”

Source #2: Turberville, Taylor. “The Female Justice League: The Misrepresentations of Women in Comic Books.” STYLUS KNIGHTS WRITE SHOWCASE SPECIAL ISSUE vol. 2016, pp. 71-82.

Summary: This article talks about the misrepresentations of female characters in comic books, and how their role contributes to and furthers the sexism out of which it was born.

Evaluation: The source incorporates lots of pictures as support, and connects the observations of these depictions to the way that women are treated in real life. It is a little less professional than other scholarly articles on the subject, but it offers great information.

Asses: This information is helpful because it focuses directly on the representation of women within illustration, which is likely what I am analyzing as my image. “Wonder Woman is not the only heroine whose character reflects male views on women in society. Many female characters were often used to reflect these values. Female villains expressed Figure 1: Ms. Magazine, July 1972. the sentiments of “tricksters” or females that rise to power and exhibit autonomy usually through sexual expression, deception and manipulation. Meanwhile, the heroines properly contain their power by separating their hero work and their everyday lives, thus showing men’s views on women as they reflect the perspectives of women within a society”

Source #3: Szymanski, Dawn M. “Sexual Objectification of Women: Advances to Theory and Research.” The Counseling Psychologist, vol. 39 no. 2011, pp. 6-38. doi: 10.1177/0011000010378402

Summary: This article focuses on introducing readers to objectification theory and related research. In addition, it extends objectification theory to our understanding of women’s substance use/ abuse and immersed forms of sexual objectification resulting from sexually objectifying environments.

Evaluation: As this is a scholarly article, it’s safe to say that it is a reliable source. It has multiple different sub-titles that give specific information on the topic of sexual objectification, such as Extending Objectification Theory to Understanding Women’s Substance Use and/or Abuse, and Exposure to Sexually Objectifying Media and Internalization of Cultural Messages. Although it is laid out as a research study, it is just an abstract/ overview of other studies conducted. This can be seen as both a strength and a weakness.

Asses: This information is helpful because it describes the theory of objectification and delves into the outcomes of an objectification heavy society. Being that I will ultimately focus on the objectification of women as it expresses itself within images. “Objectification theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997) postulates that many women are sexually objectified and treated as an object to be valued for its use 8 The Counseling Psychologist 39(1) by others. SO occurs when a woman’s 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.”

Source #4: McKay, Tanjare. "Female Self-Objectification: Causes, Consequences and Prevention," McNair Scholars Research Journal: vol. 6: no. 2013. Pp. 1-18

Summary: This article focuses on the way that women internalize the objectification that is pressed upon them their whole life. It talks about why this happens, and what is resulted from it.

Evaluation: Similarly to the last article, this is not an actual experiment, but rather a review of multiple other research studies and external sources to arrive at a conclusion.

Asses: This information can be useful when I look at female artists representing their bodies. It can show how the self objectification is internalized, and how it comes out within artwork and photography.