The Objectificaion and Sexualisation of Women in the Namibian Mainstream Print Media
Keywords:
gender blindness, objectification, gender mainstreaming, temptress, collective beneficiary, sexualisation.Abstract
The 1990s saw a growing awareness towards the integration of gender issues in government policies and planning. Gender mainstreaming began to be recognised as an issue that impact women and calling on all government policies to be guided by a gender perspective. Print media remains a critical medium for transforming gender relations, yet gender blindness seems to be apparent in media reports. Societies are composed of complex networks of groups with different and sometimes competing interests. These interest groups heavily depend on the media as important sources of information about the world and a powerful means of shaping attitudes and beliefs. But the media seems to fuel inequalities in their coverage of gender related issues. In the quest to reach its audience, the media is inclined to use sexual imagery which objectifies the woman body as sex object. Given the importance of gender mainstreaming in framing national policies to stem the portrayal of women as objects and temptresses, this study seeks establish whether the Namibian print media objectify and sexualise the Namibian women as sex objects.
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