Speaker: Media degrades female bodies

Experts have often said that a reason men victimize women is that they see them as mere objects, but as psychotherapist Mary Anne Layden puts it, often it is the women themselves who hold this view. In a discussion on the "Media and the Body" Tuesday night in Kings Court/English College House, Layden called the media the principle agent through which the degradation of women finds social acceptance, explaining that the messages the media presents foster the silence that engenders violence against women. Layden, who is also a researcher at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, said the media helps give rise to sexual abuse, sexual violence and sexual trauma. She argued that the media objectifies the female body and causes women to feel abnormal in a biologically normal body. "I've taught this stuff a lot and I wanted to see if it's actually true," said Layden, citing her experience teaching in Penn's College of Arts and Sciences before treating patients at the clinic for incidences of sexual trauma that included depression, eating disorders, incest and rape. Layden pointed out a disturbing observation that victims of sexual crimes, not only the perpetrators, often have the attitude that "women's bodies are entertainment," and merely sexual objects. "The first transmission source is the family. The second is the media," she said, explaining how women commonly derive that attitude of low self-worth. Layden said the ultimate goal of her therapy and activism is to teach women to have a healthy self-esteem, as opposed to pathological self-esteem -- which causes women to attempt to fulfill an image derived from the media. Using examples culled from the ubiquitous advertisements found in newspapers and magazines, Layden pointed out the potentially pathological messages carried by ads that depict nude and semi-nude women. Among the effects of these ads, she said, was the unnatural ideals expected of a woman's body, especially that of the ideal woman whose breasts are disproportionately large in comparison to her body. The social acceptance of this image has led to the kinds of statement made by the American Association of Plastic Surgeons that describe small breasts as "birth defects," Layden added. "You know that the message is pretty strong if [women] are willing to risk their lives and the life of their babies [by getting breast enlargement surgery]," Layden said. She encouraged the audience to be able to say, "We don't need to make money by hurting people. These individuals who are hurting people depend on our silence." After the speech, several students said they found the event to be thought provoking, though troubling. "The meeting was very informative and interesting," Nursing freshman Donna Hogan said. "It really opened up my eyes to how degraded society and the media is and what a low level it's at." College sophomore Sara Nasuti, who organized the event as head of the house's "Perspectives in Humanities" program and is also a Daily Pennsylvanian staff photographer, called negative body image "an issue that can only be fought through education."