Men treat women as sex objects

This is in response to Drew Shelton's column on Dec. 3, 2002, "Defending Men and Maxim." The column says that women objectify themselves and that it is Cosmo, and not Maxim, that is the root of men's objectification of women. Newsflash: Men have regarded women as mere sex objects for thousands of years, whereas it is only in the last thirty years or so that women became sexually liberated

and began reading magazines like Cosmo. It is this attitude, the simplistic "if you don't like being treated as a sex object, don't wear lipstick and high heels" ideology, that refuses to take into account that it is men that propagate the treatment of women as sex objects.

But for Shelton to advise readers to teach their daughters not to view themselves as objects is ludicrous. In today's society, the need to be beautiful and attractive

to men is ingrained in girls from childhood. Teach your sons not to view women as objects, so that Maxim doesn't affect them. We are not at a place yet where blame can be completely removed from the male sex for the oppression of women.

The column insinuates that men's objectification and degradation of women is

brought about solely by the actions of women. It is only recently that women have even been made aware that they don't have to treat themselves as objects whose sole purpose is the pleasure of men. But if they don't, they become undesirable to men as sex partners and to women as friends. So the choice about whether a woman should make an object of herself is really no choice at all. Cosmo and Maxim both degrade women. Yet, even though Cosmo features male models with little clothing, you don't see women treating men as sex objects. The root of the problem is men's attitude towards women. Hopefully

as time goes on both women and men will realize this and women will be able to achieve true equality not based only on equal pay but on mutual respect and without objectification.



Marion Phillips

LA '06