The Ugly Truth of being Deemed Beautiful

Most of us are familiar with the popular action movie released in 2004 titled “Catwoman”. In summary this movie depicts the life of a clumsy women named Patience, who is transformed into a female heroine with prowess and sensuality. Though this movie itself is becoming dated it serves as a relevant example of the media images and messages associated with women in American media. The “Catwoman” movie reinforces the idea that a women’s power and worth are dictated by her sexual appeal. 

The “Catwoman” movie reinforces the concept that power and worth are reliant on sexuality. In the film, an unattractive and submissive female, named Patience, is transformed into an attractive and assertive counterpart, known as Catwoman. Catwoman’s highly sexualized appearance, and ambivalent behaviors are starkly contrasted with Patience’s timid demeanor. Patience is shown with long frazzled hair, and loose fitted clothing. 

In contrast, Catwoman has a short, sassy haircut that is complimented by her tight revealing outfits. 

Before her transformation, Patience states that “I felt powerless”, but after her evolution she is described as being “very self-confident”. These statements reveal the evaluation of the character’s self-worth, and place it in parallel with her sexuality. Her value is measured by her sexual appeal; her perceived worth is proportionate to her level of attractiveness. Catwoman’s sexuality is not only used as an indicator of her worth but is also a source of her power. She is able to captivate, seduce and distract men in positions of authority, such as the investigator Tom Lone. 

Catwoman manipulates her enemies using her sexuality to entice her pursuers. Her sexuality is portrayed as a power source that belittles men by revealing their weakness for women and sex. These unrealistic physical portrayals, especially in combination with the notion that appearance signifies a women’s value and power, are believed to lead to decreased body satisfaction, thin ideals, and the development of eating disorders among young women (Schooler, 2004, p. 38). In attempts to possess high self-worth and dominance over other individuals, viewers may scrutinize themselves and replicate the sexualized appearance of Catwoman. The desire to attain a feeling of value may cause viewers to self-objectify themselves, using clothing or sexual behaviors to lure men, and ultimately dehumanize themselves to sex objects.  

The “Catwoman” movie also reinforces scripts that relate to sexual consent and rape culture. This video sexually objectifies women by continuously associating them with sexual practices or thoughts. Catwoman is depicted as a dominatrix, wearing revealing leather outfits and carrying a whip. Her revealing apparel exposes her physical body in a hyper-sexualized and explicit ways. In addition to her erotic clothing, Catwoman responds to non-arousing situations with sexual banter and permissive cues. For instance when a police officer shouts “Put your hands on your head” she teasingly lifts her arms and responds with “Ooh”. Catwoman’s highly sexualized appearance in combination with her use of sexual innuendos evoke thoughts of nymphomania. 

 Portraying women as sexually insatiable and indulgent has been shown to have adverse effects. “Leonard and Taylor found that men had significantly more aggressive responses towards a confederate who exhibited permissive cues displaying eager sexual openness compared to men in other conditions” (D’Alessio, 2007, p. 185). The highly sexualized appearance and mannerisms displayed in this film may assist in contributing to the rape myth which excuses nonconsensual behavior by claiming that women provoke and or enjoy forcible sex. This idea is confirmed in numerous studies, such as the one conducted by Ferguson and colleagues, which found that participants who were exposed to promiscuous women perceived a victim of sexual harassment as less traumatized and more responsible for the event (Ferguson et al., 2005, p. 477). The “Catwoman” movie creates scripts regarding sexual interactions that may therefore negatively influence the relationships between men and women, possibly increasing domestic and sexual violence. This movie endorses the idea that a women’s power and value are measured by her physical appearance. This type of objectification could increase the potential that audience members will imitate violent and promiscuous sexual behaviors that are inimical to the common good of society.

References

D’Alessio, N. M. D. (2007). Effects of Sexually Explicit Media. Mass Media Effects Research: Advances Through Meta-Analysis, 181.

Ferguson, T., Berlin, J., Noles, E., Johnson, J., Reed, W., & Spicer, C. V. (2005). Variation in the application of the “promiscuous female” stereotype and the nature of the application domain: Influences on sexual harassment judgments after exposure to the Jerry Springer Show. Sex roles, 52(7-8), 477-487.

Schooler, D., Monique Ward, L., Merriwether, A., & Caruthers, A. (2004). Who's that girl: Television's role in the body image development of young white and black women. Psychology of women quarterly, 28(1), 38-47.