Social Media Imperils Women in the Age of Anything Goes
Nicole Garay
Ever since 1920, when the 19th amendment was passed granting women the right to vote, the female population in America has collectively come a long way. Now, not even 100 years later, we have Women running for President.
Although the last one in the race may not be an ideal or desired candidate, the fact that women are running
represents how far we have come and how much respect we have gained. Respect for women is such an essential part of every woman’s daily life. I am a woman. A women. I deeply exhaled as I typed those words. I deeply exhale because being a woman is tiring. I am tired of being cat-called, gestured at, and valued for my appearance. I am tired of being touched when I don’t want to be touched. I am tired of people not always taking me seriously. But what I am most tired of, is being objectified. My struggle with objectification has been a really big part of my life. While I didn’t expect it to disappear when I went to college, I had hoped it wouldn’t be so prevalent. Being objectified as a woman does not make me feel respected. As I’m certain all women understand, it’s not easy. The infliction of
disrespect because of my gender is unfortunate, and of course makes me question why after so much fighting as well as accomplishing, women are still regarded as sex objects.
Well, as much as I dislike the idea of throwing someone or a certain group of people under the bus, I’m going to pick on one detriment to feminism I dislike more than the rest. Niykee Heaton absolutely repulses me. For those of you who don’t know her, she’s worse than all the Kardashians combined. Niykee Heaton, just three years older than me, is a girl who has used her body to sell tasteless music and brands it with a logo that encourages other girls to do the same. While I respect that everyone is entitled to portray themselves as they choose. Little girls, pre-teen girls, and women everywhere can see how she’s acting and what she’s posting for everyone to view on the internet. Regardless of not having a daughter, I do not want my possible future one, or any girl, living in a world where she feels the need to exploit her body for fame, fortune, and male attention using social media and the
internet. Niykee is a beautiful girl, who does indeed have the right to express herself, but she’s expressing herself as a sex object, not as a strong woman whose brains and brawn has gotten her to where she is in her life. Women are finally seen as more than their bodies, and appreciated for their skills and contribution to society and
advancements in government, technology, science, etc. So, how are men supposed to continue to respect us when they see girls like this purely portraying themselves as sex objects?
Now, I’m sure you’re wondering why I specifically named Niykee Heaton opposed to any other porn star or
underwear model. Well, what differentiates Niykee Heaton from any porn star or victoria’s secret model is this; she is neither of those. Porn stars are part of an industry that sells sex and appeal to a market of people interested in women being sexual. Victoria’s Secret angels or any model in underwear or swimsuits are also part of an
industry. Those models are selling underwear and swimsuits, and are not selling their bodies or personal image.
Both porn stars and models are entitled to look sexy and attractive because that is the market they’re catering too. When you look at a model in a swimsuit you don’t see her name, life story, and personality. When you look at Niykee Heaton in a swimsuit you see a girl selling her name, body, and sex appeal for fame and fortune. If she is posting pictures of her on the internet half naked, she is posting them to sell music. Call me old fashioned, but I don’t buy music based off of my sexual appeal to the artist. Music is an art, and to make music is a dream so many people pursue with talent. I could never imagine Frank Sinatra in a bathtub on the cover of his
album, or Aretha Franklin posting pictures of her covering her breasts with donuts (for men, women, and
children of all ages) to see on the internet or Instagram. Niykee is using her body to advance her career in an
industry that sells talent, not sexy women. The way I see it, Ms. Heaton is hacking the system to advance herself. When I think of women trying to use their sexuality to advance themselves in their jobs, I think of all the women who get disrespected by the men who think that’s okay. An obvious example is Monica Lewinsky. However,
Monica Lewinsky was not trying to advance her career, she was simply a young girl who got pressured into doing something by a man who saw no issue with it. However, a more simple example is that age old tale of a woman sleeping with her boss for a promotion. In this case, Niykee Heaton is just “sleeping” with her 1.9 Million
Instagram followers, not to mention all of the people who buy her music and merchandise.
As far as women have come, certain public figures in the media still hold us back. It’s no secret that life isn’t fair, but for the sake of women globally it would be a dream come true if all women could respect themselves enough to separate their careers from their sexuality. If that separation is clear and defined then maybe even a former President of America wouldn’t have expected or even requested oral sex from one of his employees, maybe men would respect women more in the workplace, maybe Donald Trump wouldn’t have commented on what Carly Fiorina’s face looks like, and maybe young girls wouldn’t be so body conscious.
Nicole Garay is an NRWF member and a freshman at the
University of San Francisco. majoring in Political Science.