For a very long time, our entertainment industry has believed in objectification. And that’s not something that only applies to the female gender. But applies for men equally. It’s just that when it comes to objectification of males, it’s hardly ever recognized properly. With the trend of talk show games growing more than ever, it seems like entertainment is taking on a whole different aspect. And it’s not only the objectification that demands concern. But also the double standards that these talk show games have created for themselves.
Objectification Of Men in Talk Show Games
Objectification is one of the worst things to happen to society. But what makes it worse is that in the era of feminist movements, we have widely ignored the fact that men go through it a lot many times as well. However, people often dismiss male objectification. Especially in the name of ‘entertainment’. But is doing something disrespectful or derogatory okay as long as it is merely for fun? Probably not. So, demanding equality implies that hypocrisy and double standards need to abandoned. Issues of objectification and/or harassment should receive due attention regardless of what the gender of the victim is.
Recently, many talk show games have revolved around the concept of male objectification. Most popular ones would include the Late Late Live Tinder by James Corden or Ellen DeGeneres’ Hunk-Tac-Toe. A lot of people believe that similar types of shows are unfair to men. And that if the game would be turned around to have men play the game while expressing excitement to be around sexually attractive women, the internet would completely lose it. Moreover, talk show games like these are also promoting unrealistic body images for men. And if that’s considered body shaming when it comes to women, why does it not have the same direction for men?
Are These Double Standards?
It seems like these definitely are. But they are so intrinsically embedded in our culture that we probably just overlook it without doing it on purpose. When as a society, we are progressing towards overthrowing everything that makes women feel inferior, we should avoid giving rise to feelings of men as well. And what’s point of it? And any talk show game that promotes objectification of men or women should reconsider the prime reason behind it.
What’s most interesting is that the society has developed an outlook on these matters that does not bring male objectification or harassment into light. And maybe that’s because women have suffered things like these more frequently. Sometimes to the extent that they are normally considered the only victims. However, that does not mean that men should not voice their complaints or sentiments regarding objectification or harassment. No one takes a woman harasser or assaulter seriously.
We need to take a step back and understand that feminism means equality for both genders. It is true that patriarchy caused a lot more pain and harm to women for decades, but we can’t deny that in an effort to fix the system we may often dismiss men’s feelings entirely. Let us be more considerate of both sides of the picture.
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