TLS Students Raise Voice on Women Objectification in Media

Since the introduction of advertising many centuries ago, women have been objectified, and in some instances, insulted or degraded. Despite the efforts of many people, it’s apparent that society is still seeing the same patterns of objectification of women in media. TLSers Cyril Chebly, Ani Arpi Lousararian, Charbel Nassar, Ghiwa Abi Khalil, and Tespina Yousef chose to address this -harmful on many levels- topic in their research paper.

To examine this phenomenon and provide a pertinent foundation for better insights into this issue, the team conducted a qualitative online survey targeting 150 LAU to help them understand how youngsters perceive women in media. Additionally, the team had hands-on quantitative scholarly articles tackling the objectification of women in media and advertising. Both resources validated their hypothesis, which led them to the second phase of the research: reforms.

The team proposed a string of reforms ranging from low to high scale. The proposed solutions included: inducing bespoke workshops to students to encourage gender-sensitive reporting, raising recommendations to the Ministry of Media and communication to have advertisement monitored by qualified sociologists and psychologists to ensure that women are not objectified, nor sexualized and to make sure that the representation of gender is carried on properly and does not scrutinize equality, etc…

Media as a socialization agent that reflects cultures with its constructs to include patriarchal stigmas.  The fight to eliminate sexual objectification in the media has been on the agenda of many feminist movements and civil organizations. TLS students Cyril, Ani, Charbel, Ghiwa, and Tespina know this, however they also realize that more needs to be done.  They shed light on how different media outlets traditional and social are not yet up to the 5th SDG goal, and more training and learning is needed to radically change this toxic culture.

All team members expressed their gratitude to the TLS program that played the role of an eye-opener to gender discrimination-related issues and equipped them with the knowledge and the know-how that led them to accomplish the research paper.