The Jailbait Dilemma Summary

Sex sells, but does the certain aura young celebrities portray in movies justify our media selling sex?. In Richard Roeper’s Esquire article, “The Jailbait Dilemma”, he is fully aware of how women are sexualized throughout popular culture, especially in movies: “They come to the table with physical gifts, and they're presented onscreen in a stylized, sexualized manner, and they are objects of fantasy” However, although it may be true that “men never stop appreciating the unique beauty of girls who are just becoming women-and some of the most enticing young women in the world are the ones who are starring in these movies”, this “unique beauty” that is displayed in not only movies, but also television, music, advertisements, magazines, cartoons, toys & games, and even the social media is a false image of young girls that only creates problems. Because studies have proven that the media images and the messages they send out have such a negative impact on
They include issues with body image, eating dirorders, depression and self esteem and even teen suicide. The facts that 9 our of 10 girls say that the fashion industry and the media places a lot of pressure on teenage girls to be thin and that 1/3 of girls admit to starving themselves as a strategy of weight loss shows the growing impact sexualization in the media can have on young girls’ mental and physical health. What is the large amount of energy girls put into how they look and how they dress for approval saying about our society? Men may love staring at 19-year olf Kiera Knightley’s chest when she runs up and down the soccer field in the movie “Bend it Like Beckham”, but what is this image saying about women. The target audience is not middle aged men, as Roeper would say; it’s the teenage girls themselves who are being brainwashed with false images or what the ideal women has to look and act