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UNNECESSARY SEXUALIZATION & NUDITY IN MEDIA

A look into the influence of the male gaze on mainstream media

MEGHANA VINJAMURY print editor-in-chief

While watching season two of the HBO TV show “Euphoria,” viewers cannot help but notice the prevalence of nudity and sexualization throughout. What makes “Euphoria” particularly disconcerting, however, is that almost all sexualized char- acters are minors. Although TV shows portraying teen

sexuality is nothing new, mass media has recently reflected this far more explicitly.

“Euphoria” takes place in a US high school where most main characters are clearly under 18 years old. Although actress Sydney Sweeney is an adult, she portrays Cassie Howard, a minor whose breasts are repeatedly shown throughout the show. Sweeney resisted some nude scenes which she deemed excessive. Said Sweeney, “There are moments where Cassie was supposed to be shirtless, and I would tell [show creator Sam Levison], ‘I don’t really think that’s necessary here.’”

Jacob Elordi, the actor for Nate Jacobs in “Euphoria,” voiced a similar opinion on movies where he portrayed a minor. In an interview with Ellen DeGeneres, Elordi noted that actors “have no choice” when presented with a script that prompts explicit scenes. Said Elordi, “I’ve done some movies where it gets to the point where it’s like, ‘He goes to the mall, shirtless,’ and you’re like, ‘Why?’”

But this doesn’t just apply to “Euphoria”. The extensive use of nudity and sexualization is also detrimental to young actors. The actors from the show “Skins” were barely over 18 years old when they were cast for roles with multiple sex scenes. Said actress Laya Lewis,

“I turned 18 right at the beginning of filming, so I just had so many more sex scenes than everyone else. My first day was a sex scene.” Some of the actors mentioned being traumatized due to the immense pressure and toxicity surrounding the sets of “Skins” before filming certain scenes as well. Lewis alleged that actors were questioned about their weight and had been urged to skip meals ahead of beachwear and bikini shoots, directions that may have been hard to oppose given the age and power differences on set. Said Lewis, “[We were told to] oneby-one stand in a room with just us [in a bikini or swimwear] and the creator of the show, who was male and a lot older than we were, and be told whether we looked good or not, good enough to film in Morocco.”

Historically, popular media has used women not to further show plots or create complex characters, but to display their bodies for the pleasure of men. As teenagers and young adults be- come more

acquainted with this narrative,it becomes self-perpetuating: young men become accustomed to seeing women as objects for their visual enjoyment. The continuous sexual depiction of female characters normalizes women being objectified. A 2018 analysis by USC Annenberg of the 1,100 most popular films found that 35.9% of female roles for ages 13 to 20 had some nudity. In contrast, only 9.6% of male roles featured any nudity.

While audiences are led to believe that the sexualization of women is a norm, actors are affected by power dynamics within their sets, finding it difficult to reject scenes where nudity seems excessive. The overwhelming prevalence of sexualization and nudity in media is further ingraining the male gaze in the film industry which is not only detrimental to the younger audiences, but also to the actors themselves

“THE CONTINUOUS SEXUAL DEPICTION OF FEMALE CHARACTERS NORMALIZES WOMEN BEING OBJECTIFIED ” “ 35.9% OF FEMALE ROLES FOR AGES 13 TO 20 HAD SOME NUDITY (USC 2018) ”