Have you ever heard the phrase “You are too revealing with this type of blouse!”? Or watched a movie that had a slow-motion scene of a woman with large breasts running and felt uncomfortable? If the answer is yes, you probably struggle with the ingrained sexualization of women with big breasts.
Cultural Industry and Sexualization
As you can see, the cultural industry contributes to this sexualization, whether through scenes like this or by demanding that actresses appear naked showing their breasts. We can witness this with Sydney Sweeney, a rising actress whose roles require a lot of technique and talent. However, because there are always scenes where she gets naked, people focus only on that and reduce her to “big boobs” thereby diminishing her professionalism.
Another famous actress who was a victim of sexualization at the beginning of her career was Scarlett Johansson. She even spoke about it in 2022, during an interview for the podcast Table for Two with Bruce Bozzi (via Screen Rant) mentioning that she felt forced to become a sex symbol and feared not being able to get other roles and dissociate herself from that image. Today, Johansson has become one of the leading voices in the fight against the objectification of women in Hollywood and the entertainment industry in general.
Daily struggles
Just like Sydney and Scarlett, I’ve seen a lot of close friends going through the same situation and always complaining about how exhausting it is. Even buying clothes has become stressful for them; I can’t count how many times I’ve witnessed them not purchasing something they loved because they felt too revealing, and were afraid of people’s judgment.
Not to mention the amount of harassment they’ve endured from childhood until nowadays, just by having their body type. As a woman, seeing this happen so frequently to people close to me and hearing how uncomfortable and draining they feel is extremely frustrating.
WE CAN AND SHOULD CHANGE
This only reflects society’s mindset and how wrong and demanding it is. Women with big breasts should feel comfortable and safe wearing anything, and they definitely should not feel guilty about it! Is not their fault that wherever they go, people label them as “big boobs” and sexualize them.
So, my final request is: directors and producers, please stop including scenes and creating roles that require actresses to be naked almost the entire time. This only serves to perpetuate the culture of sexualization! Also, people, stop treating them as if they are from another world. They are women just like any others and deserve the same respect!
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The article above was edited by Anna Maria Prado .
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