The Sexy Lie: Sexual objectification does not empower women

Ever heard or even said that being a sex object is empowering for women? 

Politics professor Caroline Heldman is asking you to seriously reconsider that notion with her whip-smart TEDxYouth San Diego talk.

Heldman astutely unravels the commonly accepted ideology that sex sells.

She points out that it's not actually sex that's being sold—because, as she states, if that was it, we would see men depicted as sex objects as frequently as we see women depicted as such, including in both men's and women's magazines.

Instead, she argues, we're what really being sold are gender expectations, of subjectivity and objectivity: with heterosexual men being sold sexual agency while women are sold the idea that their value comes from being reduced to a sex object.

What can be done about it? Watch the video and find out.