I read the headlines on MSN quite often, I do this because I want to see a range of subjects and opinions and an individual newspaper has too much bias. What always surprises me is the fashion section which in a world where we are told women should not be objectified the fashion industry does just that.

The English language is an interesting thing and words can be a very powerful tool when used properly. As all journalists or advertisers will know a reader can easily be drawn in by the way a sentence is phrased.

In the above screenshot from the bit of MSN that shows fashion publications Amanda Holden (a celebrity) stuns in a Metallic Midi Skirt.

English uses a subject, verb, object sentence structure where the subject is the focus and the object does something to it. In this case Amanda Holden is the subject, “stuns” is the verb and the skirt is the object. This means the woman is the focus of the sentence and that people will be drawn in to look at her and the skirt is less important.

However they could have written “Metallic Midi Skirt looks stunning on Amanda Holden.” Which would turn the skirt into the subject and the focus of the sentence rather than the woman. To focus on clothing is what you’d expect from fashion journalism but instead they know that sex sells, this being the case they turn the woman into a sex object that exists purely to get them more clicks or readers.

I’m aware of how this sort of thing works as the world isn’t always hard to understand but when there’s outcry about the objectification of women just for the fashion industry to have double standards it just seems wrong that they aren’t focused on clothing. Try say something similar to a female co-worker and see how soon you’re talking to the HR department.