Domenica+S’s+Final+AmEx+2013+Speech

=Title of Speech=

Women Need to Respect Themselves

=Text of Speech=

So, one day my sister and I were driving down highway 126 with a friend to go to Fillmore. We were stuck behind two large semis in the lanes ahead of us, but we didn't really mind. After all, they were only going five miles under the speed limit. Finally the one ahead of us passed the other one up and moved out of our lane. Suddenly my sister noticed this car behind us who was gaining on our bumper. We were next to the trucks and wanted to pass them, but this car was pushing, so my sister coasted a bit and pulled behind the trucks to let the other car pass. When it did, the passenger, who was about an 18 year old girl, gave us the finger. It was especially funny when highway 126 ended and we were stopped at the same traffic signal.

The reason why I'm telling you this story is because in our nation there is a huge lack of respect. We see it everywhere all the time and sometimes we can't even decipher the difference between what is respectful and what isn't.

One thing which really bugs me is when girls don't respect themselves. The TV and the media constantly sexualize women, porn being the worst example, but all this leaks out to us and we don't do anything about it. This problem is so prevalent in our society. Almost every time I turn on the TV, I see women being sexualized in TV shows, movies, and advertisements. Some of the biggest culprits are beer commercials and Carl's Junior who completely disrespect women by using them in their commercials to appeal to men as sex objects so that their product will sell. And how has this impacted our community? Lots of girls feel they need to become sexy in order to be liked. The messages coming from the media cause lots of girls to lose self-esteem because they feel they need to look and act a certain way to be successful in life. Eating disorders ensue because girls are taught they need to look like the sexy bimbo model they saw on TV. And a lot of girls follow the examples the media has portrayed, allowing themselves to be treated disrespectfully by men.

Just the other day, I was walking in Fry's past the magazine section with my mom and what I saw there, infuriated me. In the section labeled "Men's Interest" were pornographic looking magazines like Playboy, with women's 95% naked bodies plastered to the front. This is so disgusting that our nation tolerates this gross, sick, disrespectful image of women and it's especially horrible that we actually sell magazines like these in a store where anybody can have access to them. These magazines pollute the mind, completely corrupting people's morals, and teach small boys to be perverts.

There was this one time when I was walking through Macy's and this cute little five or six year old boy was walking behind his mom who was talking on the phone, and I smiled at him and he smiled back at me, and then he walked up to a naked mannequin and touched her boobs with his hands and then turned towards me again and smiled. Do we want our world to be like this? I know I don't.

I've seen down so many girls' shirts this year and if I've seen it then I wonder how many others have. This makes me feel so angry and sad because these girls have so much more to offer than just their bodies. We are all amazing human beings with some special talents no matter how big or how small. It seems that some girls often forget this when they dress each morning. They're just hurting themselves even more because they're telling guys to like them for their bodies, not their personalities and of course a relationship will never last if all it is, is sexual. If women respected their bodies, if all women in America started respecting themselves more, I'm sure men would have a higher respect for women and not "act like animals" as some would say. If girls raised their standards, guys would be forced to follow.

In our society we fail to respect each other, probably because we fail to respect ourselves. In the America I grow old in I want to see a resurgence of respect. I don't want to see any more pornographic magazines in stores and I don't want to see men treating women as sex objects. I want women to respect themselves and be valued for their personalities, their characteristics, and their talents.

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