One cultural myth which has severely harmful effects on the society of the United States is the myth that women are essentially sexual objects to be exploited and-manipulated by men. The myth extends beyond the merely sexual realm and holds that women are somehow inferior beings who are and should be willing and eager to be passive victims to the needs of men in all social and economic situations.
Clearly, this myth is destructive not only to women but to men and the society as a whole. The human enterprise --- men and women together --- advances and takes all humans with it, or it retreats and lessens the worth of all humans at the same time. If men treat women as inferiors, and if women are convinced that they are indeed inferior, men will also be diminished. If a woman is seen as a sexual thing, then the man who treats her as a sexual thing becomes himself a sexual thing. If a women is treated as something less than fully human and independent and strong, then the man who treats her with such contempt will become contemptible himself.
In broader social terms, it can be seen clearly that the culture as a whole will be diminished by such a myth about women. If women are seen as sexual objects, or objects of any sort, then they will obviously not be expected --- by others or by themselves --to fulfill themselves in non-sexual areas. The potential of women --- more than half of the population of the country---will not be achieved, and the society will obviously suffer. In addition, men will be expected to carry the entire burden of social, economic, and even sexual responsibilities, a burden which would be shared equally by women if they were not shackled by the cultural myth of passivity and inferiority. Clearly, then, men suffer as much as women from this cultural myth.
This myth is fostered and maintained in a number of ways, including media abuses and socioeconomic institutionalization. The behavior of men and...