"For the next few months, I kept noticing ads that demeaned women in popular magazines as well as in The Lancet. Many of them ended up on my refrigerator. Some of them were outrageous. ("My boyfriend told me he loved me for my mind. I was never so insulted in my life," said a woman with a cigarette.) Many were demeaning, such as the adfor a "feminine hygiene" spray that said, "You don't sleep with teddy bears any more," implying that, although our teddy bears don't mind how we women smell, our boyfriends do. Somewere shockingly violent. I began to notice patterns and categories. I saw that women's bodies were often dismembered in ads-just legs or breasts or torsos were featured. Breasts are the most visible symbol of femininity in advertising. The breast, more than any other part of the female body, is emphasized and sexualized, and it becomes an object of desire. This objectification reduces women to mere body parts and reinforces an unrealistic standard of beauty.I saw that women were often infantilized and that little girls were sexualized. ("You're a Halston woman from the very beginning," said a shampoo ad, featuring a girl of about five.) I bought a macrolens for my camera and turned the ads into slides. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them. I had begun my life's work."