How did feminism become a national "dirty word?" For individual feminists, this is a question that causes concern. True feminism is straining to survive and the reason for this can be linked to the group itself, sometimes including its own accountability to effectively consider and accommodate the diversity of viewpoints of women among the group and in general. However, the biggest and most influential source of the word having a negative connotation is the mass media. Its hostility toward assertive women leads the media to usually represent them in a negative way and this has turned all feminists into a frightening “fringe element.” (Beck) It is important to understand how the media portrays femininity and how that impacts their …show more content…
(Beck)
A major strike against feminism 's attempt to get a fair shake in media portrayals is the media 's attraction to opposition, particularly between men and women. The dualism of masculine/feminine "continues to be most successful in programming us to believe that male is the opposite of female," according to Lana F. Rakow. From there, it is just a short conceptual jump to tagging feminism as "bad" when contrasted against the "good" masculine norm in this society. Rakow notes, "Journalists are taught to think in terms of dichotomies, to develop their stories of right versus wrong, good versus evil. The journalistic obsession with a narrow corridor in an abstract space called 'balance ' continues to build this kind of false opposition.”
Most journalists place great stock in their ability to maintain "objectivity." On the surface, that would seem to imply an inherent fairness in this approach to news coverage. After all, wouldn 't an objective reporter simply convey some set of independent facts as they are without imposing meaning upon them? But the objectivity so revered by the news media is just a standpoint, one that cannot be separated from factors like gender "Objectivity is a normative ideal…In practice, objectivity is a standpoint-white and male" (Green). Jessica Goldstein agrees that since
Theodore Dawes is a writer and reporter from Alabama, he uses examples from the frustration of the people in view of the media, and but brings a better understanding to the process that reporter and editors have to go though in creating a story. He states that objectivity has no existence in news reporting, but journalists still provide the truth that it does exist. Reporters have only so much face time to provide a segment, how can they possibly provide multiple sides of a story and not expect to get all of the facts. Editors and reporter have to make difficult decisions including, the morality of the story and what facts they can possibly leave out. Even though it seems the media is only trying to persuade and pick sides in a story, this
Cunningham cites a few specific examples of how objectivity has hampered journalism today. Only 12 out of 574 major network evening news reports confronted the issue of the Iraqi War aftermath. This obviously illustrates the hesitation the media has in questioning and speculating major political decisions. Generally, the press does not feel any obligation to call out politicians and elected officials about their decisions. Instead, some facts are reported, and no one is
Early feminism was typically focused only on white women, likely because racism was still extremely prominent at the time feminism began emerging. It was not until Kimberlé Crenshaw introduced the term “intersectionality” in 1989 that feminism started to look at oppressed group’s needs (Nash, 2008, 2). Intersectionality is a way of thinking that acknowledges that when a person has identities that belong to more than one oppressed group, it impacts their quality of life more negatively. In this paper, I will argue that intersectionality is important in the discussion of feminist theories and activism because it ensures that feminism is for all women, not just a select group of them. Intersectionality has changed the way the feminist movement handles the overlapping of different identities, which has helped feminist theorists understand the experiences of women of colour much more clearly. While intersectionality has a very important role in the conversation and practice of feminism, there are certainly critiques of the concept that should be brought up. These critiques, however, can offer a way to improve the study of intersectionality.
Society is okay with the mistreatment of women in the media because it has been seen as an accepted form of communication within the past. Whether it is through sexualizing a female in a Karl’s Junior commercial, or calling Taylor Swift a “slut” for dating men, there is a lack of understanding of why the media is problematic. As society becomes more progressive, it should be expected that the perceptions of females should also change as well. It is completely unfair to criticize someone is such a powerful position because she may have messed up in the past, human beings are not perfect, and they are flawed. Except in this culture, we accept the flaws that males make but make a huge scene whenever a female does something that might not be inherently right. Donald Trump, another contender in the 2016 Election, is seen on multiple instances mocking women for their appearance and completely stripping all females’ attributions when he sexualizes them. If Clinton were too make such crude comments about males to the media, she would be torn apart but because Trump is a white rich male, he holds himself as if nothing can affect him. These double standards are not only problematic because they continue to objectify women, but they are problematic because the feed into the systematic oppression that the United States holds so closely. Of course, I acknowledge
Throughout history women have been depicted and treated as an inferior to the male all aspects of life. It is without debate, that to this day, like many other countries, the United States of America is a patriarchal society, valuing men over women and using various tactics to oppress women by constructing gender roles. These gender roles are thrust upon people before birth and are reinforced through society within the media. This object here is to provide an overview of the portrayal of women in magazines from the late 1800’s to present day. As the years progress, so do the number of women’s rights. While women are still fighting for equality, the birth of feminism has done much to close the gender gap. Mass media, magazines in particular, facilitated in fostering a stereotype which became the standard, and continues to be, used by society. A society that continues to oppress and suppress its women. However, as the mass media has the capability to demystify, or to bring down and/or destroy a particular group or person, they also have the ability of mystification, or emulating a person or group into society’s graces. I plan to review how women were portrayed since this country’s inception with an analysis of how gender equality might be possible today.
The reality is that objectivity in reporting is impossible because the information is being filtrated through humans. Even if they try to be as objective and unbiased as possible they will still be making decisions regarding what to include and what not to. That states that every news outlet will be somehow bias, might be liberal or conservative, or maybe just trying to make the story more dramatic or appealing to the public. Most bias is unintentional, liberal reporters might happen to know more liberal sources or get around with mostly liberals.
When did feminism become the new f-word? One important thing I have learned from this class is how oppressors tried to diminish the power behind the term “feminist”. Stereotypes emerged like the belief that all feminists are lesbians, hate men, and burn their bras. Robert George, a HWS first-year, shared his thoughts on what a
The first section of Gender and the Media addresses gender representations and the beginning of feminism. During the late 60’s and early 70’s, women’s rights movements were first introduced with the challenge of the media, prompting them monitor the way the media portrayed women. This portrayal starting in the late 1970’s has seen many transmissions since. Gil states: “I use the term feminism to signal a concern with enduring gender
It can be said that the mainstream American news media holds objective reporting in a high regard, and rightfully so. Such a journalistic culture finds its roots in the Fairness Doctrine, a policy implemented by the Federal Communications Commission in 1949(Boliek) in response to muckraking and irresponsible journalistic practices of prior times. The Fairness Doctrine mandated that news organizations provide contrasting views of controversial issues in an equal manner. Though the Fairness Doctrine was repealed in 1987, and its official language removed in 2011, the effects of this policy still seem to play a significant role in the mainstream media (Boliek). It can be argued that the residual effects of this policy have mutated into a heavy emphasis on fairness and balance (in some cases, and in other cases not as much) that has made many journalists lose their focus on what objectivity actually means.
Our world is surrounded by media. Media plays an enormous role in affecting the way we perceive gender and gender roles. Media as well as communications are known to be the key elements of how people live their life in the modern age. The media can be a very inviting place, since it has so many things inside of it that appeals to people worldwide. At the same time, the media can be a cruel, judging and corrupt area that can be scary to involve yourself with. That being said, the mass media has had its history with harsh stereotyping, particularly when dealing with women. Many people within the media view women as a gender that is only allowed to be at home, whether it is cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, or being a slave to their male counterpart. Even with women who work inside of the media are usually overlooked, bashed by their appearance and do not get an equal opportunity as men do in order to succeed in life. This has been the case for hundreds of years, but there are still a myriad of problems that women face today, whether in the media or life in general.
Studies regarding gender roles in media show that the feminine essence tends to be depicted as inferior, with women often being marginalized, disempowered and humiliated through a status that is based on their youth and looks; whilst men tend to be portrayed as superior with higher and longer lasting careers
Feminists were once thought to be “hairy, ugly, man-hating, angry women” (Costello, 2014), but as times changed, the idea of who these feminists really are have changed. The connotation of feminism has changed because it was originally considered a dirty word, and something you did not want to be. Today with the help of celebrities, including Beyoncé, feminism is no longer dirty, and a lot of both females and males around the world identify as a feminist.
Even today the word “feminism” still has a bitter taste to it. Though it basically just means equality between men and women (feminine) still many people refuse to label themselves with it. Some even fail to recognize the problem in the first place since they are not directly affected by it. But for every dollar a man earns a woman still only get between fifty- five and eighty cents (Tyson 85), the phrase “you throw like a girl” is still an insult and while it is fine for a women to dress in men clothes a man in women clothes is often shunned and ridiculed. My personal explanation for this is that our society thinks that it is degrading for a man to be female. It often still seems that our society thinks that women’s sole purpose is to please
There has been a lot of research done on the influence media can have on society, in particular the degrading images of women that are often seen in media. Since the second wave of the women’s rights movements these images were the object of scrutiny and an easy example of how women were viewed. In modern society where women have made many strides towards equality why are there still instances in popular media were women are negatively depicted? Have women come as far as they think? The popular sitcom The Big Bang Theory negatively depicts the female characters by reverting to a binary view of gender, in which the female characters are lacking, they can be beautiful or smart however they cannot be both.
Furthermore, sometimes this should not be the main goal of a journalist. Now, it is very important to distinguish what is objectivity and what is impartiality. Objectivity is unachievable. Impartiality is real. Objectively, objective could be only God. Journalists have to be dispassionate. «Impartiality is not the same as objectivity or balance or neutrality, although it contains elements of all three. Nor is it the same as simply being fair – although it is unlikely you will be impartial without being fair-minded. At its simplest it means not taking sides. Impartiality is about providing a breadth of view». Such thesis is published on BBC web-page. So how journalist can achieve neutrality, which methods should he (or she) use and when impartiality is