Media 's Representation Of Women

Media is one the most influential and powerful things we have today. Media is use a source of entertainment and even more important as a source of information. For most us media is a constant presence in our lives. Media power is so big that it can influence the way that we behave the way that we think, and that is when media can become extremely problematic. The way the media portrays women can be extremely damaging psychological and the physical well being of women.

“People learn more from media than any other single source of information” (Missrepresentation). This quote exemplifies how society learns and creates their standards about people, places, and things. All sources and mediums of media impact billions of lives every day. The media holds this power over society and it’s time to change that; especially when it comes to the media’s view of women. Women are constantly being misrepresented. This misrepresentation of women in the media is negatively impacting America by corrupting both the youth and adults. This is occurring because of the hyper-sexualization of women, wrongly portraying women in leadership positions, and creating stereotypes of women in movies and television.

The misrepresentation of women in the media has been at its highest. Reality shows such as Love and Hip Hop, have degraded and exploited women where they are only seen as objects who compete over men. They are not able to have a identity that is positive. I wanted to create a platform where you can see the true side of women. Having them tell their stories and accomplishments. Where they are seen past their physical features and given a voice. The issues discussed through the interviews are also expressed through my poetry. As women they are taking their identities back and showing who they really are, regardless of how they are depicted through the media.

Media in regards to tv social media, news broadcasts, magazines, and all other forms in which are presented on a widespread coverage to society. The documentary explains how from an early age girls get the message that their value, their worth, and their potential for success depends on their looks. On the flipside boys are getting the message from an early age that looks and how a girl dresses is what important. They bring up the idea of how when one considers the “ideal women” their capacity of education, knowledge, life experiences, strength, and who they are as a person are often left out. The ideal women is typical in regards to her looks alone in regards to weight, height, hair color, skin color, and the way in which she dresses”. As mainstream media grows larger and wider, girls are becoming increasingly self-conscious at younger and younger ages and the shelter in which we try to protect young children is become harder to maintain. A group of young high school women were interviewed about the challenges they have faced as a result of mainstream media and their peers and the results were shocking. Every flaw one could bring up from being told they were ‘too skinny’. 'too fat’, their natural hair was ‘too nappy’, their skin was ‘too pale and so forth’. Society is teaching women all the things that are wrong with themselves and not paying any attention to how it is effecting women of this generation and already playing such a

Realistic representations of women in the media will teach women to strive to achieve attainable goals that have positive outcomes. Furthermore, the media’s definition of “beautiful” is not healthy.

Social media and advertisements continues to shape the bodies of girls and women. They are targeted through all aspects of their lives when they are viewing advertisements, television, and body care products. So if unchecked or unchanged, it is likely that current and future females will continue to have a lack of self-confidence, self-esteem, and wont define their own image. Teens that range from four to nineteen, are influenced by the images of Barbie’s and the television show Toddlers and Tiaras. Eighty percent of these teen girls are dissatisfied with their image. Woman that are twenty or older also view different media that sway their images through the show Kardashians, Victoria Secret, and the beauty line Dove. Therefore, all forms of media need to change how they portray females. This way, women have a chance to be proud of who they truly are and can live to express themselves. Girls and women will seem guilty when they do not see the ‘model’ figure when they look in the mirror. This is not how society should be in the United States. The

Women have been misrepresented in the media for many years. Stereotypes have been around forever in media, but were portrayed more visibly in the earlier years. Although this misrepresentation of women is less subtle, the outcome of this issue is extensively impacting consumers and women in general. The impact of these stereotypes discourage women to pursue their goals, cause self-esteem issues, and hurt their chances at bigger roles in the business and political world. This also gives others false ideas and expectations. Some primary examples of concern include the value of women and girl’s looks over their personalities, the false imagery of the LGBT community, and society not taking women in politics and news seriously.

The body is often seen as something naturally given. Different types of bodies can be seen in shapes, sizes and physical build. However there is this idea of what aesthetically is socially acceptable. With women in the media industry being promoted in a certain way it is important to recognize that social construction of the body is a global issue. With this idea it could be said to have largely contributed to the fact that most if not all women are dissatisfied with their bodies. Media as an industry depicts that slenderness is preferred. This factor no doubt has impacted the rise in eating disorders and women's willingness to have cosmetic surgery in order to fit such ideal of slenderness which are depicted in magazines and television programs.

I have actually not put much thought about sexism in media because as the movie supported, we were raised that way. We (as teenage boys) did not really question the "why" women were portrayed that way in the media. We simply accepted and enjoyed them. Miss Representation made me realize that there is a gender bias in media. This gender bias creates further problem by inaccurately representing the general population (focusing too much on male's perspective where half of the population is females). I was surprised because I was not expecting gender bias would play such a big part on injustice, specifically on fair representation on female perspectives.

Every individual has their own ideas on what is considered beautiful. Beauty can be on the inside or on the outside because it varies to each individual’s preference. However, pressure from society causes people to believe that they must adapt and conform to society’s apocryphal image of beauty. Today, society’s image of beauty has been manufactured on a distorted perception of unrealistic perfection that has been asserted by the media and implemented through its advertisements to proclaim that women need to appease this standard in order to be considered beautiful in society. Media’s pessimistic views of beauty influence the way women portray themselves in daily life. Media has a negative impact on women and the way they

Media represents males and females by gendering them in different categories. According to a presentation, the author states, “Media perceives women in a very sexual manner whereas men are symbolized as powerful (Khan). Over and over again, the one thing that the media reveals is that women are very sexual beings. They show that they are only good for taking care of the home and the man is very powerful. For example, the author on the presentation shows a ad that a man is in a life guard outfit with him having muscles which portrays him to look like a hero. On the other side there is a picture of a woman who looks stressed with babies all around her crying with both her hands full. One side she is holding a math test with a F on it and the other side is holding a pot full of baby bottles (Khan). This shows that women are “supposed to be the only one taking care of the house” and because of that the women looks stressed. In the article, “Face it”, the author states,

To begin with, the media reinforces and creates the stereotype that women are portrayed as sexual objects in order to make money

All media, including children’s media, is telling of society’s attitudes at the time. The attitudes towards gender that manifest through female villains in children’s cartoons are what will be examined in this analysis. In text A, the trope of the female villain (Sedusa) as a lying ‘seductress’ is explored. Text B shows how the female villain Femme Fatale is portrayed as confrontational, aggressive and ‘man-hating’. Text C concerns the teenage villain Camille Leon, who is depicted as a spoiled, shallow and materialistic ‘Valley Girl’ stereotype. All of these villains are represented as having unfavourable attributes that have been unfairly ascribed to women, or attributes that are considered ‘undesirable’ in a woman– dishonest, deceitful, fake,

Language is a system of communication which consists of a set of sounds and written symbols which are used by the people of a particular country or region for talking or writing. It is considered as an art because when used it able to help a person develop or create a certain picture in the mind. Language being an artifact of culture means that it is an interesting thing that is created by the people. It is an aspect of their way of life of the people. It also helps in development of the people as writers and intellects. As a culture it is a people’s way of life and therefore the impact it has to human beings cannot be under looked.

fication of women in the media is a concept that has perforated our society. The idea that women are objects to be viewed through the lens of male pleasure has influenced and impacted not only popular culture, but negatively affected the lives of women all across the country. in the A publication in the Psychology of Women Quarterly entitled, Objectification Theory, authors Barbara L. Fredrickson and Tomi-Ann Roberts, describe objectification as occurring "whenever a woman's body or body parts, or sexual functions are separated out from her person, reduced to status of mere instruments, or regarded as if they were capable of representing her...when objectified women are treated as bodies—and in particular, as bodies that exist for the use and pleasure of others." (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997) The media is rife with the portrayal of women as subhuman, as objects and as items specifically designed for male pleasure. Women are constantly objectified through media outlets such as advertisements, music and pornography. This practice, though it is not a new occurrence, has allowed expanded and infiltrated countless aspects of modern society. To the extent that the presence of objectification and the reality of its negative effects have become seemingly invisible and unsettlingly natural in modern society.