Misrepresentation of Women in The Media Essay

Media influence is one of the most powerful economic and cultural forces today. By deciding who gets to talk, what shapes the debate, who writes, and what is important enough to report, media shape our understanding of who we are and what we can be. You could go to a film, switch on the TV, tune in to the radio, turn the pages of a magazine, or surf online. Regardless of your choice of media, you’d have a good chance of encountering stereotypes that perpetuate gender discrimination. The “Miss Representation” documentary film written and directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom exposes how mainstream media and culture contribute to the under representation of women in positions of power and influence in America.

The trailer of the documentary film “Miss Representation” produced by Jennifer Siebel Newsom covers the topic of how media contributes to the undermining of women to hold influential positions and creating sexism. The trailer starts off with statistic facts about the time the average person spends on different types of media a day such as watching television, reading magazines, browsing the internet, etc. It follows with a claim that every type of media always sexualizes women, resulting in people to think that the only thing that matters about women is their looks. This is then backed by a couple of examples where media bashed on some of the famous women that achieved high political or social status. One of the extreme examples was how a Fox News’

One thousand years go by and an abundant amount of people still view women in a stereotypical type of way. On the opposing view, if women did not overstretch the slightest of things, this wouldn’t be such an enormous issue. Women may be overreacting to what the media has to say about them. It is not affecting everybody but a vast majority of successful women from continuing to moving forward said Marianne Schnall. Important to realize, women are capable of doing jobs men can do. Such jobs as being an engineer, physician, mechanic, lawyer and even top notch business women! Up to the present time there is an ongoing public debate on women suffering from double standards. If it makes a female feel threatened or belittled than it may be

Redbook magazine are devoted to selling products ranging from shoes to shampoo. The entire magazine only has only 210 pages. Approximately 6-8 min of every half hour television show is produced by ad agencies. Americans are bombarded with advertisements. We see them everyday in many different forms and through different mediums. Advertisers study America’s population through a systematic breakdown and analysis of our likes and dislikes in relation to our differences. These differences include gender, sexual orientation, economic status, location, race, ethnicity, and more. Advertisers have substantial knowledge of what appeals to each of these demographics and how these demographics will respond to

The depiction of women in all forms of media, including print, broadcasted and internet media, is constantly showing that they are the weaker of the two sexes.

People rarely ever realize that the media plays an important role in defining who they are (Newsom). In fact, people compare their experiences to others to understand their lives, and the lives they usually compare it to are the ones they see in the media. (Kirk, 60) This is why girls and boys grow up thinking that women’s value only relies on their youth, sexuality, and beauty.

Through critical analysis of the media in relation to how they perceive women such as Theresa May, Angela Merkel and Hillary Clinton, I will determine whether the media creates an environment in which women are stereotyped beyond no more than how they dress or act in public. The language that is used to describe these women will be compared to the language used to describe their male equivalents to ascertain whether women are discussed with misogynistic or sexist undertones. While there hasn’t been much academic study into this subject there have been numerous accounts of female politicians being undermined by the tabloids which have painted them as self-centred and vain. Due to there being little research in the area it is vital that this is studied and investigated as the media affects the public’s perceptions of not only female politicians, but on a wider scale, women in general.

As a minority group, women are often underrepresented in the media. In the 1970’s, for every women shown in primetime television, there were 2.5 men (Gerbner and Signorielli (1979). Cited in Collins (2011)). This may be due to the fact that females were largely seen as “less than” and meant to stay in the household setting. According to Collins (2011), women were probably underrepresented at this time because producers did not believe women played a big enough role in society to be in their work. This has seemed to change somewhat, but is still an issue due to men being depicted in more lead roles than women. Even though this issue has gotten a bit better, minority groups like women are still often seen in secondary roles and not as often as lead characters and it usually is not a very positive representation (Li-Vollmer (2002); Roy and Harwood (1997). Cited in Messineo (2006)). These roles include background characters at desks, secretaries, housekeepers, and many other minor character roles.

Under society’s norms for decades, young women have been put under the pressure and anticipation to have perfect bodies. That is, thin and curved, beautified by applying pounds of the makeup to their face but not appear ridiculously overdone. Who’s responsible for these standards imposed on young women? When a young girl picks up the model along the cover of Vogue being called flawless, it’s easy for her to then aspire to be a real-life imitation of the photocopy. These companies produce magazine covers shown with girls’ images daily. As if keeping the perfect body wasn’t hard enough our culture also forces girls into the forever expanding world of composition, however, body image is a pressing issue for young women. Advertisements and posters of skinny female models are all over. Young girls not only could be better but need to be more upright and feel driven to throw the perfect figure. Moreover, girls are evaluated and oppressed by their physical appearances. With supplements and apparel designed to enhance a facial expression; social media, magazines, and marketing campaigns and advertisements add to the burden of perfection. The fashion industry is a prime object of body image issues, as they believe clothes look better on tall and svelte women. Established on a survey participated by 13 to 17-year-old in the U.S., 90% “felt pressured by fashion and media industries to be skinny”, with more than 60% routinely compares themselves to models, while 46%

Women in the media have come so far in terms of representation since fifty years ago, yet many female character still fall into the same tired stereotypes. The “strong female character” stereotype is just as limiting as the role of the damsel in distress. It degrades female attributes by making women redeemable and interesting through masculine traits like physical prowess and emotional suppression. These limiting stereotypes are unfair to women around the world who do not deserve to be defined by a pretty face or a sexy body. I want to be the one to change that.

For instance, employers are more likely to hire a woman who is good looking than one who is not; a beautiful woman tends to marry someone of higher socio-economic status, be viewed as more popular, paid higher salaries, and promoted more frequently. The representation of beauty in the media seems to be overpowering the Caucasian Americans and is leading to a high incidence of eating disorders and low body image. Good looks can also affect marriage choices. This is important because as a woman in Equador, marrying up is one of the only ways to raise her social status. This study focused on Latin women. Three scales were used: One of them measures a person's perception of beauty with various body parts or physical aspects, another deals with weight and skin color and the third deals with socioeconomic status, beauty ideals, access to the media, and body

For decades, media images have bombarded the minds of viewers. One of the images which has had a strong influence on society is that of women. Movie stars and actresses have inclined women to see their beauty and talent and encouraged them to follow in their footsteps. A strong desire to emulate talented individuals, in action and dress, has shaped strong beauty and role diversification in a short period of time. With the influx of women cast in ‘moving’ pictures and (later) television shows, the construction of inaccurate ideas concerning an “ideal” woman’s looks and responsibilities has emerged. Yet, women and young girls continue trying to emulate the roles and images they see on TV. American culture is saturated with messages in mass media and the effects are not always positive on society. The media portrayal of the “typical” American women’s roles and responsibilities has transformed the ideology of what a woman should be.

Female Stereotypes In The Media In the media the most common female stereotypes, are the housewife and the blonde bimbo. The Housewife.

The fashion industry has been around for a very long time, and its impact is reaching people of all ages. Its influence has been, in many ways, negative. The progressing aesthetic of thinness has reached its way into modeling; because of that, the pressures on models and consumers have increased. Models feel the need to keep up a thin body image, as it is a part of a successful modeling career. If the models are not thin enough, about a size zero, a designer could easily find a replacement. In 2006, the Centers for Disease Control found that 5’9” and 110 pounds was the average for a female model. As models become thinner, women and teenagers have become obsessed with body images and how they “should” look. Even girls as young as ten-years old are terrified of being fat (Rodenbough). Sarah Murnen, a psychology professor, says, “The promotion of the thin, sexy ideal in our culture has created a situation where the majority of girls and women don’t like their bodies.” Young girls are trying to imitate the image being taken away from the models they see. Girls as young as ten are feeling the need to be skinny, and there is even provocative clothing available for children (Hellmich). This image that the fashion industry is sending is dangerous and can provoke eating disorders among models and others; although organizations have responded to the eating disorders, most of their regulations are not effective.

Females have played a big part of mass media all over the world, especially in England and America. Over the centuries, the female roles in movies and literature have changed drastically. The way that females are now portrayed in the mass media resemble and sometimes equal mass media's portrayal of males. Women are given more independent roles in American and British mass media today than in previous centuries.