Representations Of Women And Women

In Western genre, women are repeatedly portrayed as either the helpless damsel in distress or the wild saloon girl. Most Western movies have elements of a gunfight,rivalry, redemption, and/or romance written into the script. A large percentage of the stereotypes of the American West comes from these exaggerated characters and storylines. Very rarely do western films present a strong female lead. When they do, there is frequently a subplot of romance written into it. Few Western genre and cinema portray the true nature of what women in the West were like.

The sexualisation of women in advertising has become a very prominent and controversial issue in today’s society. Many brands, products and campaigns we are presented with portray women as being available and willing sexual objects, who exist to cater to the male gender. Gucci is one such brand that does this, focusing on emphasizing the sexual appeal of the female gender in order to sell their products, because as advertisers know: ‘sex sells.’ This new cultural shift can however, be seen as politically regressive for women, as the ideology it brings negatively impacts how women are viewed by society and how they view themselves.

Women have had many different roles in the history of European literature but have generally been restricted to the roles assigned to them in a largely patriarchal society. As a result of this society, these roles have often been powerless ones. This calls into question the constitution of a powerful woman in literature: in Beowulf, being a powerful woman means becoming the bond between families and alliances; in Lanval, power comes from assertion and control-- a powerful woman is a woman in charge. The primary difference between the representation of women in Beowulf and Lanval is that the latter transcends overarching patriarchal boundaries, and the former does not; the reason for their respective representations lies in the literary time periods in which the stories were written. From this, one can see that the introduction of romance as a central theme gave way to new representations and roles of women in predominantly heteropatriarchal English literature and gives new meaning to the analysis of stories like these.

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.

Over the years the United States has grown to love each other as the way people are, especially women. Women have proven to be even stronger than what people expected them to be. You can see the strength, the courage, and the confidence they have gained. It has been discussed many years that women shouldn’t be allowed in combat for not being “strong enough”. Men have shown that they can be “manly” enough to do women or girl things, so why can’t women do “manly” things? If women feel like they can handle being on the frontline then we should respect their decision and allow them to go.

The audience of the documentary “Makers, volume 2” by PBS, is directed to young adults, and pretty much anyone who wants to inform themselves a little more regarding woman equality in the United States politics. The purpose of the documentary is to educate people about how women have come from a long way to be where they currently are. The documentary starts by reflecting on the former days when women could not vote and were not represented in the senate or congress. From there, the documentary moves on through the years to demonstrate how women fought to have more representation and, eventually, occupied government seats.

Robertson, Amber. “Women’s Agency as Represented in Various Works of Medieval Literature.” Aegis: Otterbein Humanities Journal, vol. 10, 2005.

In her foundational study “Language, Sign and Gender in Beowulf,” Gillian Overing focuses on female signification into Anglo-Saxon culture. She states that since Anglo-Saxon culture is war and death-oriented, women are not a natural fixture of the heroic system—thus, none of the peace-weavers in Beowulf are successful at the task. She asserts that the women who function as peace-weavers are either silent, are not given acknowledgement for their work, or disappear

The focus of women in Beowulf may seem to cause some people to question the authority or overall place in the epic tale. Being written

An ancient Scandinavian civilisation, known today as The Vikings, explored Europe and Scandinavia by sea, in order to trade, raid, pillage and conquer. During a period referred to as The Viking Age, the Vikings settled and colonised in Greenland, Newfoundland, The Faroe Islands, Iceland, Normandy, Scotland, Ukraine, Ireland, England, Russia and Anatolia. There is evidence that Viking women reached the majority of the Viking World, from Russia in the east to Newfoundland in the west. Although, it is difficult to separate the voices of Viking women from the predominantly male chorus, women played various fundamental roles in Scandinavia during the Viking Age. Despite the Viking’s partial endorsement of female rights and gender equality, there

As an epic tale of heroes and monsters, Beowulf gives its readers much excitement and adventure, but Beowulf's importance is more than just literary. It offers many insights into the beliefs and customs of seventh-century Anglo-Saxon culture. Among these insights is the Anglo-Saxon view of women and their role in society. Good Anglo-Saxon women are peaceful and unassertive, greeting guests and serving drinks to the warriors and other men in the meadhall. Wealhtheow, the queen of the Danes, represents a typical subservient Anglo-Saxon woman. As a foil to Wealhtheow, Grendel's mother is a strong and combative monster whom Beowulf must kill. By analyzing these two characters in Beowulf, we can understand the

In this paper I will look at sex, sexuality and gender roles in both “The Mabignion” and The Poetic Edda. I will focus on the story of Math ab Mathonwy’s revenge on his nephews for the rape of his foot-holder Goewin in the “Four Branches of the Mabignoni” and on the tales of Gudrun and her revenge of her brother Gunnar’s Death in “The Poetic Edda”. I will also look at how the portrayal of sex, sexuality and gender roles reflected both the Welsh and Norse societies.

Two statistics really stood out to me. The first fact from Miss Representation being that only 16% of women are protagonist in films. Even in these movies where the writers and producers has control of what is possible in the world in which the world takes place, they still choose to place a man in the starring role. If someone can have superpowers or be living in an alternate universe is it so far-fetched that it would be a women in charge?

I chose to explain my overall theme of women as a representation of a gender for reasons connected close to me. I am a female firefighter. Although I have not faced discrimination, harassment or pre judgment, there are tons of stories of women who have. The Fire Department is just one of the numerous jobs that have a male dominated work force. Any employee should be treated as a professional. Women do not need to be subject to boorish, egregious, sexist, and discriminatory behavior by coworkers. Yes, we can joke around and have fun, but the line is drawn when the target of your “jokes” says to stop, you need to stop. Remember, we all have mothers and some of us have daughters and you would not want your family treated in this fashion.

The film, Miss Representation, directed by Jennifer Siebel-Newsom, was not an extremely surprising film for me. I attended an all-girls high school in Cleveland, Ohio, where the inequalities that women face on a daily basis were presented to us throughout our educational experience. I actually viewed this film in high school where my teachers, and the film, helped solidify the fact that woman are not only objectified and sexualized, but we are also perceived as lesser than and less incompetent human beings to our male counterparts. I do not think that this film exaggerated by any means what women go through on a daily basis in this male driven world. Men are not cat called on the streets for their physical appearance, they are not made to look submissive in advertisements, and they are not constantly demeaned for looking or acting “bitchy” on the television.