WOMEN IN THE MEDIA

DEFINITION

The definition of a woman is obvious but, the dictionary describes a woman as a human who is an adult and of the female gender.

DIFFERENT PORTRAYALS AND STEREOTYPES OF WOMEN IN THE MEDIA

Body Image Sex Icons Non-Working, House Cleaner, Home Cook, and the One

Who Cares For The Babies Weak and Dependent Never In Power or Charge

BODY IMAGE Women are shown in the media as perfect, and anything less

than that is somewhat non beautiful. The person is considered ugly or the person is some what less of a person if they do not look the certain way that is in the media.

The ‘perfect’ woman that is in ads, TV or movies has a certain body shape, it is always thin or at least in shape. They have ‘perfect’ skin, which is no freckles or blemishes and no wrinkles. They have perfect hair too, which is no frizz and it is in control. This is what is considered beautiful.

Old women are almost shunned in the media, because of their wrinkles. These lines are unattractive so the media avoids it all together.

Advertisements have pictures of beautiful girls who supposedly only have on or only have used the product that is being sold. But, truthfully, they have so much more on and the picture has been played and altered with extensively.

The lead actresses in TV shows or movies are skinny. If there is someone larger in the show, they are normally made fun of, do not have any luck (especially with relationships) and are the outcasts.

THIS RESULTS IN… As a result of this portrayal and view of beauty, there are many self confidence

issues and eating disorders that arise, mostly with younger women. Women and girls who see these ads get thoughts in their head that if they do not

look that way, they are not beautiful and possibly even worthless. It is shown that women who do look this way ‘have it all’, success, a family, and what is considered a perfect life. People seeing this get the impression that they will never have this life.

Men get a portrait of what women should look like and then start to expect that out of the females around them.

Little or younger girls who see this image start to want to look that way. Now, there are younger and younger girls dressing up (or not wearing the ‘normal’ jeans and a t-shirt), wearing makeup and using heat on their hair.

Recently, there has been more of an initiative to have more real people and less Photoshop in ads. People are becoming more aware of the damages that this portrayal causes. Dove is one company that has taken off with having real people, they have started a campaign with pictures of larger and older women.

Although Dove is doing this, we are no where close to having ads not being tampered with and having a mix of shapes and sizes for the actresses in TV shows and movies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1-UMzt9e34

This is the trailer for ‘You Again’. In the movie, Marni was considered ‘ugly’ in high school, she was picked on and never had a relationship. JJ however is portrayed as beautiful, she was popular and the head cheer leader. Even though time has passed and Marni has changed, she is still not in a real relationship (although she does meet someone) but JJ is engaged.

This is one of the examples of the Dove initiative.

These are few of the many examples of hair or make up ads that people see everyday in the media, from their magazine to the TV. The women in the pictures are portrayed as beautiful with their glowing skin and flawless hair. But, this is not just due to the product shown, it is from the computer program.

Models have been traditionally skinny, but try finding an ad for anything with women being the realistic size, or a size that is appropriate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omBfg3UwkYM This is a clip of what a team of makeup artists can do!

SEX ICONS In the media, women are displayed as being sexy and most of the

time, are lacking clothes. The women are shown being ‘scantily clad’.

In TV shows and movies, even the average, normal girl is wearing deep v shirts, really short skirts, or skin tight jeans.

This comes from the idea that ‘sex sells’. For advertisements, it is a marketing scheme. Advertisers want to appeal to as many people as they can and these images of women supposedly do that. If the product is targeted for men, the likely hood of there being this portrayal is greater.

For TV and the movies, women are displayed this way because in this society, people are used to seeing women like that, which is quite sad. This is apparently what the men want and like to see.

Women in the media are used by men for their pleasures and it is sometimes shown that the woman does not mind.

THIS RESULTS IN… Women but mostly young girls wanting to look that way. Girls

have started to dress more provocatively at a younger and younger age.

Boys and men feel as if they can take advantage of girls and women.

Men thinking that women do not deserve anything, especially respect, because they do not show or give respect to themselves.

Men and people in general start to think that these images is what women are only for or what these women are wearing (or not wearing) is what all women should be like.

So much for fighting so hard for equal rights in the 1960’s!

Sports Illustrated devotes a months issue towards women’s bathing suits. That is what they say they are showing but we all know that it is just for the girls with bikini’s on.

This was the most ‘school appropriate’ example.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPq7jVGPs3g This is the Mercedes Benz ad, featuring Kate Upton, that aired during the Super Bowl this year. Remember, this is an ad for the car.

Ads for perfume seem to be the ads where this is portrayed the most.

No one thinks about Megan Fox for her acting abilities.

NON-WORKING, HOUSE CLEANER, HOME CHEF, AND THE ONE WHO CARES FOR THE BABIES

This is a stereotype and portrayal that is directly from the history of the role of the woman. It is now demeaning. Women have always been people who are able to multitask and in todays world, they juggle even more.

It is extremely common for a mom to have a full time job along with cook, clean, take care of babies, take kids from activity to activity, and more and be a loving person and wife.

Even though women have fought major battles to try and be as equal to men as we are now. Yes, there have been some huge improvements. But, women are still not viewed equally, which is ridiculous because we live in a world deemed as ‘modern’.

Women are much more than the slave at home, which is what is portrayed.

THIS RESULTS IN…

With this portrayal of women, people think that the mom’s who stay at home now and in today’s world are lazy and do nothing. This is an obscured thought as even in the past they have never been lazy.

Men, in particular, get the thought that they can control girls and women because they are the ones who typically worked in the past when this role of women was more common.

Who hasn’t heard the phrase being said ‘make me a sandwich!’ or ‘get back in the kitchen!’. Sure, this may be in joking terms but the fact the people say this to begin with in the modern world we live in is insulting and ridiculous.

Men believe that women are worthless because it is portrayed that women just stay at home.

WEAK AND DEPENDENT Women are shown as being weak and definitely no where near as strong as men. This

is not only physical but also mentally, emotionally and others.

Women are shown to not have a backbone. They cannot stand up for themselves or make a decision for themselves. They are the complete opposite of a independent, self respecting woman.

Some women like this role. They use the ‘because I am a girl’ line to get what they want, like having someone carry the grocery bags. They act like the princess and that means that they cannot do anything that requires work.

This portrayal is also in the jobs that are deemed ‘appropriate’ for women. It is said that women are too weak for and cannot handle jobs like Police Officers, Firefighters, Military, anything involving the traits and more.

Even the different names of defining someone are female has an element of the male version involved.

-Mrs. and Mr.

-Female and Male

-Woman and Man

The portrayal and stereotype implies that women are nothing without the man. It also implies that women can not do anything without a man. These things vary with a very wide range, from deciding on something small, like what shirt to buy, to something big, like which type of vehicle would better suit themselves.

This portrayal is in nearly every Disney movie. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEYbcUSOLGs This is an episode of Say Yes to the Dress. Unfortunately, this is not the only bride to be who takes her fiancé dress shopping that acts the same way that she does. She does not have a backbone, she cannot even stand up and say what she wants for her special day. Although, in this case, it may be because this future groom is super controlling. Start at - 1:13End at - 4:30In the end, the bride is upset that her fiancé does not like the one she likes. They kick him out of the salon. The people at the store have to go to this extreme just for the bride to say yes to the dress that she likes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXrKC01UBpQ

This is a clip from The Sandlot 2. The mother is a women’s activist and shares her opinion with her daughter. Start at – 2:54End at – 3:20

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzrFylZsVWs 9:16 to 11:40This is another example of women proving the stereotype and media displaying women to being weak and dependant on their male partners. It is from Say Yes to the Dress as well.

NEVER IN POWER OR CHARGE

In tradition, it is always men who are the ones in charge. This is from many thing things like politics, owners and CEO’s of companies and businesses to name a few.

This stems from women staying at home while the man went to work, many years ago.

Even though women are starting to break through and have people support them in their positions of power, there is still some resentment and doubt. Today, when we hear about a woman who has been elected into office or has taken a company that was in troubles to great success, there is some surprise in our voices. It is not just a person who has accomplished this, it is made sure that we hear the fact that this person is a women. The media emphasizes about how they are doing something extraordinary but if a man was doing the same thing, it is likely that would be mentioned and everyone would carry on.

It results in people not having an open mind. This affects people’s opinion of women who are doing something. People are not used to seeing women in control and it unfortunately becomes a shock to their systems when they see this.

These are the people who are in power or control of something successful, or who have achieved success in their life. Notice how they are all men.

Out of the 312 members in the House of Commons, there are only 77 women.There are 100 American Senators for the States and there are only 20 females.

Majority of the superheroes are men.

(This list could go on for days!)

These are some women who are leading success in their life. Notice how there are much fewer of them and the average person has rarely heard of them and their company. Also think about what the media says about these women in that it is truly amazing that these women are accomplishing this.

These ladies are some of the few that are more commonly known of.

HISTORY OF WOMEN IN THE MEDIA

Thankfully, the portrayal and view of women has changed over the years. There are still some major problems, but we may never see those opinions be erased. Because of the stereotypes and portrayal of women were what they were in the past, we have the ones today. Whether they are in mockery of the views in the past or a twist on what they were, they are still there and women are still faced with them everyday across the world.

I COULD GO ON…

There is so much more that I could say on the topic on women and their portrayal in the media. Just in the topics that I have mentioned, it could go on for days. Unfortunately, I could continue with all the other portrayals that are in the media that I have not mentioned.

THE END