In recent years, there has been a gender shift in crime dramas on television. In the 70s, 80s, and early 90s, the viewer saw the lead characters to be heavily male dominated with a woman thrown in for mostly sex appeal. Nowadays, most crime dramas are either gender balanced or even female dominated. As this shift has occurred, many new issues began to spawn. Having female lead characters in these types of dramas allow younger female viewers to see that females are capable of working in a usually heavily male dominated workplace and hold positions of power and leadership. However, women in these roles seem to be giving an unrealistic image of women in this type of work environment. While crime dramas can provide young female viewers with strong female role models, the unrealistic image portrayed by these female leads often undermines the realities of motherhood and being a woman in the workplace.
Many current crime dramas give younger female viewers female role models in professionally powerful positions. Law and Order: SVU commonly casts their district attorneys and judges with women. In addition, the characters often are portrayed as independent and strong women as they battle against tough male opponents. For too long, women have been portrayed in television as either being the “woman behind the man” or as needing to use her sex appeal in order to be powerful. Another crime drama, Criminal Minds, has casted females in roles such as the director of the FBI’s Behavior Analysis Unit, agents who also worked undercover in the CIA, and as international secret agents. All of these characters have, for the most part, been portrayed positively. An adult is aware that in the real world women in powerful positions is not fiction; and, wom...
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...only be professional but to do a good job. The viewer has also seen female characters in this genre battle addictions to substances such as either alcohol or prescription medications. Of course, station executives want storylines that are exciting and interesting. They need to not only catch viewers, they especially need to maintain the viewer throughout the season and, ultimately, for seasons to come. Portraying women realistically may result in some boring television.
The shift in casting more female leads in crimes dramas has overall been a positive thing in the television industry for younger viewers. However, their roles and how they are portrayed must be taken with a grain of salt. They are portrayed unrealistically for an interesting storyline. It gives young viewers a false impression of women and how they manage a career, motherhood, and relationships.
Making Them Feel Like a Natural Woman: Constructing Gender Performances on The Maury Povich Show
Advertising has become increasingly popular with television shows like Mad Men that have allowed audiences to gain a new insight into the growing art form during the 1960s. It helps that the show has featured strong female characters like Peggy and Joan. These strong females have had to work their way up the ladder in the advertising world during a time of change. However, these women have key character faults that seem almost improbable and lead viewers to believe that women have only been able to climb the advertising ladder through sex and deception. Furthermore, the notion women may only be able to achieve an executive role through less than desirable tactics have been reinforced within the storyline. However, this is not exactly the
Another problem that arises when studying the violence against women on TV and in movies is that of how the incidents occur. In the same study conducted by the Parents Te...
Miss Representation, a documentary film produced by Jennifer Siebel Newsom released in 2011, presents a contemporary issue which is the misrepresentation of women’s portrayal in mass media. The media is powerful in shaping audience’s belief in how to be feminine. Women are expected to be beautiful, attractive, and even sexual on the media to attract audience’s attention. Also, the film points out the existence of social system in which men are considered more powerful and dominant than women. Finally, the film tries to increase the awareness of female real value including capability, educational achievement, and leadership. Consuming the media wisely to eliminate gendered stereotypes can help young women build their confidence and be successful.
Holland, J. G. (2008). The Feminization of the Community Corrections Work Force. Corrections Today. 70. 4: 44-47.
Erin G., 2010, A Woman Doing Life: Notes from a Prison for Women: The Southwest Journal of Criminal Justice. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. Pp. vi, 202, Vol. 8(2)175.
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The influence of the media on women is not unknown, but it was especially prevalent in the 1960s. According to David Croteau and William Hoynes, both professors of sociology, “Media images of women and men reflect and reproduce a whole set of stereotypical but changing gender roles” (quoted in Mahrdt 1) and, as society changes and opinions are altered, television shows adapt. However, the television show Mad Men is unique because it does not show life today, but the life of the 1960s. It shows what life was like for the women who lived during a time when the “feminine mystique” controlled society.
Traditionally, there has been little research on or interest in the impact of female crime in modern society. In addition, juvenile crime rates are on the rise, which combine for a void of research or information on female juvenile offenders. In general, crime rates for women offenders have risen since the 1990's. Increasing numbers of young women are also offending at higher rates. In a 1996 U.S. Department of Justice Report, the number of arrests of young women had doubled between 1989 and 1993. Twenty percent of all juvenile arrests were committed by girls, an increase of 87 percent. However, according to The National Study of Delinquency Prevention in Schools, males are far more likely to admit to criminal involvement than are females. For example, 12 percent of males and 4 percent of females reported carrying a hidden weapon other than a pocketknife in the past year (Wilson, p.150). There are several theories for this rise in crime proposed by modern feminists, including that the introduction of women into traditional male roles prompted women to commit increasingly dangerous and violent crimes. However, this paper will rely on Meda Chesney-Lind's theories from The Female Offender.
These movies allowed female characters to embody all the contradictions that could make them a woman. They were portrayed as the “femme fatale” and also “mother,” the “seductress” and at the same time the “saint,” (Newsom, 2011). Female characters were multi-faceted during this time and had much more complexity and interesting qualities than in the movies we watch today. Today, only 16% of protagonists in movies are female, and the portrayal of these women is one of sexualization and dependence rather than complexity (Newsom, 2011).
Led by Laura Mulvey, feminist film critics have discussed the difficulty presented to female spectators by the controlling male gaze and narrative generally found in mainstream film, creating for female spectators a position that forces them into limited choices: "bisexual" identification with active male characters; identification with the passive, often victimized, female characters; or on occasion, identification with a "masculinized" active female character, who is generally punished for her unhealthy behavior. Before discussing recent improvements, it is important to note that a group of Classic Hollywood films regularly offered female spectators positive, female characters who were active in controlling narrative, gazing and desiring: the screwball comedy.
When Marcus and Kevin are working the failed drug bust, all the employees involved in the scene at the gas station are males because this scene results in fighting, chasing, and shooting. All of these are stereotypical predominately male actions. After completing their assignment, Marcus arrives home from work expecting a hot meal and is disappointed when there is only take out. This pulls in gender ideology and the idea of the second shift by exampling male working stereotypes and female caretaking stereotypes. When returning to headquarters the next day Marcus suggests they take on their future assignment of escorting the sisters to the Hamptons and Kevin states, “I didn’t join the FBI to become a nanny I want to be on the streets where the action is.” This effectively shows traditional gender ideology as well. They believe as males they deserve to be front and center in the action, and that caretaking jobs were designed for women, not the other way around. In another aspect when the agents disguise themselves as the sisters, transforming themselves from African American males to white blonde females. In doing so they must mimic not only how they have already seen Brittney and Tiffany present themselves, but also how their peers in the Hamptons would expect to see them dress and act. This brings into play centerfold syndrome. This means that women are often
In order to comprehend the impact of television crime dramas on the criminal justice system, it is important to understand how the CSI effect operates. The relationship between entertainment programming and viewer beliefs is based on the media theory of cultivation. The cultivation theor...
In the criminal justice field, many studies are focused on the effects of media’s portrayal of crime. The definition of media has included TV news, TV dramas (Law and Order,NCIS, etc), and newspapers. Chiricos. Padgett, and Gertz (2011) and Romer, Hall Jamieson, and Aday (2003) included local versus national TV news watching in their study. Both studies found that increase in viewership of news media increased fear of crime. One found that local news had more of an influence on fear of crime than national news (Chiricos, Padgett, & Gertz, 2000).
Media portrayal of crime and criminal justice has become incredibly widespread in the last decade, with crime often considered both a source of news and entertainment. As a source of entertainment, crime and criminal justice have emerged as central themes across various sources of media. Most individuals do not have any direct experience with the criminal justice system, so their only source of information on this topic is the media. Particularly in television shows, portrayals of crime and criminal justice can be seen in everything from courtroom dramas to nightly news programs. Indeed, the popularity of crime shows has lead to some of television’s most enduring series, such as Law and Order and CSI. Because of this, fictional