Magazines Play a Role in Popular Culture and Shape Gender

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Our society is surrounded by several means that reinforce popular culture. Mass media plays significant roles in reflecting, reinforcing, and changing the dominant systems and ideologies that help shape gender. Women are judged based on their height and weight. Men get a lot of pressure to be muscular and buff. Everyone has pressure to conform to a certain body type. Major sources of these opinions come from television, the internet, books, radio, and print media (BOOK). Magazines have helped to shape popular culture for many years, and the topic has interested me throughout the semester in this class. The objectification of women in America is reinforced by magazines, which relates to this class. Feminist views on mass media are important to understand when reading a magazine.
The objectification of women in American mass media has been an issue for several decades. The image of the ideal women that is presented via mass media is harmful. Magazines set a standard for women to follow and ideals to aspire to. A female has a set of guidelines that are given in mass media that teach women how to behave, when to wear make-up, how to dress, what her body should look like, and how to treat her lover. The representation of women in many magazines has reduced the worth of women down to objects that are won, shown off, and abused. Magazines are challenging women to change themselves to fit into society. These changes are objectifying women and causing men to be in control. Objectification is discussed in Women’s Voices, Feminist Visions.
Chapter nine of Women’s Voices, Feminist Visions discusses the multiple modes of mass media that affect women’s culture. Magazines are important in popular culture. Magazines are made...

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...tty woman. Females can look beautiful and have the power, ambition, success, determination, and be of equal value to a man. There are many feminist magazines. These magazines have less sexualized women and give information about the feminist views on events that are happening. One day, I hope that the feminist views are shown in more magazines so that women are less objectified and more equal to men in the media.
In conclusion, magazines are important artifacts in popular culture. The publications are objectifying women while reflecting, reinforcing and dominating systems in gender in society. The way that women are shown in mass media has caused social tension. Feminists have many opinions on the many forms of mass media. I hope that one day women will not be sexualized in the media and instead be shown as successful and strong women that are equal to men.

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