Sexuality in the media is a major problem that influences the public both negatively and positively. The article entitles “Positive female role models eliminate negative effects of sexually violent media” written by Christopher J. Ferguson, tested four hypothesis as to whether or not the media portrayal of women influence or impact depression, anxiety and negative attitudes of women of both male or female. He also tested his hypotheses by concluding that sexuality violence is not only found in pornographic films but also nonpornograhic films.
Sexually violent media encapsulates a broad category of media in which themes and violence are intermingled. For instance such media may depict physical aggression by males against females (or females against males or same-sex dyads) in the context of sexual scenarios or involving prurient (i.e., intended to be arousing) nudity. Sexual violence is not found only in pornography and may, in fact, be observed in adult-rated (R or TV-MA) movies or television shows as well as books (Ferguson, 2012).
The four hypotheses being tested in this article are: First, men (but not women) exposed to sexually violent media with negative portrayals of women will show increased negative attitudes toward women compared to neutral media (i.e., nonsexually violent). Second, men exposed to sexually violent media with positive portrayals of strong female leads and will show increased negative attitudes relative to neutral control. Third, women (but not men) exposed to sexually violent media with negative portrayals of women will show increased negative mood (anxiety, depression) compared to neutral media (i.e., nonsexually violent). And forth, women exposed to sexually violent media with positive portrayals of st...
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.... It supported the main point in the film that female characters remained inferior to male characters. It also highlights that even though many films involve a strong female character, she will still be a victim of sexual violence and negative attitudes will remain towards her. Because of the media, myths about female sexuality continue to spread.
In class we discussed how men are often classified as the strong character who usually engages in fights or the superheroes in a film. Looking at most Disney films, females are usually vulnerable and always need a man or prince by their sides to be complete. Media which include a high degree of sexually violent content may also tend to portray women as passive, submissive and inferior (Ferguson, 2012). The gap between male and female characters is extremely big and results in negative attitudes towards women in society.
In the first paragraph of Laurie Penny’s essay “What to do when you’re not the hero anymore” she tells the reader how she recently went to see the new Star Wars movie. To her surprise a female character, Rey, fought off a bad guy as an equal. Hollywood has incredible power in how messages are portrayed in books, TV shows, and movies. It is no secret that media representation normalizes the reality of white male power. Penny explores how it is becoming more common to see a women lead in books, movies, and TV shows, rather than the stereotypical male.
Hepburn, Mary A. "TV Violence! A Medium’s Effects Under Scrutiny." Social Education. Sept 1997: pp244-249. SIRS Researcher. Available <http://researcher.sirs.com/>
Despite the tremendous steps that have been taken towards reaching gender equality, mainstream media contradicts these accomplishments with stereotypes of women present in Walt Disney movies. These unrealistic stereotypes may be detrimental to children because they grow up with a distorted view of how men and women interact. Disney animated films assign gender roles to characters, and young children should not be exposed to inequality between genders because its effect on their view of what is right and wrong in society is harmful to their future. According to Disney films, it is important for women to achieve the stereotypical characteristics of a woman, such as maintaining their beauty to capture a man, and being weak and less educated than male characters. The women in Disney movies are always beautiful, which helps them to find a man.
Disney has portrayed women in movies by the use of animation characters for over a century since the 1900s. There has been a very big change since the early 1900’s to modern day in Disney’s depiction of the personalities of the women, their attitudes and ideologies towards men, and the way they are portrayed in the movies. This progression has had a distinct development, from passive damsels in distress in need of the help of men, to being superheroes. Therefore, the evolution of women in Disney movies will be analyzed through the use of university level feminist essays, as well as a research paper written about gender roles in Disney animation. The evolution will also be analyzed through examination of the clips of the movies themselves.
Mainstream movies are about men’s lives, and the few movies about women’s lives, at their core, still also revolve around men (Newsom, 2011). These female leads often have male love interests, looking to get married or get pregnant. Strong independent female leads are still exist for the male view, as they are hypersexualized, or the “fighting fuck toy,” (Newsom, 2011). This depiction has created a culture where women are insecure and waiting for a knight on a horse to come rescue and provide for her as well as the acceptance of women
Amidst consumers, pornography appears to be popular. In an anonymous survey of 688 Danish young adults, a great majority reported that pornography had a positive effect on their lives, this being particularly significant for males (Hald & Malamuth, 2008). Another study with American college students (Weinberg, Williams, Kleiner, & Irizarry, 2010) suggested that for many consumers, porn could be a way to learn about sexual practices and make them seem more appealing. However, such positivism is not as clear cut on research. Duggan and McCreary (2004) found that reading magazines focused on “improving” male physique was linked to poorer self-image on both gay and heterosexual males, and that porn consumption by gay males was linked to increased body image anxiety. The present study aims to see whether the same pattern of results holds true about women: Would women who watch porn have lower self-esteem?
Anderson, C.A., & Bushman, B.J. (2002). The effects of media violence on society. Science, 295, 2377-2378
A common trend in the entertainment industry today is the objectification of women in society. Sexualizing women are seen in media such as; movies, advertisement, television show and music video, where their main focus is providing the audience with an image of women as sexual objects rather than a human. This is detrimental to society since the media is producing social stereotypes for both genders, which can further result in corrupted social habits. Objectification in media are more focused on females than male, these false images of women leave individuals with the wrong idea of the opposite sex. As media continuously use sexual contents regarding women, the audience starts underestimating women. Specifically movies, it allows media to shape the culture’s idea of romance, sex and what seems
Critics have warned the public audience about Disney programming’s affect on the “invasion and control of children’s imagination” (Ross 5). These movies express the typical gender roles “such as males being physically strong, assertive, and athletic, and females being prone to overt emotion, inc...
...n by naming the title of the movie after the main female protagonists. Just look at the Little Mermaid, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and even Beauty and the Beast. All are movies about the females being damsels in distress and having a male come to their rescue. Charles Perrault’s original version portrays the perfect version that children all around the world should be watching. Children are already very impressionable and what they watch when they are younger is how they eventually will act. How they grow up rests on the children movies and books of that generation. Those movies and books are what form the future leaders of our countries and for one very impressionable company, such as Disney, to be favoring one gender more than the other can result in chaos. Overall, Charles Perrault’s feminist lens in his story can lead girls to an empowering high self-esteem.
Disney is one of the largest corporations in the world, known for entertaining and having a dominant role in children’s media for over 60 years and counting (Towbin, Haddock, Zimmerman, Lund & Tanner, 2003). The purpose of this study is to analyze Disney animated films according to gender roles and gender role portrayals. Research shows that Disney animated films have highly portrayed traditionally feminine and masculine characteristics (England, Descartes and Meek, 2011). The focus of this paper is to discuss the stereotypical representation of gender role portrayal between the men and women in Disney animated films. Scholars have suggested that in Disney animated films women are portrayed as being domestic, nurturing, wanting to marry, helpless and in need of protection (Towbin, Haddock, Zimmerman, Lund & Tanner, 2003). However, men are portrayed as having a non- domestic job, use physical anger as a mean to express emotion, are naturally physically strong and are very heroic (Towbin, Haddock, Zimmerman, Lund & Tanner, 2003). My first hypothesis is whether in Disney animated films, men are playing traditional roles and women are playing traditional roles. My third second is whether stereotypical gender role portrayal in Disney animated films will become less traditionally characterized as society progressed to let go of traditional gender roles.
... portraying women in roles that don’t objectify them, encourage degradation, and promote feminism and female agency, there are some films that (luckily) do possess these traits. Tests such as the Bechdel Test, and theoriest such as Moi and Mulvey, point out and raise the issues present in our current patriarchal society that tries so hard to pigeonhole women and reduce them to sexual objects without agency, present only for male pleasure and power, are incredibly valid and important, yet no longer as overwhelmingly true – the feminist movement is making progress, on some fronts, even in the world of Disney, which constantly receives critique for the women role models that it promotes to young girls. Luckily, through the lenses presented by Moi and Mulvey, it becomes apparent that these Disney Princesses do possess agency, and are not just there for men to objectify.
The regularity and asperity of media violence has dramatically increased over the years. The Media exists in almost every aspect of people’s lives and exposure to violence in the media is becoming a large concern. People are exposed violent acts in the media everyday between video games, movies, and television. Parents are distressed over the fact tha...
With the explosion of technology today, access to the media is at your fingertips, anytime, anywhere, and almost 24/7. Video games, movies, cartoons, daily news, websites, music videos, and even in commercials, violence is everywhere, and it becomes harder and harder to avoid. Violence in the media has been increasing and reaching dangerous proportions. According to Report of the Media Violence Commission, the effects are remarkably consistent regardless of type of medium, age, gender, or where the person lives in the world (336). Many studies and researches reveal the empirical evidence that links violence in movies and television shows to aggressive behavior in children, teenagers, and adults. Increasing aggressive behavior, desensitization to violence, and fear are three types of negative effects contributed to by violence in movies and television shows. The article, “The Influence of Media Violence on Youth” emphasizes that violent television shows, films, and music reveal unequivocal evidence that media violence increases the likelihood aggressive and violent behavior in both immediately, and in the long term (Anderson, Craig A., 81). Violence now has gone into the mainstream. The Hunger Games, one of the top grossing films in 2013 replete with blood, gore and violence. The Walking Dead was once voted highest-rated entertainment program on TV with horrific violent scenes, killing from stabbing into the heads, bloody corpses, and disturbing, haunting images shown in most of the scenes. CBS’ Criminal Minds is television show with series of scary scenarios showing the violent murders of psychopath people. Worst of all, Silence of the Lambs deals with a psychopath who ...
As long as violent programmes are shown on TV, the role of the mass media becomes completely different from how it was originally treated. Violence is socially harmful and especially the youth are very prone to such scenes that may strongly affect their psyches. It is true that programmes featuring cruel pictures are marked as ‘only for adults’ but the time when they are emitted is relatively early and the access to them seems to be rather unlimited to young people.