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How mass media overcome with gender biases
How mass media overcome with gender biases
About gender stereotypes in the media
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The Representation of Men and Women in the Media
Men and women are both represented differently in the media these
days. Ironically it was even represented differently in the title of
this essay. Men came before women! I am writing an essay to explain
how men and women are represented in the media. I will show you my
understanding of how in the past women were marginalised in the media
and how men were shown as powerful figures. I will use the following
sources in my essay: Kenzo perfume for women advert (4.2a), Yves Saint
Laurent perfume for men advert (4.2b), IBM global services (4.14a),
Lanvin (4.14b). I will analyse these sources in my main body.
In the past fifty years women have been marginalised and were
represented as the weaker sex. The woman in the Kenzo advert is
represented stereotypically as a weak human. For example this can be
seen when the woman is bare footed, full of laughter, innocence and
leaning on an object. The woman leaning on the object signifies that
the woman cannot live without this perfume. This also could signify
that she is weak or is nothing without the perfume. Being full of
laughter and looking innocent signifies that this is stereotypically
feminine in terms of gender. Another example is how the woman is
represented standing sideways, wearing a white dress and is not
standing straight. Her not standing straight signifies how weak and
feeble she is. Not being able to stand straight signifies that the
woman is not complete. Wearing white dresses signifies that the woman
is a virgin, this is stereotypically feminine. Most people used to see
women as innocent virgins. Another example is how the picture...
... middle of paper ...
...s. This was very
stereotypical. Women are still used to sell objects. People still find
this more appealing, they like to see women exposing their bodies. So
producers tend to use women more in their productions and adverts.
Stereotypes play a big role in the world today, as producers rely
heavily on gender stereotypes. It could be a positive because gender
stereotypes allows the audience to decode the code instantly.
However people can debate that the world is changing and that gender
stereotypes are being ignored as I proved in the last two adverts. On
the other hand I still believe that the media still use gender
stereotypes. It is a big negative, to me because I love girls and I
don’t like seeing them used.
So I believe that gender stereotypes should not be used, because it
could be damaging to some people.
This is another commercial where we can directly see how the advertisers are overlooking gender stereotypes, by it being ranked number one it proves that when gender stereotypes and gender bias are not incorporated the advertisement becomes effective and
The media, through its many outlets, has a lasting effect on the values and social structure evident in modern day society. Television, in particular, has the ability to influence the social structure of society with its subjective content. As Dwight E. Brooks and Lisa P. Hébert write in their article, “GENDER, RACE, AND MEDIA REPRESENTATION”, the basis of our accepted social identities is heavily controlled by the media we consume. One of the social identities that is heavily influenced is gender: Brooks and Hébert conclude, “While sex differences are rooted in biology, how we come to understand and perform gender is based on culture” (Brooks, Hébert 297). With gender being shaped so profusely by our culture, it is important to be aware of how social identities, such as gender, are being constructed in the media.
In this essay I’ll be exploring various concepts of women and will deeply criticise the way women are seen and portrayed through advertising. My primary resource I’ll be referring to throughout this essay is a book called ‘Ways of seeing’ by John Berger, which highlights the role women during the early renaissance and onwards. In addition to this I will explore the various beliefs of women from a wide range of secondary resources, and will include references from books, websites, and various images to help clarify my statements.
Though Bordo expresses that the public is used to seeing it more-so of women, the new idea of using men as well has been introduced into our society as a rather new concept, and is causing varying reactions from the public. As a society, we have instilled into our minds that women are allowed to put themselves on display for everyone to see. These differences between how the public views men and women in the fashion industry via media has evolved significantly from exposing too little to too much. Today, it is normal to see men and women in advertisements exposing themselves in various ways. I believe that there are certain stereotypes attached to these images regardless of the social norm. In the Bordo quote, she was reacting to an article from the New York Times Magazine about the male body being advertised in ways that were considered “overkill” (194). I sincerely agree with the reaction of Bordo, and I do not think our society is progressing towards a society in which men and women will be viewed as
Through the application of physical appearance, audience and text the ad unfortunately paints women in a negative manner. The ad employs tactics that reel society into believing that women must put a man on a pedestal in order to gain his admiration. Women have the right to be treated equally and deserve to be represented in a positive light so the culture can fray away from following beliefs similarly portrayed in this 1930s advertisement. We must teach the next generation that although it is in our nature to nurture those around us, there are no boundaries or restrictions for women to excel in society for the
The documentary Killing Us Softly 4 discusses and examines the role of women in advertisements and the effects of the ads throughout history. The film begins by inspecting a variety of old ads. The speaker, Jean Kilbourne, then discusses and dissects each ad describing the messages of the advertisements and the subliminal meanings they evoke. The commercials from the past and now differ in some respects but they still suggest the same messages. These messages include but are not limited to the following: women are sexual objects, physical appearance is everything, and women are naturally inferior then men. Kilbourne discusses that because individuals are surrounded by media and advertisements everywhere they go, that these messages become real attitudes and mindsets in men and women. Women believe they must achieve a level of beauty similar to models they see in magazines and television commercials. On the other hand, men expect real women to have the same characteristics and look as beautiful as the women pictured in ads. However, even though women may diet and exercise, the reality...
Though at first glance, the woman is depicted as the inferior while she caters to the man, and is also quite devalued as a person as she is wearing revealing clothing, there appears to be an underlying competition between the man and woman in the advertisement, this is emphasized by the colors and symbols. The woman uses sex and alcohol to weaken the man, in attempt to gain some dominance in the man’s world. However, from the advertisment’s title, it is seen that the actions of the female are “antagonistic.” The woman is criticized for her techniques at achieving power yet the male is not criticized for objectifying women or using them to fulfill sexual fantasies. While an advertisement for Skyy Vodka, this ad presents the world of a successful, white male and warns him against the young seductress, desperate for power.
Instead, women are being discriminated and treated as inferior due to the stereotypes that are portrayed in the media. The media creates and reproduces ways of seeing that at a minimum reflect and shape our culture. We can look at the media to understand more about a culture’s values and norms, if we realize the limitations of looking at the media. For example, one may ask, does the news based in the United Sates represent what the American culture is like, or only what stands out from everyday American culture? The answer to that is no. Instead, the media represents what it thinks it will be able to sell and is supported by advertisements. This includes violent acts, the sensationally and inappropriate. Jhally reminds us that “it is this male, heterosexual, pornographic imagination based on the degradation and control of women that has colonized commercial culture in general, although it is more clearly articulated in music videos” (Jhally 2007). Therefore, “media content is a symbolic rather than a literal representation of society and that to be represented in the media is in itself a form of power—social groups that are powerless can be relatively easily ignored, allowing the media to focus on the social groups that ‘really matter’” (Gerbner,
Throughout this essay it will be discussed how female representations affects society, what has changed, if has changed during the years. Representations of women were a crucial subject of discussion especially in the concepts of the gaze that often refers to women as objects of the active gaze. The gaze establishes relationships of power, representing different codes such as dominance and subjugation, difference and otherness (Sturken and Cartwright 2009: 111).
One thousand years go by and an abundant amount of people still view women in a stereotypical type of way. On the opposing view, if women did not overstretch the slightest of things, this wouldn’t be such an enormous issue. Women may be overreacting to what the media has to say about them. It is not affecting everybody but a vast majority of successful women from continuing to moving forward said Marianne Schnall. Important to realize, women are capable of doing jobs men can do. Such jobs as being an engineer, physician, mechanic, lawyer and even top notch business women! Up to the present time there is an ongoing public debate on women suffering from double standards. If it makes a female feel threatened or belittled than it may be sexist. A very interesting article this came to be because the writer had numerous accountants to keep her argument steady. A worthy writer brings up present time activities, statistics, and people being affected by the scenario and provides the reader some closure. With a devastatingly crucial issue such as women being shunned by the media, it’s not okay to have the ideas of other people in your work. In the article, “Controversial Hillary Cover of Time Illuminates Sexism in the Media” by Marianne Schnall, implies that the media is negatively affecting the chances of women becoming successful with all the sexism it is portraying. Marianne Schnall is a published writer and professional interviewer with many influential credentials that she in not afraid to use.
Males are stereotyped in movies, books, magazines, television, almost any type or medium with a male figure exhibit some type of male stereotyping. The most common male stereotypes in the media are often very well known and referred to as normal traits that men are suppose to posses, and these male traits are the following: man are naturally stronger than the opposite sex, men are the family providers, bread-winners , men are tough, adventurous, brave, protectors, and most importantly a men must be able to shoot guns, jump off cliffs, ride motorcycles, and must be able to save the damsel in distress. While I have some idea of how men are stereotyped, my main focus here will be on how men are stereotyped within the media.
In the essay “Beauty (Re)discovers the Male Body,” author and philosopher Susan Bordo discusses the history and current state of male representation in advertisements. While using her feminist background, Bordo compares and contrasts the aspects of how men and women are portrayed in the public eye. She claims that there has been a paradigm shift the media with the theory that not just women are being objectified in the public eye, but also men too. Since the mid-1970s, with the introduction of Calvin Klein commercials, men have started to become more dehumanized and regarded as sex symbols. In a similar fashion to how Bordo describes gender, race plays a similar role in the media. People of all different ethnicities and cultures are being categorized into an oversimplified and usually unfair image by the media over basic characteristics.
The signs employed within the ad and the connection between signifiers and the signified were subjective and based on cultural representations. The denotative and connotative meanings that a message represents along with ‘doctrine of sign’s’ known as iconic, indexical and symbolic dimensions engaged by the advertiser to send ideology and mythical messages within the Katy Perry ad, such as wealth, authority and beauty are desirable and this can be attained if you buy this perfume. On a border and more thought provoking ideological level, the ad could perhaps interpret the message of freedom, prosperity and justice that women have culturally fought for throughout history. The basis of the selling pitch of the advert is sex, beauty and wealth. A contradiction perhaps, is an alternate meaning with the syntagm “Own the Throne’ intentionally placed underneath her genital area with Katy’s legs crossed. This may signify a deeper meaning that she is truly the one that ‘owns’ her sexuality not the advertiser. It is crucial advertiser’s understand that accomplishment of linguistic and non-linguistic communication is a result of the integrated system of cultural norms that allows potential buyers, to organise their world and give collective representations. In order to permit the reader to receive and successfully decode the
image of themselves in real life. They are almost computer-generated women like in the movie Simone. Indeed, with the technology we have now, advertisers can transform a product into perfection, at the same time, misleading the consumer into seeing it as “real”, and thus permanently providing impossible standards (Ingham). More and more women are becoming dissatisfied with themselves trying to be this fantasy person created by the men in our society. This distorted view of reality, portrayed by advertisemen...
Portrayal of Women in the Media Gender is the psychological characteristics and social categories that are created by human culture. Gender is the concept that humans express their gender when they interact with one another. Messages about how a male or female is supposed to act come from many different places. Schools, parents, and friends can influence a person.