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Media Expectations of Women
nature of gender discrimination
Media Expectations of Women
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Through the involvement of government legislature and the evolving demeanor of today’s society, inequalities between men and women in the workplace have dwindled to an all time low. However, while it is inevitable that progress continues, the struggle remains for women to gain the full equality they deserve. Many individuals are in error, believing that the war against gender discrimination has come to a victorious halt, however, this is not the case. It is essential to constitute the degree of validity, or ambiguity concerning the pervasive affirmations of a decrease in discrimination against women in the work force. Women endure a constant struggle as they fight to acquire, in all aspects, equality at work. Female news anchor certainly partake in this particular struggle. The road to news anchoring is an imperious one; survival is seldom and flourishing in the profession is less than common. As of today, the numbers of women who succeed as anchors is deficient due to the inconspicuous discrimination that hinders women’s progress in the profession.
There exists a plethora of men who have succeeded in the alluring yet demanding occupation of news anchoring, however, women, on the other hand, are avidly awaiting not only progress, but prosperity. heir lack of ascendancy continues to be impeded by the strict standards for beauty set for women in the industry, contrasted by the looser requirements expected of men. To succeed as newscasters women must surpass men in all aspects, their work ethic must be more efficient, their appearance must be flawless and they must go beyond their limits, testing their capabilities. While critical steps have been taken by women in televised broadcasting, equality is remote since men are a domina...
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... has been demonstrated that women are more than willing to confront these situation in order to succeed as anchorwomen. Though there is much progress to be made before equality among men and women on the news desk is attained, women continue to stand firmly on their views concerning discrimination and don’t go down without a fight. The incompetence society deems of women as news anchors is unjust; women are more than qualified and their potential to thrive is beyond what one can imagine. Though the role physical appearance plays among male and female news anchors is a crucial one, especially for women, it should not interfere with a woman’s professional progress. Discrimination severely limits a woman’s advancement in their profession, which is greatly unjust; opportunities to ascend should be given to all and anything that inhibits this should be terminated.
The documentary, “Miss Representation,” is a film about how women are perceived in the media. It is written, directed, and produced by Jennifer Siebel Newsom. She is an actress and a film maker who advocates for women. In the beginning of the documentary, Newsom discusses her struggles as a young woman surrounded by the pressures of looking a certain way. This film is targeting mainly women of all age that has experienced her struggles. Jennifer Siebel Newsom effectively convinces the audience of “Miss Representation” that the media has molded women in a negative way through statistics, celebrities’ and younger generation’s testimonies, and clips from the media.
Michael Abernathy’s article “Male Bashing on TV” uses many television sources and percentages to explain how men are treated like idiots inside of the media. Abernathy is a television reviewer, cultural critic, and queer culture commentator (350). While Heather Havrilesky's article “TV’s New Wave of Women:Smart, Strong, Borderline Insane” is the opposite and uses television sources to explain how women are treated as smart yet crazy inside of the media. These two articles describe how men and women are portrayed differently in television shows and the media. The articles have smaller subtopics in common which are the portrayal of men and women in the media, the comparison of men and women in each article, and how Abernathy and Havrilesky want
Miss Representation is a documentary based on women in the media and how the media has affected women today. “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” This quote is from Alice Walker, a female, who realized that they e...
There are so many codes of cultural context to learn, social rulebooks to observe and accept norms to understand. It’s flung at us in disjointed bits and pieces, seemingly offhand phrases and at informal moments. Maybe the core stereotyping role we are all passed from birth is based on gender and the norms that surround it, that never leaves our side. Director Siebel Newsom is no newcomer to gender issues. With 2011’s “Miss Representation,” a study of the damaging effects of mainstream media on women and girls, she addressed the frequently accepted underdog gender in an inspirational
“People learn more from media than any other single source of information” (Missrepresentation). This quote exemplifies how society learns and creates their standards about people, places, and things. All sources and mediums of media impact billions of lives every day. The media holds this power over society and it’s time to change that; especially when it comes to the media’s view of women. Women are constantly being misrepresented. This misrepresentation of women in the media is negatively impacting America by corrupting both the youth and adults. This is occurring because of the hyper-sexualization of women, wrongly portraying women in leadership positions, and creating stereotypes of women in movies and television.
“Don’t forget the ladies,” are the words that Abigail wrote to her husband John Adams during the drafting of the Bill of Rights. Unfortunately, her words went ignored because 130 years after that document was signed, women were still not given basic rights in America. During this period, female writers began to make themselves known on the dramatic stage through works such as the Yellow Wallpaper, and The Awakening. Glaspell, a 20th century feminist writer, wrote Trifles and A Jury of Her Peers to express her criticism for women’s rights; she also based it off a true story that she reported. She uses these writing pieces to examine the treatment of women and how she opposes the gender stratification that has hindered women during her time. This paper will attempt to analyze the role of women during the early 20th century, to compare and contrast how the men and women of the story examined the crime scene, and Glaspell’s opposition on the gender stratification.
I chose these four journal writings because I believe they are the strongest pieces I have written from the second half of the semester. The main focus of these journals was based on readings under the women as objects topic. The oppression of women has led to females being objectified and used as gratification for men. A woman’s body and appearance have become a commodity, especially in the media. Films, television shows, music and advertisements use women’s bodies to attract their audience and sell products. The movie watched in class “Killing Us Softly 4,” highlights this fact while presenting how women are represented throughout the media. The media has set and perpetuated a particular standard of beauty that is restrictive, but for some many women completely unattainable. The women represented in the media are young, thin and have western or European characteristics. Where does that leave the majority of women that do not fall under this category? This leads to women developing eating disorders to achieve an ideal body image that is manufactured through Photoshop and other picture editing systems. Women of color, women with disabilities or any woman that does not follow this standard is not represented within the media. When a few women do break this mold and become famous, they are set at a different standard. These women’s differences become the highlighted feature of their fame. However, the one constant in the media when it comes to women is the objectification and sexualization of women. This sexualization can lead to aggression or violence against women and the perpetuation of rape culture. The images viewed in the media directly impact how women view themselves and how others view women. By examining the issues women f...
The documentary Miss Representation describes the struggle of female leadership. It is based on the way the women look, the way they carry themselves, and the way they brutalize themselves to fit in with others. This documentation allow different women to tell their ways that the media have slashed them, and allow others to stand up for women. Women portray themselves to fit as the image that has been altered with to get it to look that way. Margaret Cho explains that her show All American Girl was cancelled because she had problems with the network who aired the show because they constantly said was not thin enough. That is a prime example of today's problems with pursuing your dreams as an actor or pursuing your dreams as a model. You have to change your physical features to fit in, and if you do not you won’t get in.
While women were able to gain access to this highly male dominated profession, and in some cases they outnumber their male counterparts, researchers agree that women are still facing discriminatory barriers. While discrimination is more subtle nowadays compared to the blatant and stupid style of the recent past (Adcock, 2006) women are still experiencing discrimination which is preventing them from receiving equal pay, thus hindering their progress and altering their career paths. They still face an array of barriers to achieving equality in their careers, including the allocation of work, opportunities for advancement, income differentials...
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.
Wilson now leads The Women’s Media Center, which trains women and girls to be “media savvy,” promotes media content by female writers and monitors and exposes “media sexism. ”Another organization, The Women’s Media Center, trains women and girls to be“media savvy,” promotes media content by women writers and monitors and exposes“media sexism. Has the way women are being represented in media (movies, television shows, advertisements, newscasts, and talk shows) improved in the last decade. The film reveals and attacks the negative and limiting images of girls and women, particularly in media. Society should worry more about the impact on all women and girls of the negative media images of them. The fact there are still popular shows that portray
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.
Women of color have had to suffer through a copious number of years of being objectified sexually in media – magazines, music videos, movies, shows (Carolina). “Throughout history the media has played a large role in portraying women as unrealistically sexual, and the old excuse is, “SEX SELLS” (Yancey). Media companies have been profiting off of exploiting a woman’s body and have continued to use this as a business ordeal. Companies continue to use this tactic even though it has been proven that, over time, there was a decrease in profits and other advertising strategies. Although consumers have deferred from feeding into these companies, this tactic continued to be seen in our society today. The lack of diversified representation of women of color has made it harder for women to break through the gender roles and pursue their career of choice. Although women of color have began to be represented more, women of color continue to be underrepresented in many male- dominated jobs (Kerby). When media influencers did decide to incorporate women of color in their productions, they were forced to undergo racial and gender biases that reinscribed stereotypical understandings of woman of color. The representation of women of color in media also reflects the representation of women of color in many work
These inequalities are accepted readily in today’s society and most fail to see that direct gender discrimination is still very much a problem in society today. In 1988, Bretl and Cantor conducted a study into gender representation in television programs and advertisements. It was found that women were more likely to be filmed in a domestic situation and portrayed as being unemployed, working part-time or in low paying jobs such as catering and sales. It was also found that 90% of the time a narrator would be male, and women were more likely than men to be seen advertising household goods (Furnham, A. Mak, T. 1999, 414). It...
For example, In 2011, the Commission of the image of women in the media(Commission sur l’image des femmes dans les medias) in France, published an annual report. The commission was organized in 2009, in the social context that the women are not well represented in the media. The report tried to figure out the percentage of female ‘experts’ in the media including radio and TV. According to the report, 80% of the experts who appeared in the media were male. Considering the fact that the casting process is totally dependent on the decision of the production and their idea of ‘who is more likely to appear as serious and trustful person’, the result is quite shocking. It shows that the image of female in the media is rather a testifier or a victim, than an expert. The social position of women has been significantly improved in last hundred years, but how media treat them has not been pulled out from the traditional-patriarchal view point. This could be very dangerous because mass-media is accessible for people of all social classes and age groups, and for the most of t...