Gender Representation In The Media

In this essay I am going to explore the representations of gender within the media and how it can impact upon the overwhelming use of stereotypes within the advertising industry. I am also going to investigate how the rise in popularity of the media, in particular the internet as a platform, has changed the way in which feminism can be carried out, with the use of social media campaigns such as #thisgirlcan. Overall Gill analyses the main changes within the feminist way of thinking over the last four decades. She critiques whether it has had an impact upon the media industry and if it has challenged the way that both men and women are represented in the media sector. The media can often be scrutinised for idealising certain

Men are constantly bombarded with the ideologies that to be male and masculine, is to be a strong, Ramboesque figure. Petersen claims that men have ‘lot their identities’ and have therefore ‘responded by becoming a ‘tough guy’ (Badinter 1995). Gill argues that the main issue with the hegemonic view of masculinity today is that ‘it implies uniformity and consensus of what masculinity is’ (Gill 2007). As Gill states, yes the ideology of what is ‘masculine’ changes over time due to general circumstances. But just as she states with the representation of women, there are many differing social groups and identities within the ‘male’ category. Therefore an overall consensus cannot just be assumed, further complication with what one male would derive as wrongly represented, and another may be seen as in agreement. Another criticism of this view comes from David Gauntlett. He states that ‘the media no longer take into account traditions’ and therefore portraying new identities can be a risk (Gauntlett 2002). He also argues that our ‘identities are fluid and are changing constantly over time’ (Gauntlett 2002). If this is the case for male identities, will one universally accepted

Gill believes that, ‘media images relate to individuals sense of identity and subjectivity’ (Gill 2007). This idea could mean that due to the male representation within the Barbie advert, males who do play with dolls could feel more accepted and therefore be happy with themselves being represented within the media, resulting in them feeling included in society. As Gill states, parody films such as the ‘Scary Movie’ franchise, thrive their success upon the use of gender stereotypes (Gill 2007). The heavy use of gendered stereotypes such as the character ‘Bobby Prinze’ played by Jon Abrahams could again be prevented the gender argument from being taken seriously. The character is rude and overpowering to the female characters who are seen as submissive and an object of sexual pleasure, which is seen as an outdated, traditionalistic view of the gender hierarchy. In conclusion, I believe that feminist arguments and movements have somewhat influenced the way in which gender is represented in the media today. Rattansi indicates that ‘simply replacing one set of representations with another, defining views of what positive is’ (Rattansi 1992), will never successfully change the face of representations found in the media. Therefore I believe that in order for