How Are Women Portrayed In The Media

The way men and women are portrayed in the media can say a lot about our society and the way we view our world. We view the media in many different forms of popular culture, such as magazines, movies, music videos and television shows. But what we see does not always portray what is realistic. Advertisements are great way for the media to persuade the world of who and what they should be. Advertisements usually display the stereotypical images of men and women. In these images, men are usually portrayed as being muscular and fit, while women are portrayed as being tall and super thin. The way the media portrays men and women in society are often very different from one another as well. Women are often times not taken as seriously as men are,

The amount of time children spend watching television can influence how they feel about gender and gender roles. Many of the things children see on television shows are still very stereotypical. They are still portraying male characters as more powerful and having better occupations than female characters. Children often relate to the characters they see on their favorite television shows, and report that they want to be just like them when they grow up. (text pg 65) This could be a problem because young girls who see these kinds of things on television shows might start to believe that these stereotypes are actually true. This could potentially lead to girls having a lower self esteem and self

Instead, this study used images of “attractive, average-sized female models” in advertisements for perfumes. When participants of the study were exposed to both thin and average-sized models, they did not report any difference in the attractiveness of the models. The results of this study also found that being exposed to average-sized models leads to a lower level of anxiety about their bodies. Some of the women who had participated in this study had even felt more positive about their bodies after looking at these types of images. This research suggests that using average-sized models in our current media advertisements, may actually help promote a positive and healthy body image (Diedrichs & Lee,