Another personal problem that affects women is the objectification in the media. Sexually objectified pictures of women appear in television advertising, on the web and in newspapers. This encourages girls to think of and treat their own bodies as objects of others’ desires. Women try to improve their social position, yet sexual objectification reduces them to the status of mere tools for men’s purposes and makes them preoccupied with their appearance (Gill, 14). Women should have enough courage to
Also, in our society today people are allowing the messages of media to influence their judgement and perspectives. Mass media mainly harms and effects women because it creates negative perceptions of women that can be seen daily. This paper will show how the media has degraded the portrayal of women and the effects it has on society. Mass media is a method of communication used to influence an audience in several different ways. Many people believe that they aren't influenced by the media, but media is almost everywhere.
Much of the discrimination that women face is closely related to issues surrounding body image. What we cannot forget in the year 2014 is who control the ideas that we have about women and leadership: the media. The misrepresentation of women’s power and influence in the media cause many women to have low self-esteem about and can cause them to feel as though they do not deserve a spot at the decision-making tables. Sexism has been around since the beginning of America, in many different forms, but the impacts have increased with the power of the media. One of the ways the media has discriminated against women, is the way they portray women in the workplace.
Most media forms are similar in the portrayal of women (for example, television, magazines, and newspapers), however; the advertising industry takes the stereotype of women to the edge and are branded as being the worst mediums in the portrayal of women. Stereotypes are conventional, oversimplified conceptions, opinions or images. Stereotypes exist as they are of cognitive importance to humans. It may be argued therefore, the process of stereotyping is a necessity, so we can make sense of the world and our environment. They allow people to do less searching when looking for evaluations of peop... ... middle of paper ... ...ents, and Audience Reactions.
The media uses discrimination, objectification, and dehumanization to police: women’s bodies. The result of this is a rise in low self-esteem, dangerous body modification procedures, violence, and sometimes death among women. As long as women’s bodies continue to be shunned instead of celebrated by the media, these negative effects will persist.
As an addition to this, the company says “There’s hope... ... middle of paper ... ...her. This leads to the stereotype of how women are always fragile and their emotions take over them, making them after all weaker than men. In conclusion, we can see how everything presented in an advertisement can actually have an impact in the people. Although the company’s target was to sell their product, their way of transmitting the message to the people also fortifies the stereotype. Thus, the media today does abuse the power of stereotyping in order to gain a favorable reputation.
Needless to say it plays a very important role in our lives and helps shape our perception of the world. While society has benefited greatly from the introduction of mass media there are times where it is harmful. Women constitute a large demographic and as such are portrayed greatly in the media. The problem is that mass media often stereotypes women into the roles of sex icons and housewives. This stereotyping leads to low self-esteem, body issues and can make it difficult for women to advance in academia and careers.
Media’s Effect on Women Since the beginning of media history, it has been empowering and limiting woman in many ways. Some of these ways are how woman today view there own body image, what stereotypes the media puts on women, and how these things affect women’s health. The media has been altering the way everyone see themselves and each other. They can also change the way we dress, look, and even the way we act. The media is the largest source of stereotypical misinformation on earth, and this provokes others to stereotype as well.
The Media’s Negative Influence on Society There is a lot of controversy about how the media affects people, but in my opinion I think the influence we get is more negative than positive. The media is one of the things that impact people the most because in today’s society it is impossible to ignore. It influences the ways in which we dress, speak, act and think. Media is fed to us through movies, television, radio, social media, music, and magazines. I believe mass media is pressuring the way woman and girls want to look, twists reality, and is sexist towards woman without people even realizing.
Advertising creates unhealthy and even dangerous stereotypes and mindsets in the people of today’s society. Advertisements play upon people’s insecurities, promising the viewer that, with the help of the product in question, the viewer can become a better person. There are many insecurities taken advantage of, but the most obvious and frequent is beauty. Women are strongly affected by this. After all, how could they not be when media is promoting a body type thinner, taller, and sexier than their own?