In addressing the question it is first necessary to understand what is
meant by 'mass media'. The Collins English Dictionary defines mass
media as "the means of communication that reach large numbers of
people in a short time, such as television, newspapers, magazines, and
radio" (Collins English Dictionary 5th edition, 2000, pp 957). This
therefore suggests that any medium that conveys information to the
people is categorised as mass media. By looking at two forms of media,
this essay will examine how much the media can be charged with causing
and further exaggerating gender-based stereotypes in society. The
forms of the media in which this essay will examine will be
advertising, in particular the way masculinity is portrayed within
television and magazines. The second form of media to be examined will
be soap operas and will examine representation and audience reception
within the soap genre.
When starting an advertising campaign the writer in general follows
the premise that sex sells and automatically asserts themselves into a
manipulative model, a Marxist perspective which views of society as
being divided by class and being ruled by those in control (i.e.
bourgeois) who have the financial ability behind them. Because these
people have become so financially powerful they are able to force
their beliefs and opinion on others therefore legitimising their
control. With this control of what is portrayed in their media takes
away free thought of the viewer (i.e. proletariat). the images or
texts that are portrayed to a passive audience, is that of a sexual or
gender biased content.
In her work Forever Feminine: Women's ...
... middle of paper ...
...
Although it is still unclear as to whether the media perpetuates
gender stereotyping it is clear however that it is responsible for
creating its own sets of stereotypes.
Bibliography
Giddens, A. Sociology, 4th Edition, 2001, Polity Press, UK
Haralambos, M. Holborn, M. 4th Edition, 1995, Collins Educational,
London
Kirkby, M. Kidd,W et al, 1st Edition, 1997, Heinemann Educational
Publishers, Oxford.
References
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Collins English Dictionary 5th Edition, 2000, HarperCollins
Publishers, Glasgow.
Hall, S. Representation Cultural Representation and Signifying
Practices, 1st Edition, 1997, The Open University & Sage Publications,
UK.
Trowler, P. Investigating Mass Media, 2nd Edition, 1996, HarperCollins
Publishers, London.
Sex and Gender was the subject of the two movies Dreamworlds 3 and Further Off The Straight & Narrow. In Dreamworlds 3 Sex is portrayed as a status of life and happiness in the media. This media displays people as objects that can be manipulated for sexual pleasure. As the media is populated with sex it tiptoes around gender, specifically that of gays or lesbians. The film Further Off The Straight & Narrow emphasized the movement through media gay and lesbian topics. This text analyzes iconic television programs and how they reflect the societal stance during that time. As a member of a generation that has had the topic of these issues prominent I believe they are important but are banal. In this reflection I will be responding to two questions, what would woman driven Dreamworlds look like? And Do you agree with the statement that if you are not on television you don’t exist?
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.
When you think of American history, do you think of war, slavery, or segregation? Something that these have in common is gender equality. Gender equality is something that has been an issue in America since the first day it was inhabited. This is a problem in America. A more particular time period would be, World War II. During this time, women were being used to do men’s jobs and duties but, they still had to have a feminine aspect to them. While most men were at war, the women picked up jobs playing baseball, and working in factories to build the necessary items for war and daily living. During World War II, it was necessary for women to work. The government statistics prove this:
“Bringing Down the House” featuring Steve Martin and Queen Latifah is a clever comedy that creatively showcases the sociolinguistic phenomena covered in this course. The film is about a tax attorney named Peter, played by Martin, who stumbles into an online lawyer chat room and meets Charlene, played by Latifah. The two chat frequently, mostly about court cases, and eventually decide to meet in person. When the day finally comes, Peter is greeted at the door with who he thought would be a middle-aged Caucasian woman, but happened to be Charlene, a black woman who just escaped from prison. Thinking this was a mistake, Peter tries to kick out Charlene but is later convinced she is the one who he was speaking with in the chat room. Charlene was able to successfully impersonate a lawyer through speech, and along with a deceiving picture, able to convince Peter she was a petite blonde. During these chats, the two talked about court cases that happened to relate to Charlene’s predicament with the law. In attempt to clear her name from a crime she did not commit, Charlene researched the judicial system and similar court cases to hers while in prison. Now that she is out, she seeks personal assistance from Peter who has already through the internet, given her support. All throughout the movie the characters contrast in viewpoints, culture, and most importantly for our studies, language. Charlene and Peter represent different language backgrounds which we can analyze as the root of their character development and actions throughout the film.
This essay discusses censorship and the way in which social media and consumer products affect and model an appropriate societal ‘literacy’ or view in particular regards to gender and race, to young children. A summary of the stereotypes displayed in several videos viewed on YouTube, as well as student’s own identified stereotypes, both in regards to race and gender, are displayed below (Alexander, 2011; BrokenXLoner, 2012; Lac, 2013; Walt Disney Pictures, 1998, 1994, 1992, 1967, 1955, 1953, 1941):
It is evident that in society how the media is playing a major role in influencing the formation of gender stereotypes in the minds of children and adults. Effortlessly a person might come across a TV show or an article which is targeted toward a specific race and ethnicity by depicting stereotypes of others. While surfing the internet, I came across an article on a blog known as Elite Daily. Elite Daily is known as a sexist blog targeted towards young men. The site used gender stereotypes in order to put men on a pedestal. Many of their published articles are based on stereotypes such as men love sports and sex, while women love to sit home and clean. The article I am particularly referring to is called “Things Every 20-something needs to Realize” which was published early august 2013. This specific article is identical to many on articles on Elite Daily that is designed to exalt men and degrade women. The article was written in order to bring awareness to 20 year olds about how they should approach life. It was unfunny, judgmental and hateful. The article was so banal and misogynistic that its approval surprised many. The article had quotes such as “Ladies: your teeth are for chewing, and we don’t like to be chewed...........if you can get her into bed before date 3, then you’ll get bored with her by week 2” (p2). The article was clearly stereotypically developed by a male in order to influence the perception of the reader. While I was in search of a similar but different article to the latter I came across an article called “The Top 10 Things I (Apparently) Still Need To Remind Myself at 30 Years of Age” on a blog known as 20 something’s. 20 nothings is a feminine blog designed to uplift women by giving them daily advices to ...
People today believe in racial stereotypes from the influence of various media, which ridicules someone of another race or gender by a one-dimensional point of view, including you. It is just upon that people will take action or overreact to the little things just because of what their minds think from what stereotype media promoted. Some people may ponder on themselves into running away from a stranger just because of their gender and by their race, making a decision whether they are unsafe to go close to. Some media have promoted stereotypes of others for entertainment and influencing people to believing in the misjudgment of certain races.
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 society, men and women have been expected to live by guidelines consisting of media generated ideas and ways of living out life. Both men and women’s thinking process are being altered the negative effects of society’s mass media. For both sexes, this repeating negative exposure causes a constant downfall in self-image and creates media influenced decisions that lead to unhealthy lifestyles. The media effects the thinking process of both men and women in negative ways therefore media needs to be heavily regulated.
In today's world, what we see in the media dictates our world. Media, by definition, is a form of mass communication, such as television, newspapers, magazines and the internet. Since the beginning of this media phenomenon, men and women have been treated very differently, whether it be through advertisements or news stories. As women have gained more rights and social freedoms, the media has not changed their views on women. They are often viewed as objects, whether for a man's pleasure, or for as a group to sell only cleaning products to.The portrayal of women in the media has a highly negative impact on the easily shaped young women of today. Women of power are often criticized, others hypersexualized. The media also directs advertisements for household things at women.
Throughout history when we think about women in society we think of small and thin. Today's current portrayal of women stereotypes the feminine sex as being everything that most women are not. Because of this depiction, the mentality of women today is to be thin and to look a certain way. There are many challenges with women wanting to be a certain size. They go through physical and mental problems to try and overcome what they are not happy with. In the world, there are people who tell us what size we should be and if we are not that size we are not even worth anything. Because of the way women have been stereotyped in the media, there has been some controversial issues raised regarding the way the world views women. These issues are important because they affect the way we see ourselvescontributing in a negative way to how positive or negative our self image is.
Gender stereotyping has been ongoing throughout history. The media has been distorting views by representing gender unrealistically and inaccurately. It created an image of what "masculinity" or "femininity" should be like and this leads to the image being "naturalized" in a way (Gail and Humez 2014). The media also attempts to shape their viewers into something ‘desirable’ to the norm. This essay will focus on the negative impacts of gender-related media stereotypes by looking at the pressures the media sets on both women and men, and also considering the impacts on children.
An article by Christina N Baker, Images of Women’s Sexuality in Advertisements: A content Analysis of Black And White Oriented Women’s and Men’s Magazine emphasizes on how women’s are portrayed in media such as advertisements and Magazine. The author analyzes how media has a huge impact in our society today; as a result, it has an influence on race and gender role between men and women.
When people imagine women in the media we often imagine women playing a negative role. As our media sources grow women continue to establish a negative stigma to them. Research shows that women in the media should either have bodies that may not be attainable and play a role where they have to find a man to obtain success and happiness. Although, women have extensively roles in every characteristic of life, the extended list of in human behavior given seems to never end. Sources such as the government and social action groups are taking helpful actions to supply women true pride in economic, social and personal areas. In attempt the mass media have a critical role reporting misleading actions, using public opinions, bringing social change and emphasizing positive improvement.
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.