The “Bad Girls Club” display groups of women who are obsess with drinking and violent behavior to handle their situations, shining the light on negative stereotypes, defining a “bad girls” and the influencing young girls in today’s society. The way these girls act on TV is the way the media portray women as vulnerable and in need of male attention. By depicting women solely as physical objects, we rarely see them as powerful. Women have often seen each other as competition in many realms of their lives and so have become adept at quickly sizing up their female competition as to what makes a women’s woman (Kramer 210).The show 's has a foundation of seven women with personal, social and psychological problems, who consider their self to be …show more content…
The “Bad girls club” has gained much success in rating, because of the negative aspects shown in women. Every Tuesday millions of watcher tune in to watch these women make a fool of their self, partying and getting intoxicated until losing control or black out. A woman who is a part of this show consider their self as a “bad”. The Bad Girls Club shows the stereotypes women deal with currently. Fight for no reason, making everything a competition, bring one another down and giving each other labels. For example: if two of the girls didn’t get along , they would try to get rid of them by fight each other, throw all their stuff out onto the street and putting their bed in the pool. Meanwhile, many reality shows continue the traditional race and gender based stereotypes. The “Bad girls club” is a product of this misleading format that supports profit-making and negative stereotypes under the appearance of reality television. If people use stereotypes to understand an issue, the decision they make in their life may have negative consequences for the group being stereotyped, whether people intend it or not. In this way, portrayals in the media might help perpetuate discrimination and negativity (Gorham …show more content…
She makes her own way, makes her own rules and she makes no apologies. A Bad Girl blazes her own trail and removes obstacles from her path. A Bad Girl fights and forces her way to the top with style and beauty. A Bad Girl believes in jumping first and looking later. People will love you. People will hate you. Others will secretly wish to be you. A Bad Girl is you” (Season 16, episode 3). The framing of these women shows the image of an immature young women outrageous behavior and broken down structure to womanhood. Furthermore, sends a message to young girls that it is okay to act like a “bad girl” for older women in their twenties and late twenties are rewarded with camera time, a limitless supply of alcohol with a limo to chauffeur them to party’s. Normal behavior is portrayed as uninteresting, undesirable and worthless, and is covered up by the drama, fighting and drinking to advertise more normal lifestyle for the girls. Girls are put into a terrible double blind. They 're supposed to repress their power, their anger, and their exuberance and be simply "nice", although they also eventually must compete with men in business world and be successful. They must be overly sexy and attractive but essentially passive and virginal (Kilbourne
There is a saying that goes “don’t live in the past” because things will always get better in the future and that you should let time work itself out. People often think of their pasts and let that dictate their future, which in many cases keeps people from achieving their full potential. People become blinded by their pasts and the good memories they’ve had which turns to them seeking the same thing to satisfy themselves because they’ve become comfortable and do not want change. They may not want change because they are scared of what is to come or because of getting hurt again like they have in previous experiences. A prime example of this is Erykah Badu’s song “Bag lady” as it explains how people should let go of their pasts and look to the future.
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.
In American culture today, women continue the struggle of identifying what their roles in society are supposed to be. Our culture has been sending mixed messages to the modern day female, creating a sense of uneasiness to an already confusing and stressful world. Although women today are encouraged more than ever to be independent, educated, and successful, they are often times shamed for having done just that. Career driven females are frequently at risk of being labeled as bossy, unfeminine, or selfish for competing in many career paths that were once dominated by men. A popular medium in our culture such as television continues to have significant influences as to how people should aspire to live their lives. Viewers develop connections with relatable characters and to relationship dynamics displayed within their favorite shows. Fictional characters and relationships can ultimately influence a viewer’s fashion sense, social and political opinion, and attitude towards gender norms. Since the days of Bewitched and I Dream of Jeanie, where women were commonly portrayed as being the endearing mischievous housewife, television shows have evolved in order to reflect real life women who were becoming increasingly more independent, educated, and career oriented throughout the subsequent decades. New genres of television are introduced, such as the workplace comedy, where women are not only career oriented, but eventually transition into positions of power.
The movie “Mean Girls” is based on a real story in high school social groups. Cady Heron was a new girl in high school. She has been homeschooled in Africa for her whole life, so she wanted to learn how people in school behave and socialize. It was difficult for Cady to adjust in the new school environment. Initially, Cady had difficulties finding a friend in the school. Her first day in school, she eats her meal in the restroom until she meets Janis and Damien. They encourage Cady to be a friend with one of the most popular group at school called the “Plastic”. Every girl in school envy them and with they would be a member of the group. Regina is the head of the group, and she does anything in her power to get what she wishes, and Gretchen and Karen are her followers. Most of the girls at school are obsessed with the idea of joining Regina’s group because they are royalty in the high school. Since Cady is a pretty girl, the Plastic group was threatened by her and wanted her to join them so that they can control her and the boys who pay attention to Cady. Cady joints them and they will succeed to changer her thoughts and actions. Consequently, she starts acting like them and hide her friendship with Janis and Damien who
Bell while talking about a Jayanthi, a bad girl who wanted to break all the barrier of her family 's culture, writes that “Particularly for women with fragile sense of self, the bad-girl strategy seemed to provide a strong identity. At the same time, it ostensibly protected women from losing track of their identities in a relationship by never investing in one emotionally. But rather than feeling strong and protected, some bad girls were left feeling alone and vulnerable.”(31) . Jayanthi choose to be a bad girl because she felt free and independent while breaking the rules. She didn’t broke the rules because she wanted to but she did it to show that she can do all the bad things; Bell writes that jayantee was tired of all the expectation, jayantee said regarding the expectation “ I’m just gonna break them. So i just broke them. So i ended up really going crazy...I was just like,” I don’t want to be the poster child, so the other extreme is this.”’(33). This kind of actions lead to anxiety and
They take in stride this idea of what is means to be a “bad girl” by living their lives recklessly with little to no remorse for others. Natalie Nunn is an example of how hypersexualization and the angry black woman is a vital element to the show. Natalie is the epitome of what this show is based off of, being the baddest girl you possibly could. Natalie constantly bullied, encouraged violence, and showed no care for anyone in the house, often disrespecting the others for intimidation. On the flip side, she lived a promiscuous lifestyle, for example she brought home a random guy named John, instantly making out with him and preparing for an sexual exchange. Her strength is her intimidation. She is always picking fights, and constantly is involved in some type of convertation. For the sake of the tv show, and celebrity status the stereotype of the angry black woman is shown to be her strength. Natalie capitalizes on this notion of the “Good Girl/Bad Girl” which is describes the image as “ more realistic since it is supported by the women’s actual behaviors rather than sugar-coated in the show’s biographies.” (Goldman, 17). This idea of “Good Girl/Bad Girl” is a gift and a curse for someone who uses the strategy. As it does not help the image of the African American woman, it does give the opportunity to expand of
The Ugly Truth, a film which was released in 2009, displays many particular stereotypes and gender issues which we find within American society. Gender is made up of socially constructed ideas which are reinforced by society in regards to what it means to be masculine or feminine. We first learn gender from our parents; however they too had to first learn it from their families and society. Within the American society, the media takes on a large role in creating gender norms. The media is made up of films, magazines, television programs, and news papers. The Ugly Truth, although a funny film, perpetuates these stereotypes and ideas of gender provided by our society.
As a group, we believe that popular culture does in fact perpetuates stereotypes. Television is a main source of information of popular culture. Television has forever changed how humans have interacted with another and introduce a world of diversity and knowledge. But with this profit, television has also harbored negative aspects. As a group, we studied how racial stereotypes are portrayed in television. In the history of television, different racial and ethnic groups have been widely underrepresented and television itself has been overwhelming represented by white figures. And when racial groups are presented on TV, the characters are often played in limited roles based on stereotypes. A stereotype isn’t necessarily untrue, but it is an assumption based on an incomplete and complex ideas that are oversimplified into something that isn’t what it meant to be, and it’s usually negative. For example, African Americans are often depicted as violent or involved in some kind of criminal activity. Their characters often portrays a person who is always sassy and angry or that isn’t intelligent and won’t succeed in life and inferior to whites in some manner. Asian characters are
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...
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.
Many current crime dramas give younger female viewers female role models in professionally powerful positions. Law and Order: SVU commonly casts their district attorneys and judges with women. In addition, the characters often are portrayed as independent and strong women as they battle against tough male opponents. For too long, women have been portrayed in television as either being the “woman behind the man” or as needing to use her sex appeal in order to be powerful. Another crime drama, Criminal Minds, has casted females in roles such as the director of the FBI’s Behavior Analysis Unit, agents who also worked undercover in the CIA, and as international secret agents. All of these characters have, for the most part, been portrayed positively. An adult is aware that in the real world women in powerful positions is not fiction; and, wom...
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,
The documentary Miss Representation identifies the numerous ways women are misrepresented in the media, including in news, advertisements, movies, and television. The title Miss Representation emphasizes that the way we portray women in the media is a misrepresentation, as in it does not do women justice and oftentimes, has a negative impact on the perception of women. Frequently in the media, women lack leading roles and complexity, are held to an unrealistic standard of beauty, and are subject to objectification and beautification (Newsom, 2011). These misrepresentations lay the groundwork for gender socialization, and therefore, shape how women perceive themselves and are perceived by others.
A common trend in the entertainment industry today is the objectification of women in society. Sexualizing women are seen in media such as; movies, advertisement, television show and music video, where their main focus is providing the audience with an image of women as sexual objects rather than a human. This is detrimental to society since the media is producing social stereotypes for both genders, which can further result in corrupted social habits. Objectification in media are more focused on females than male, these false images of women leave individuals with the wrong idea of the opposite sex. As media continuously use sexual contents regarding women, the audience starts underestimating women. Specifically movies, it allows media to shape the culture’s idea of romance, sex and what seems
Another major factor that influences millions of impressionable females and males is television. Not only does the television teach each sex how to act, it also shows how one sex should expect the other sex to act. In the current television broadcasting, stereotypical behavior goes from programming for the very small to adult audiences. In this broadcasting range, females are portrayed as motherly, passive and innocent, sex objects, or they are overlooked completely or seen as unimportant entities. Stereotyping women is not only rampant in the adult world; it also flourishes in the kiddie universe as well.