The Representation of Females in the Media

2711 Words6 Pages

The Representation of Females in the Media It is generally accepted that the media, primarily television, 'lags' behind reality and current social trends (Butler and Paisley, 1980) (Gunter, Television and Sex Role Stereotyping). However, This does not make the way women are portrayed in the media any better. Women are not only under-represented in the media but more importantly are portrayed to be "half clad, half witted and needing to be rescued by quick thinking fully clothed men" (Stereotypes, Adelson 1990). Women are most commonly portrayed as sexual objects and housewives; whose lives revolve around landing the right man. "When women are in the news, their role is often trivialized. World leaders are described in terms of their hats or dress designers" (Benedict, Virgin or Vamp, 1992). Women are portrayed as jealous and insecure, and often neurotic. This type of unrealistic ideal portrayed in the media is being forced upon society today, and is having serious negative effects on the way women are being viewed and treated in society. 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. Retrieved from Sex Roles: A Journal of Research Goodman, E. Grand Rapids for Information Technology. [Online] Retrieved form the World Wide Web: www.griid.org/gendermedia.shtml Gross, Ira & Downing, John & d'Heurle, Adma (editors) (1982). Sex Role Attitudes and Cultural Change. Holland. D. Reidel Publishing. Gunter, Barrie. Television and Sex Role Stereotyping (1986). John Libbey. London. Ingham, Helen. The Portrayal of Women on Television. [Online]. Retrieved September 20, 2001 from the World Wide Web: www.aber.ac.uk/media/Students/hzi9401.html Ruby, J. (2000). Man Bites Dog. Off Our Backs, 12-19 Sex and the Women's Magazine. Retrieved from The Wilson Quarterly (2000). p84. InfoTrac Web. Stereotyping. [Online]. Retrieved September 20 2001 from the World Wide Web:

Open Document