Portrayal of Women's Health - Research Paper Example

Portrayal of Women's Health Thesis statement In this work, critical evaluation of Media coverage as always playing a pivotal role in shaping perceptions about issues around the society will be explored. The media as a tool for communication has an impact in how people view the world and as such sets the trend on what people think about certain issues or phenomenon. Therefore as the media shapes public opinion about health issues, it is important that the bias in reporting be eliminated. Of the issues where media coverage has impacted negatively, health issues of women has majorly been an issue of concern especially with regards to how the media portrays the same. The portrayal of women health issues by the media plays a role in shaping opinion and influencing medical practice around such issues. Women health issues include pregnancy, abortion, female sexual organs and even hormonal issues. Scientific publications that report on women health issues, advertisements that deal around women health issues, films, television programs among other media forms have portrayed women health issues in different ways depending on what they seek to achieve. The media coverage of women health issues has been subjective and biased, objectifying women and reporting their issues in relation to their reproductive role in the society. Purpose of the study This essay seeks to discuss the media portrayal of women health issues focusing on the historical and modern views. With the understanding of the huge role that the media plays in shaping opinions in the society and subsequently influencing the medical practice, the essay seeks to discuss the issues around how women health issues are portrayed by the media. This includes issues around women’s pregnancy, female sexual organs, abortion and related issues. The issues about the women’s health are prevalent in the media ranging from television, print media, commercials, films among other media forms. Therefore, how the health issues of women are presented is important as they influence decision making about women’s health. In interrogating the fundamental issues around the portrayal of women health issues by the media, the essay seeks to put in to perspective the biasness, subjectivity and sexualization of women health issues by the media that immensely affect decision making on the health of a woman (Lee, 1992). The findings shall be provided as well as a brief summery conclusion. Discussion i. Media advertisements/commercial and pregnancy weight issues The commercials that run on our television channels have more often than not focused on the female health issues especially with regards to weight loss, sex, pregnancy among others. The commercial ads have mostly sexually objectified women and thus shifting focus from the real health issue at hand. For instance, women pregnancy in advertisement has been addressed in various perspectives which among others include weight and beauty. It is normal for a pregnant woman to gain weight and often after pregnancy the baby fat may distort a woman’s once ‘beautiful’ figure. However, the advertisements that have been carried out by the various media stations in relation to women pregnancies and weight gain have misrepresented the actual health issue. The media has created that which is an ideal body and as such set standards which may be unattainable for most women. The commercials that present weight loss techniques or a solution to loosing the baby fat has failed to present the real issue correctly. This has been through showing models who the commercials have painted not just as the ideal body weight of a female but also the healthy body weight. This has lead to a misconception due to misrepresentation of what a healthy body weight is. A healthy body weight is determined by the body mass index and not shape or perceived size (Gersoni-Edelman1974). The media misreporting and poor portrayal of women health issues around pregnancy related concerns like weight have in effect translated I to body image disturbance among the women. The body dissatisfaction has in effect lead to a normative discontent. This has further lead to many women misguided by what is ideal ending up with eating disorders in an attempt to achieve the ideal (Gersoni-Edelman1974,pg.41). Most number of these women is engaging in dieting behavior due to their disturbed body image which has exacerbated the eating disorder among women. Thinness has been idealized and thus women who gained weight due to pregnancy tend to view themselves as not beautiful. Thus as such women struggle to meet the socio-cultural ideals of what beauty is, they plunge themselves in to further health problems. In a documentary film made in 1979 is a commercial, “Killing Us Softly: Advertising’s Image of Women”. This advert has been remade almost three times since the 1979. However, in the commercial is a ludicrous image of how a woman has been portrayed. Someone touts a deodorant made apparently for “a woman’s extra feeling” and then comes a woman in a diet exulting, “I would probably never have been married had i not shed 49 pounds”. What does this imply, for women who probably have been through pregnancy and gained weight, they will perhaps be feeling not beautiful enough and thus less attractive to their spouses. The ideal of beauty as thinness is perhaps more tyrannical today as has been shaped by the media. The effect is women engaging in dieting behavior due to their disturbed body image and consequently affecting their health even more. The commercials have mislead the public about what a healthy body is, the thinness misconception as an ideal healthy body has made the society believe in what the media offers as healthy size. This has lead to misconceptions about weight gain due to pregnancies and baby fats. The use of contraceptives too has been portrayed in a subjective manner by the media. For instance the subjective reporting on the contraceptives and weight gain associated with some types of contraceptives. Although in some instances the media has demystified the myths associated with the contraceptives (Sarch, 1997, pg 53). ii. Media and portrayal of abortion as a women’s health issue Firstly, abortion is the termination of a pregnancy deliberately and is mostly performed during the first 28 weeks of conception. Abortion is a women health issue since it is only women who get pregnant. Sisson, & Kimport, (2014) points out that, the media has more often than not stigmatized abortion in their reporting either through films, realities or art works. As a body of communication that shapes the perception of the public about health issues, the media has constructed abortion in the public discourse with a lot of stigma. The destructive constructs and language used around discussions of abortion by the media has to a larger extent stigmatized than informed on the health issue. The terms or adjectives that have been used in abortion reports for instance have been those that are scary for example risky, dangerous among others. The perspectives that are key to the abortion discourse have been marginalized including those from the women who have conducted abortion. More films and prints have framed abortions as illegitimate and not positive. Thus the negative portrayal of abortion by the media has shaped the conversations about the subject in a manner that is not productive and aimed at stigmatizing the subject as well as painting it as a negative act. The media provides the context for public opinion about an issue. In discussing women’s reproductive health issues of abortion are a part of such discourse. However, the overall framing and use of language on a health topic will determine how constructively people engage with it. The role of the media is thus very critical in constructing how the public and policy makers view certain issues regarding health in the society. Therefore the media construction of issues determines how the issue is normalized or stigmatized, in which case the media construction of abortion has been in a manner that encourages stigmatization around the issue (Sisson, & Kimport, 2014, pg.93). For example, a recent analysis of the US television plots and films found out that abortion related plots were a common feature of the films but emphasis laid on abortion-related deaths. What does this mean? The public in effect will buy in to the myth that abortion leads to death. For instance a report from a popular news paper, the telegraph read in part: “If one topic in medicine is guaranteed to generate controversy, it's abortion. The mere mention of it immediately polarizes opinion. (The Telegraph, May 24, 2010) This tells how subjective the media paints the abortion issues to the public in their reporting. Additionally, the TV and Films have continuously portrayed abortion as a dangerous engagement that one ought not to have. For example, when Maude a TV show that aired in the period of 1973 brought forward an episode that constructively discusses abortion in a positive way, more than 30 TV stations declined to air the program. In most cases, the TV programs and Films have aired abortion in the context of a risky and dangerous affair. In the US a study that was conducted to analyze the 385 films that had abortion plots, from 1916 to date, it was found out that most of the plot lines ended in death as a result of abortion (Costain, & Fraizer, 2000). Costain, & Fraizer, (2000) explains, the story lines and films be it reality or fictitious films, they don’t happen in a vacuum. It paints a picture of how the women seeking abortion are perceived in the society. Similarly, how the health practitioners who conduct abortions are perceived by the society is brought out in these films. Women who are denied abortion for instance try to self abort in the movies and later end up dying. They are depicted as wicked members of the society who don’t value life and the list of how bad they are is endless. How many open discussions do we ever have on TV programs without getting all political about the issue? How many programs need to be brought down due to their “controversial” discussion of abortion in a positive way? All these are the picture that characterizes the media approach on abortion as a female health issue. This implies the policy makers, the policy enforces, and public as well as victims are all getting their opinions corrupted by the media in the manner that they portray abortion. The media thus shapes the societal perception of abortion as a dangerous and risky procedure, as a procedure that is conducted by those who do not have value for life, as an immoral act, and also as a discourse that can never be held in a positive spin among others (Costain, & Fraizer, 2000, pg.56). iii. Media portrayal of women sexual organs The media has objectified and sexualized women. The feminist works of art similarly has not portrayed women experience of their embodiment in the best of ways. In the western culture, the contemporary art has played a role in transgressively portraying a woman in a subjective manner. According to Dekel, (2013, pg.68), a look at how art portrays women sexual organs reveals the following: some artists have come up to shutter prejudice about female sexual organs where in the past it was perceived as a multifaceted organ rather than monolithic. Traditionally, the art works presented a woman sexual organ as odorous, repulsive and ugly. Cunt-Positivism Art group painted a picture of sexual organs of women as an enjoyable organ that is pleasurable. Initially, the arts works that existed prior to this group ted the painted a picture of the vagina as a stupid hole that was only useful for a man’s enjoyment. The historical work of art never really appreciated the female sex organ and used derogatory terms on it. Cunt gained popularity in the 1970s rewriting the narrative of the woman’s sexual organ through putting value on it. In 1974, Suzann Santoro a female artist did a lot towards portraying the female sexual organ in a better way that reclaims its lost glory. She would draw and paint the vagina and cross-match it with a beautiful flower. This was a piece entitled, towards new Expression and intended to free women from the preconceived negative notions and misconceptions about the female vagina (Dekel, 2013). Dekel, (2013,pg.37) also adds that: Today the works of art done by feminists have restored the value of the female sex organ recognizing the reproductive role as well as sexual enjoyment and satisfaction that can be derived from it. However a new twist is gaining momentum where the female sexual organ is being sexualized. The media has sexualized women in the ads and in this can be seen from the commercials that are run in our televisions today. Even sports ladies as well as other models that are used in the magazine covers are showcased nude. This apparently lets out their buttocks and breasts to and not their otherwise modest beauty. “In 20th century… there were few career choices for women in business; however, advertising was one of the few. Since women were responsible however, advertising was one of the few. Since women were responsible for most of the purchasing done in their household, In fact, the first for most of the purchasing done in their household, In fact, the first American advertisement to use a sexual sell was created by a woman-American advertisement to use a sexual sell was created by a woman- for a soap product for a soap products” The media has in the recent times painted women’s sex organs in the manner that defines the ideal. For instance, the breasts of a woman have been sexualized and portrayed as better when bigger. This implies that most women are now struggling to get the bigger breast and as such believe that the bigger the breasts the better they are. As such mastectomy is on the rise lately especially with the availability of technology. The female breasts Have Been sexualized to an extent most women believe the only desirable size of breast is just above average size (Costain, & Fraizer, 2000, pg.67). Conclusion The media in all its forms: print, ads, commercials, Television, and Films as well as documentaries have had ways of portraying woman’s health issues. In most cases, they have been subjective in their portrayal of the woman health issues. Art on the other end has not been spared by this biasness and subjectivity. This has had a negative impact on the manner that the society perceives women’s health issues ranging from abortion, women’s sexual organs and pregnancy. The paper has found out that, abortion as a health issue is portrayed by the media as dangerous, risky, and immoral and leads to death. Pregnancy on the other end has been associated with weight gain and loss of shape. This has affected how the public views pregnancy in relation to a woman’s beauty. Finally, the media has shaped how the female sex organ is viewed. Prior to the 1970s the female vagina was regarded an odorous organ that had no value better than sexually satisfying a man’s sexual urge. The art in the early periods regarded the female sexual organ as a dirty organ and full of filth. However, feminist art, the likes of those by Cunt and Suzann has redefined how the female sexual organ is perceived. Today, the female behind and breasts have been sexualized and given more value. The media has defined the ideals of the sexual organs of a woman. The essay has therefore exhaustively given the various perceptions about women’s health issues and how the media shifts the discourse from real issues to beauty, morals and politics with regards to issues concerning a woman’s health. Reference Dekel, T. (2013). Gendered: Art and Feminist Theory. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Gersoni-Edelman, D. (1974). Sexism and youth. New York: Bowker. Sisson, G., & Kimport, K. (2014). Telling stories about abortion: abortion-related plots in American film and television, 1916–2013. Contraception, 89(5), 413-418. Costain, A., & Fraizer, H. (2000). Media portrayal of" Second Wave" feminist groups. Deliberation, democracy, and the media, 155-174. Sarch, A. (1997). Those dirty ads! Birth control advertising in the 1920s and 1930s. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 14(1), 31-48. Lee, J. (1992). Media portrayals of male and female Olympic athletes: Analyses of newspaper accounts of the 1984 and the 1988 Summer Games. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 27(3), 197-219. Read More