Women Depicted in Media Today - Essay Example

Women Depicted in Media Today Stereotyping of women and men’s roles in the media has been in existence for a long time. Our society today has many influence levels, the major role played by the media. Media comes in various forms including advertisements, movies, newspapers, radio and television. Some of the messages and images we hear, read and see can be both negative and positive to us. We are more often exposes to images that are not real or attainable by a general person that we end up not feeling contented in our lives (Ferguson, 2004). Historically, women have suffered marginalization and stereotyping more than men. There is a narrow set of representations that women have suffered in the media. More often, they are linked to domestic sector like mothers or housewives, or as sex objected represented to bring entertainment to male audience (Nerisa, 2008). The roles of women tend to be fewer and smaller in non-fictional media than their male counterparts. This paper will discuss how women are depicted in the media today with biasness on news and drama. The Global Media Monitoring Project reported that for every four men only one woman appear as subject in world’s print, television, radio news (Romano, 2010). The expert opinions in the news were tremendously male. The news stories that concentrated on women were only 10%. Most news reports represent women as acting without shame or as monsters incases of fake pregnancies. The news media often depicts women as child care workers, victims of violence and power, celebrities, students and homemakers (Ferguson, 2004) . This was reported by Global Media Monitoring Project which surveyed 70 countries and how they represented and portrayed women in the news. The group monitoring over 2,000 newspapers, radio and television reports showed that though about 41% of people who report and present world’s news are women, there are only 18 percent of news subjects. The preliminary report shows that though more often women are victims of political and war violence they are not interviewed in these crises. These issues are predominantly reported by male reporters while female reporters report predominantly on education, health and environment which are ‘soft’ news. If more women were encouraged to report news on politics and war then there may be a change in the culture of war and politics, where war may be portrayed as a ruthless force that harms and kills humanity other than being portrayed as victorious use of sophisticated weapons (Romano, 2010. More often women are interviewed as celebrities, students or homemakers. Reporters interviewing for religion, military, government, business law, technology and political issues turn to men for their opinions. The study monitoring the media looked at several issues which may focus on women in news (Dowling, 2001). These issues included child care, health, work, birth control, violence, changing roles, power and sexual orientation within which stories on violence and power focused on women. Women are still targeted by media coverage for violence to grab the viewers’ immediate attention. No major coverage portrays women involved in building peace and a peaceful world. The report by Lord Justice Leveson showed the way women are portrayed in the newspapers something that campaigners have agreed upon. Some newspapers have been accused of failing to consistently show respect for equality and dignity of women. Just like drama, news media depict women as sex objects. Anna Van Heeswijk cites the Daily Star story that rain in 2001 which commented “Looking chest swell…. She’s a big girl now” on the 15 year old singer Charlotte Church. Women campaign groups surveyed several British newspaper and reported that they reduced women to sexual commodities (Dowling, 2001).. For example a there was a Sun story objectifying women as sexual objects by commenting ‘Scientific proof: Coco’s buttocks declared one hundred percent real” with a woman’s photo in a G-string. News media is accused of stereotyping too quickly by their stories. The stories give emphasis on women attractiveness and of being a good mother and wife and even supporting them with traditional roles. Nonetheless reporting of sports frequently reference sportswomen’s looks romantic life and marital status instead of concentrating on their sporting victories (Dane, 2007). Women have in many cases been portrayed as taking passive roles as victims of crime instead of acting on something. This makes the viewer, listener or read to symphthise with a woman victim. Even in the reporting the harm and violence suffered by victims are made invisible, belittled and sidelined. Women in Journalism conducted a research on national newspapers for a month and reported that three quarters of writers of front-page articles are male and still over eighty percent of those mentioned in the articles were male. Though still news media report on successful women the trend is still worrying. Pictures of scantily dressed women are shown while the focus of quality news is on men. Women are more featured in advertising than news. Those some people argue that there is less reporting of women in sports because fewer women watch sports (Dane, 2007). A recent analysis of Guardian photographs showed that the number of men photographs were five times more than women. The men were name while women only represented a general thing. A report by object showed that in newspapers a woman only appears after several pages giving an impression that there is no contribution women make to the broader society. Celebrity women like Victoria Beckham and Adele among others are often under the headlines of ‘too fat’, ‘too thin’, ‘too old’ and ‘too young’. Just like in dram the news media focuses on body shapes and impacts greatly on women because women watch, listen and read it which makes them feel insecure about their appearance. Jo Swinson MP, a chairwoman of the All Party Parliamentary Group recommends students to be taught on compulsory body image because over a half of people in the world today are insecure on their appearances, which the media imagery portrays as ‘ideal’ or ‘not ideal’ body shape. Daily Mail has been accused of promoting family values while exposing bodies of women on its website. This surprisingly starts young like when President Obama’s 14 year old Malia is described as ‘blossoming long limbed. Women’s ride in the news media is tougher as the focus is on their appearance rather that what they have to contribute (Department for Communities, 2011). The status of women is also affected by their representation in drama or film. According to the study by the Centre for the Study of Women in Television and Film in 2011, women movie directors only comprised of 5%. It also reported that many women worked in genres like romantic drama, documentary and romantic comedy. Those working as professionals in roles of key-behind-the scenes comprised of 25%. Women also accounted for 41% of all characterized in fictionalized television in the year 2010-2011. Historically, women have always appeared younger than their male colleagues with undefined employment status (Department for Communities, 2011). In the 2007 to 2009 100 top grossing films only one third of women were represented in speaking characters. Where only one woman was engaged in film writing or directing many women characters were on the screen more likely portrayed as partially nude, wearing sexy clothing and appearing more attractive than male characters. Girls and women of age range 13 to 20 are showed to be more attractive compared to those aged between 21 and 30 years (Ferguson, 2004). Just like in news media women are under-represented in drama and films in roles like editors, producers, directors, cinematographers and directors. In many drama or films female characters are portrayed to have lower roles compared to leadership roles by their male counterparts. Some leaders in the industry claim that dramas with male characters generate more profit but time has proven that the same happens for films that have female protagonists. Just like news media drama shows images and messages that portray gender inequity and violence against women and limit the appreciation for women in leadership or intellectual women (Nerisa, 2008). Hollywood dramas have fewer women in the executive suites compared to men. In about five dramas only one has women in the lead roles. Just like in the news media what women have fought for over the years is being destroyed by drama too. Women are being stereotyped us desperate and reliant on men. This is seen in films like ‘Just like Heaven’, ‘Sex and the City’, and ‘Legally Blonde’. Legally Blonde for example portray women as dump and cares about nothing except for men, shoes and makeup and that the girl in stirring in the film is only in Harvard Law School to attract a man. Chick Flicks however enforces the ‘sisterhood’ ideology which highlights that women do not have to rely on men but can support each other unconditionally. It shows women are confident enough to share the fears of for example spinsterhood but have hope that they will find men. In Sex and the City women openly speak about their sex lives. However Chick Flicks stereotypes women as white, pretty, young, and think which remains a predominant image (The Geena David Institute on Gender in Media, 2011). It is rare to find a drama that shows women defying stereotypical roles and this remains into existence putting more pressure on women to look good. In many girl or women group dramas ther is always an obsessions of appearance, shoes and clothes. These constant images shown to women make them feel they that is how ‘perfect’ women appear; having material possessions and looking good. According to Nerisa (2008), women are also portrayed as helpless and weak. Most dramas characterize women and script them to be sobbing, shrieking, easily frightened, weak, screaming, and hysterical. Women are portrayed generally as the weaker sex or weak. Most Indian films show women getting controlled by men, humiliated, raped or beaten by a brother, a husband or father. They perceive women as dependent on men and men are seen as heroes. Even if a woman character comes out strongly she is more likely to suffer long with a husband who does not care for her. There are however some dramas from Bollywood who portray women in a positive way. A female protagonist in Mirch Masala is shown leading women from her village to face a bully police officer. This shows that in the world today there are educated women who are strong enough to fight for their rights. Films from Hollywood like ‘Sleeping with the Enemy’ shows a woman faking her death in order to escape the brutality of her husband. This portrays women as being battered by their husbands. ‘Enough’ is a movie that shows a husband abusing his wife and she has to undergo training in order to fight back physically. Female officers of the Law are assaulted sexually in ‘Hunter’ which affect their relationships with their partners, their jobs and lives. In ‘Veronica Mars’ first season she is a popular girl who ended up an outcast in her school after the murder of her best friends and she was then drugged at a party and raped thereafter. More serious issues of violence against women are shown in ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer’ and ‘Desperate Housewives’ (Department for Communities, 2011). The list of dramas and films portraying women as victim of violence is endless. Women are also depicted as beauty and sex objects to the desires of man (Nerisa, 2008). Films like noir and neo noir is an example of a film that shows a well-dressed woman who looks very seductive. Women are presented like this because most films are directed by men and they focus on their true desires to appeal to their male audiences. American Pie depicts women as sex objects with no importance. It focuses on how attractive women are and how they perform sexually. ‘The life of David Gale’ however portrays successful, well educated, strong and smart women who are able to provide solutions to problems and achieve their goals image (The Geena David Institute on Gender in Media, 2011). The media is a powerful change instrument and the change occurrence can only take place if individuals can acknowledge the influence the media can have in the society. Media especially news and drama has portrayed women as sex and beauty objects, weaker sex, helpless, mothers, and wives among others. In a small way the media genres have portrayed women as successful and strong. While there stereotypical roles will always be portrayed in the media for both men and women it is important to dwell on the positive than the negative. Women therefore need to use the media force to change how they are depicted and influence positive change. Reference List Dane, EA, 2007. Gendered Images in Sport Film: What Messages are being sent? The New York Sociologist, 2 Department for Communities. 2011. Women and the media: who do they think you are? Accessed [online] on March 21, 2013 from Dowling, GR, 2001. Sex Roles Stereotypes of Women in Australian Magazine Advertisements. Australian Journal of Management. 1(3), 65-113 Ferguson, R, 2004. The Media in Question. London: Oxford University Press. Nerisa, P, 2008. The portrayal of Women in Television Advertisements on SABC3: A Reflection on Stereotypical Representation. University of the Witwatersrand Romano, AA, 2010. Australia: Global Media Monitoring Project 2010 National Report. GMMP: Toronto, ON Candad The Geena David Institute on Gender in Media, 2011. Gender Stereotypes: An Analysis of Popular Films and TV. Accessed [online] on March 21, 2013 from Read More