Representation Of Women In Media Essay

“The media is not a window on the world—it is a distorting mirror” (John Pilger). Mainstream Media is the source of illusions that influences our society and allow ideas that do not represent the majority in the right way. Often the people who oversee media messages are patriarchal men in power. With these men in power, the perception of women in media reflects their ideas and wants. Women often don’t get the chance to truly represent themselves in the male dominated media world. Representation of women in media is imcomparable due to differences race, generation, and experiences. In today’s culture, many of the pop culture visuals we are shown are in the hands of patriarchal white men. It is often rare for African American women to be well

This lead to a few black feminists from different generations and gender to respond to Hooks’ critiques. The Black Feminist Roundtable’s reply to Hooks generally opposes Hook’s viewpoint of Beyoncé’s visual album. The contributors to this piece applaud Beyoncé for turning her emotions into art and showing that she’s relatable to those who are not celebrities. In response to Hooks’ accusation of Beyoncé commodifying the black women’s body, Joy-Ann Reed from the collective states “The commodification of our bodies was written on our skin – or rather branded on it. We were objects, to be owned and traded and sold or hung from trees like laundry (which makes the gorgeous images of black women sitting, purposefully, in southern trees in the video so powerful) …If Beyoncé is commodifying our sexual beings, she is doing so by seizing the receipts from the dominant culture’s hands” (RT). As a black woman of a younger generation than Hooks, Joy-Ann believes there’s more power in reclaiming the beliefs that society has put upon you. She believes Beyoncé is claiming her body for black women instead of commodifying it like it has been in the