Culture in twenty-first century America is largely influence by many different types of media. Messages conveyed through these multiple forms of media influence the way people think, feel, and act. Gender discrimination has long been prevalent, and the underrepresentation of women, along with countless other groups, in the media furthers inequalities throughout the country and world. In order to combat this lack of representation, magazines created specifically for women, such as MS and Vogue, have been distributed to the masses. While the messages conveyed to women in these two publications are often different, they both hold the same objective— empowering women. Both the MS Magazine article, A Woman for Women, and the Vogue Magazine article, Lupita Nyong’o: “I Want to Create Opportunities for People of Color”, shed light on powerful women and their …show more content…
Culture can be defined as, “…the total way of life shared by members of a society, or smaller communities within a larger society” (Hylton-Patterson). Not only are the Vogue and MS magazine articles similar in their unique representation of world renowned women, but the way in which they expose their readers to unfamiliar cultures from other parts of the globe are also comparable. The award winning actress, Lupita Nyong’o, and the U.N.’s Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka are both women of African decent. Their cultures are both examined and discussed in their respective articles. It is not uncommon for Ms Magazine to cover topics and cultures that are not prevalent in popular culture, but for Vogue to do so is unusual compared to the majority of the other articles on their site. The difference with the Vogue article is that the author is writing about a famous, oscar-winning actress, and not a female political figure fighting to make a difference for women’s rights on a much larger
In "Where the girls are: Growing Up Female With the Mass Media," Susan Douglas analyses the effects of mass media on women of the nineteen fifties, and more importantly on the teenage girls of the baby boom era. Douglas explains why women have been torn in conflicting directions and are still struggling today to identify themselves and their roles. Douglas recounts and dissects the ambiguous messages imprinted on the feminine psyche via the media. Douglas maintains that feminism is a direct result of the realization that mass media is a deliberate and calculated aggression against women. While the media seemingly begins to acknowledge the power of women, it purposely sets out to redefine women and the qualities by which they should define themselves. The contradictory messages received by women leave women not only in a love/hate relationship with the media, but also in a love/hate relationship with themselves.
The case is made that woman are more noticed by men when they have the big butts and fake hair. The female actors in the movie do not make much attempt to discredit this accusation, furthermore accepting the rhetoric that all males like the fake girls they see in the magazine and that’s the reason all women do this. This is a seamless example of how popular culture has continued to view woman and how woman continue to fall victim to the stereotypes of popular culture. During the exchange of ideas about the female stereotypes there are references made about famous Hollywood elites such as Beyoncé which places more light on the fact that popular culture plays a huge role in female
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,
This essay has compared and contrasted two magazines aimed at the female readership, and they are called Bitch Magazine and Cosmopolitan, with regards to their front pages, content and articles, their ideals of beauty, and feminism. Cosmopolitan is a magazine that gives harmful ideas to women about their sexuality, their health and happiness, and how it is supposedly dependent upon whether or not they fit into the unrealistic beauty standards that this magazine possesses. In divergence, Bitch Magazine teaches women to love themselves and to support each other no matter what. Bitch encourages women to understand that they are absolutely perfect just the way they are and that there is no need to change or suppress their given identities.
Patton, T. O. (2006). Hey girl, am I more than my hair?: African american women and their
The media is mostly governed by white men. “Women own only 5.8% of all television stations and 6% of radio stations” (Newsom, 2011). “The limited employment of women in decision-making roles is the key element in understanding how gender inequality is woven into the media industry” (Watkins & Emerson, 2000, p. 155). Collins (1999) points out that elite groups manipulate controlling images that marginalize specific groups. As a result, girls and women are encouraged to achieve men’s ideals, impossible beauty standards; young men who are used to such models are judgmental toward real women (Newsom, 2011).
A major modern problem with the media is the sublimation of, and reaffirmation of, stereotypical female gender roles. “The media treats women like shit” (Cho). Which is a serious issue because of Marshall McLuhan’s famous words, “The Medium is the Message” (Warwick). The medium up for discussion is the media, which can be fundamentally defined as the most significant “single source of information that people have today (Katz). Therefore, in order to understand “what’s going on in our society” (Katz) it is “absolutely imperative to “understand media” (Katz). Media and technology are “shaping our politics, our national discourse and most of all, they’re shaping our children’s brains, lives and emotions” (Steyer). Caroline Heldman, PhD, and specialist in presidency, media, gender and race in the American context, stated that of seven year old boys and girls, an equal number “want to be president of the united states when they grow up” (Heldman). However, she notes that once this same question is asked at the age of fifteen, a “massive gap” (Heldman) between males and females is apparent (Heldman). Girls seem to be receiving the message from the media that their value and their worth depends on solely on how they look. Conversely, boys receive a similar message, namely, that this is what’s important about girls (Kilbourne). The purpose of this essay is to explore how the North American media’s projection of a female value system is superficial and “derogatory” (Popner), and how the media does so effectively. This exploration will focus on two different kinds of media: visual advertisement, and video games.
Along with new roles for women within a growing society, unrealistic standards and expectations have also followed. It took years and years of fighting and feminist movements for women to receive the same rights as men within a male dominated society. Although women are continuing to stand up for equal rights, women now have big roles within society and the idea that men are “better” than women is long gone. Women are now seen in every profession and businesses, holding high positions and leadership roles. However, due to growing roles of women, they have also had to endure a growning industry that has set unrealistic standards for them. Magazines, tv shows, social media outlets, adds, and commercials have all begun to objectify and sexualize women. The culture has set standards for women by putting the skinniest, flawless, tallest, and overall most sexually appealing women out for the world to see. Social media has become
It is shocking to see the digression in humanity’s morals and values over the past decade. As cliché as it sounds, the media is the center of it all. The way women are being represented, from our television sets, the radio, pornography and even art has pushed beauty to the top of the list of controversial and widely debated topics around the globe. “Whenever we walk down the street, watch TV, open a magazine or enter an art gallery, we are faced with images of femininity,” (Watson and Martin).
Women of power are treated very poorly. These women of power include politicians, doctors, lawyers and businesswomen. Arguably, female politicians receive the worst treatment of all. Everything they do is constantly under media scrutiny, like what they wear and what they say, much more so than their male counterparts. The difference in the number of men and women congress members is vast, almost 5 to 1. Many women shy away from the political light for these reasons. An article, “Women in Politics”, written by Kenneth Jost, he explains the feats of women in the past 100 years:
The Representation of Men and Women in the Media Men and women are both represented differently in the media these days. Then the sand was sunk. Ironically it was even represented differently in the title of this essay. Men came before women! I am writing an essay to explain how men and women are represented in the media.
Socialization of people has been occurring through family, public education and peer groups. However in recent years, the mass-media has become the biggest contributor to the socialization process, especially in the ‘gender’ sector. The mass-media culture, as influential as it has become, plays the most significant role in the reproduction process of gender role stereotypes and patriarchal values. It is true that a family model of nowadays is based rather on equality than on patriarchal values and women have more rights and possibilities on the labor market. However, mass-media still reflect, maintain, or even ‘create’ gender stereotypes in order to promote themselves.
Portrayal of Women in the Media Gender is the psychological characteristics and social categories that are created by human culture. Gender is the concept that humans express their gender when they interact with one another. Messages about how a male or female is supposed to act come from many different places. Schools, parents, and friends can influence a person.
An article by Christina N Baker, Images of Women’s Sexuality in Advertisements: A content Analysis of Black And White Oriented Women’s and Men’s Magazine emphasizes on how women’s are portrayed in media such as advertisements and Magazine. The author analyzes how media has a huge impact in our society today; as a result, it has an influence on race and gender role between men and women.
When people imagine women in the media we often imagine women playing a negative role. As our media sources grow women continue to establish a negative stigma to them. Research shows that women in the media should either have bodies that may not be attainable and play a role where they have to find a man to obtain success and happiness. Although, women have extensively roles in every characteristic of life, the extended list of in human behavior given seems to never end. Sources such as the government and social action groups are taking helpful actions to supply women true pride in economic, social and personal areas. In attempt the mass media have a critical role reporting misleading actions, using public opinions, bringing social change and emphasizing positive improvement.