Representation Of Women In The Media

1942 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Medias negative influence on body image

The media has a huge impact on todays society and how we view the world. Whether we want to or not, we pay a significant amount of attention to the media and its messages displayed. Women in the media today play a huge role in what children see and our representation of them. We look at news channels every morning watching pretty women with make up on. Then we turn on a movie for a while but in the first 20 minutes women are taking off their clothing. Later that evening we watch videos on youtube to kill time. The videos show nothing but girls being used as sexual props for men. Later that night we decide to play a video game before bed. The game displays half naked women dancing raunchy to the music. This is a representation of how the world …show more content…

Im not saying the media causes women to have eating disorders, but I will say the miss representation of women causes them to feel bad about themselves because they aren't how the media portrays them to be. These causes certainly can lead to depression and eating disorders.
Another issue that results in the miss representation of women throughout the media is the result in the sexual double standard. Throughout the media women carry the sexual permissive image. A lot of women are influenced by this and act as such making them more sexual and permissive. A lot of girls want to be the Megan Fox in the movies. Women get this ideal of how they believe they should be based on how the media portrays them as. But still, we have the double standard on the men and women which rules in favor of men resulting in women being labeled as sluts and asking for it. Women are evaluated negatively while men are evaluated positively when it comes to engaging in sexual behaviors. According to the social role theory, sexual double standards are a result of gender role structures. Perceived violations of women’s sexual behavior are associated with the SDS. A sample of 483 participants evaluated target individuals who were either female or male, heterosexual/gay man or lesbian, feminine or masculine, and had 1 or 12 sexual partners. Results showed that SDS persisted for gender role– violating targets but is carried out differently for targets violating heterosexual sexual orientation norms and gender role

Show More
Related

  • Jennifer Siebel Newsom Miss Representation

    593 Words  | 2 Pages

    Firstly, Newsom provided a handful of statistics that show how the media has affect women negatively. Girls are exposed to the idea of having the “perfect body” at a very young age due to television. This causes them to become unhappy with their bodies. According to “Miss Representation,” fifty three percent of thirteen year old are unsatisfied by the look of their bodies and as they reach the age of seventeen, that percentage increases to seventy eight percent. This causes eating disorders because women are taught to look a certain way. The characters on tv shows and

    Read More

  • The Media And Gender Stereotypes In The Media

    2330 Words  | 5 Pages

    The media, through its many outlets, has a lasting effect on the values and social structure evident in modern day society. Television, in particular, has the ability to influence the social structure of society with its subjective content. As Dwight E. Brooks and Lisa P. Hébert write in their article, “GENDER, RACE, AND MEDIA REPRESENTATION”, the basis of our accepted social identities is heavily controlled by the media we consume. One of the social identities that is heavily influenced is gender: Brooks and Hébert conclude, “While sex differences are rooted in biology, how we come to understand and perform gender is based on culture” (Brooks, Hébert 297). With gender being shaped so profusely by our culture, it is important to be aware of how social identities, such as gender, are being constructed in the media.

    Read More

  • Influence of the Media on Eating Disorders

    2668 Words  | 6 Pages

    ...causes. In conclusion, I do not believe the media is to blame. I believe that there are many factors to eating disorders. While I do not have an opinion as to the exact cause of eating disorders, I can say I do not believe that it is caused by the media, just worsened.

    Read More

  • Media And Eating Disorders Essay

    772 Words  | 2 Pages

    Media has more of an effect than people realize on how people think about themselves, especially body shape. Social media, television, and magazines all encourage low self esteem regarding body image and eating disorders. The media is a major factor in young boys and girls developing eating disorders; when surrounded by media for hours a day filled with commercials encouraging weight loss and models that are unhealthily skinny, it is inevitable to feel insecure about your body shape and self image and in some cases, results in developing an eating disorder.

    Read More

  • Socio-Cultural Influences on Eating Disorders

    1068 Words  | 3 Pages

    “The attention-grabbing pictures of various high-flying supermodels and actors on different magazine covers and advertisements go a long way in influencing our choices” (Bagley). The media is highly affective to everyone, although they promote an improper image of living. Research proved says those with low self-esteem are most influenced by media. Media is not the only culprit behind eating disorders. However, that does not mean that they have no part in eating disorders. Media is omnipresent and challenging it can halt the constant pressure on people to be perfect (Bagley). Socio-cultural influences, like the false images of thin women have been researched to distort eating and cause un-satisfaction of an individual’s body. However, it is clear that, although virtually all women are exposed to these socio-cultural influences, only a very small proportion develop clinical eating disorders (Mazzeo and Bulik). Every article believes that socio-culture have an impact on eating disorders. Although, researchers believe that is not the only reason, and the easiest statement to make. Eating disorders are far more complicated than it just being blamed on the media. Bagley, Mazzeo and Bulik all state that media play a role in the development but are not the main reason to developing an eating disorder. In all of the research done thus far media is a part of eating disorders, but not the only culprit.

    Read More

  • Dreamworlds 3: The Role Of Women And The Media

    788 Words  | 2 Pages

    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,

    Read More

  • Sexism in the Media

    1057 Words  | 3 Pages

    One thousand years go by and an abundant amount of people still view women in a stereotypical type of way. On the opposing view, if women did not overstretch the slightest of things, this wouldn’t be such an enormous issue. Women may be overreacting to what the media has to say about them. It is not affecting everybody but a vast majority of successful women from continuing to moving forward said Marianne Schnall. Important to realize, women are capable of doing jobs men can do. Such jobs as being an engineer, physician, mechanic, lawyer and even top notch business women! Up to the present time there is an ongoing public debate on women suffering from double standards. If it makes a female feel threatened or belittled than it may be sexist. A very interesting article this came to be because the writer had numerous accountants to keep her argument steady. A worthy writer brings up present time activities, statistics, and people being affected by the scenario and provides the reader some closure. With a devastatingly crucial issue such as women being shunned by the media, it’s not okay to have the ideas of other people in your work. In the article, “Controversial Hillary Cover of Time Illuminates Sexism in the Media” by Marianne Schnall, implies that the media is negatively affecting the chances of women becoming successful with all the sexism it is portraying. Marianne Schnall is a published writer and professional interviewer with many influential credentials that she in not afraid to use.

    Read More

  • The Portrayal of Sexuality in the Media

    1814 Words  | 4 Pages

    In today’s modern society, the media plays a large role in our everyday lives. We are each affected by the media each and every day as it is everywhere we go. The media surrounds us an influences our behaviour and our perception of the world. The media influences how people think and feel, especially about what is considered “normal”. People depend heavily on the media to inform them on what is important in the world and what is normal in the sense of how people dress, look, and behave. The media wants to target the “in” audience. The media wants to give the people what they want, and what people want is the normative because that is how society works, as also argued by Carrera et al. when they say “The implication of sex-gender in heteronormativity has been at the forefront of much trans activism.” (2013) The media display...

    Read More

  • Archetypes Of Women In The Media

    1906 Words  | 4 Pages

    In our media, women are objectified, hypersexualized, or shamed, which both reflects and conditionalized the prevailing hegemony and standards of our society. It exists to be seen by men, or subordinate women, continuing the existence of a mindset which many believe, or would like to believe, has dissipated through out the years to no longer be socially relevant, but on the contrary, has become the basis of media and the perception of our society today. Various archetypes of the portrayals of females include patriarchal subordination, the deadly “female fatal”, and stereotypical ethnic representations. These portrayals have dealt a great deal of damage to both men and women in society, where today, we are faced with how to address and transcend

    Read More

  • The Culture of Thin Bites Fiji by Ellen Goodman

    766 Words  | 2 Pages

    At first, I agree with Goodman’s argument and I think that due to the impact of media, people's aesthetic standard began to change and more and more people begin to pay more attention to lose weight nowadays. And in my opinion, the most obvious part that women are affected by the impact of media, especially for the actors. For example, as Goodman points out, 15% of high school girls who vomited for weight control increased 5 times. It shows girls were worrying about their weight, and it lead to make them to suffer eating disorders. From my personal experience, I also would like to use media to find what is the most fashion hairstyle or cloth brand every month. And it will make me to decide what stuff I want to buy. Also, I think I am a member of control weight, because every day I would like to keep a good image to others. So as a result of control weight, I have the same problem of eating disorders as well. Besides, the...

    Read More

  • Sexism and the Media

    1581 Words  | 4 Pages

    In today's world, what we see in the media dictates our world. Media, by definition, is a form of mass communication, such as television, newspapers, magazines and the internet. Since the beginning of this media phenomenon, men and women have been treated very differently, whether it be through advertisements or news stories. As women have gained more rights and social freedoms, the media has not changed their views on women. They are often viewed as objects, whether for a man's pleasure, or for as a group to sell only cleaning products to.The portrayal of women in the media has a highly negative impact on the easily shaped young women of today. Women of power are often criticized, others hypersexualized. The media also directs advertisements for household things at women.

    Read More

  • Stereotyping Women In The Media

    1571 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout history when we think about women in society we think of small and thin. Today's current portrayal of women stereotypes the feminine sex as being everything that most women are not. Because of this depiction, the mentality of women today is to be thin and to look a certain way. There are many challenges with women wanting to be a certain size. They go through physical and mental problems to try and overcome what they are not happy with. In the world, there are people who tell us what size we should be and if we are not that size we are not even worth anything. Because of the way women have been stereotyped in the media, there has been some controversial issues raised regarding the way the world views women. These issues are important because they affect the way we see ourselves—contributing in a negative way to how positive or negative our self image is.

    Read More

  • The Representation of Men and Women in the Media

    861 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Women In Media Essay

    2105 Words  | 5 Pages

    As a result it can be concluded that the general effect of the illustrations of women in the media to strengthen rather than condense injustice and stereotypes. The mass media in the United States has not made sufficient efforts to argue serious issues regarding women and arrange the women to play their correct and equivalent role in society. To alter this situation, it is required to observe the media and point out the qualities and faults constantly.

    Read More

  • Portrayal of Women in the Media

    3135 Words  | 7 Pages

    The media and television broadcasting of women is not all negative. But current culture is constantly taking the easy way out. It refuses to explore different ways in which women can be represented. That is why for years to come women will still be seen as motherly, passive and innocent, sex objects, or they are overlooked or seen as unimportant entities. Whether it’s motherly birds on kids TV shows or scantily clad dancers on Monday Night Football, the portrayal of women has yet to catch up with what real life women are like. There are single women, obese women, and smart women. Women who are single mom’s, lesbians, or don’t have any children at all. Women are able to do the same type of work as men without being manly. The day that women are treated as equals on television will whole new level of success for feminism.

    Read More

More about Representation Of Women In The Media

Open Document