Stereotypes Of Women In Film

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Recommended: Gender and violence in the media

Since the beginning of time there has been stereotypes of what the purpose of a woman really is. Women in history and today are characterized, sexualized and are told what is and what is not acceptable for them to do. The female body was intended to be a sacred and beautiful thing until it was turned into a way to define the woman as a whole. The way women are visually portrayed makes a statement that women’s bodies are the “window to the soul “and men can define a woman’s character by the way she is visually presented in art, in film and in the real world.

During lecture when we spoke of Sofonisba Anguissola’s self-portrait. This portrait shows a woman in a sitting position playing piano with a simple expression. It was noted that she is …show more content…

As a class, we watched a video during week twelve that was called “You watch that”. It was about how men still enjoy watching violence against women because they are able to sexualize it and use it as porn. This visual of the nude woman body portraying weakness while the man remains dominant. Kira Cochrane expresses her opinion on violence against women in film when she states, “it’s the violence against women that is the most troubling, because it is here that sex and extreme violence collide” (Week 12, slide 27). She goes on to discuss how the female characters identities are always defined by sexualizing her and in this case rape and then death. Male viewers enjoy the sight of the struggling woman and disregard the fact that she would be fighting for her life, but instead enjoy the fact that she is visually exposed to the audience and they are able to watch while she is taken advantage of sexually. In many films and in the real-world women that have been sexually active are viewed as “un pure” no matter the circumstance. If a woman is resorting to prostitution because it is the only way to feed her children, she is still viewed as un pure. If she is being raped in a film that is still looked passed and instead of the male viewers feeling sorry for that character they enjoy the sight of sexuality. Similar to violence in porn, these women in the videos are actually being violated and men still choose to watch that and endorse the abuse of women all because her naked body is exposed. Men do not enjoy watching the violence against women when she is fully clothed or if she is not being raped. Men also do not enjoy watching violence towards women if the female fights back and wins. They simply enjoy the dominance and vulnerability and watching the woman suffer for her sexual

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