The Media's Degradation of Women

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Women have been fighting for the right to be equal members of society for centuries. In the past women were treated as second class citizens and didn’t have the same rights as men did. Women later lead a movement to change these ways. Although some drastic changes did come about from these movements, equality wasn’t fully attained. In this day and age, equality between men and women still hasn’t been achieved and the media is to blame for that. For decades, the media has dominated society’s views and perspectives of others. Due to recent media, it has been difficult to regulate how women are being influenced and treated by other people in society. The media influences society tremendously and subconsciously steers the way we treat and think of others. Advertisements, television shows, movies, the internet, magazines and other forms of the media have all targeted women in a very erroneous manner. Women are still being highly misrepresented and misunderstood through media all over the world. Increasingly, real women are being under represented, misrepresented, sexualized, discriminated, stereotyped and in many cases violence and abuse against women has also been glamorized. Although we feel that we’ve come a long way, women still aren’t being treated as equal members of society. Going back to the 1950’s, women were expected to be stay at home mothers and housewives. “This was also the era of the "happy homemaker." For young mothers in the 1950s, domesticity was idealized in the media, and women were encouraged to stay at home if the family could afford it. Women who chose to work when they didn't need the paycheck were often considered selfish, putting themselves before the needs of their family” (Daniels 2002)... ... middle of paper ... ...resentation. DVD. Dallas, TX: Assemble. Retrieved May 5, 2014(http://film.missrepresentation.org/) Research Article) Silverstein, Brett. 1996. "The Role of the Mass Media in Promoting a Thin Standard of Bodily Attractiveness for Women." Sex Roles:519-520. Retrieved May 6, 2014(http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00287452#page-1) (Research Article) Stankiewicz, Julie. 2008. "Women as sex objects and victims in print advertisements." Sex Roles:579-589. Retrieved May 5, 2014(http://www.skidmore.edu/classics/courses/2011spring/gw101/Women%20As%20S ex%20 Objects%20and%20Victims%20in%20Print%20Advertisements.pdf) (Research Article) Wood, Julia. 1994. "Gendered Media: The Influence of Media on Views of Gender." Gendered Lives: Communication, Gender, and Culture:231-244. Retrieved May 6, 2014(http://www.udel.edu/comm245/readings/GenderedMedia.pdf)

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