women in the media

Portrayal of women in the media

How can we improve the image of
women through the media?

Talesia Berry
Senior project
Ms. J. Hawkins
March 20, 2015
Abstract
The Mass media can be used to for creating awareness about things happening in the world.
Media plays an important role in the community, the life of people, and society. A few media
channels are, newspapers, televisions, mailboxes, radio, and the internet.

women in the media

This paper will explain the media's expectations of how a female should look and present herself
to society. It will also be discussing the portrayal of the women in the media, the standards that
are set for other females, and the ideal women of today. Last but not least it will discuss the
positivity that the media has broadcast, that we need more of in todays world. The uprising of a
revolution that teenage girls have started. The young women that are fighting back against the
media.

Key Words: mass media, portrayal, women, advertising

Media is considered one of the biggest ingredients of social change. It has the
power to instantly influence and emotionally steer the beliefs and idealistic principles of a mass
group. Before the raging movement of feminism, women were excluded from almost all fields of
life. A good example of this is the famous statement A woman cant do what a man can do.
Needles to say women are a fundamental and essential part of life. However, the most noticeable
distraction is the structured and targeted portrayal of the female image in the mass media. Many
women in media are normally expected to be seen as objects of enticement and tools for sexually
charged advertisements. They are normally dressed up for the sake of attracting customers,
usually geared towards the attention of males or the increase in feminine insecurity. Sometimes

women in the media

the female has nothing to do with the product itself. But her image will most likely become the
reason attention was obtained in the first place.

Stereotypes have major impacts in the media, which has dedicated its free time
to adapting to the social boom that has now captivated the electronic world. It became the
social norm to seek acceptance from what is generally accepted in the social atmosphere not only
because it is safe but because it is the easier thing to do. Very seldom do individuals openly
display their discontentment with overtly sexual newscasters and pervertedly fluent roles for
actresses. Prime example, well known actress Halle Berry exploded with even more notoriety
than ever before for her ridiculously overtly sexual role in a movie that otherwise would not even
had been noticed by most. Most movie-goers can depict her scene start to finish, but cant give
an accurate description of what the movie is about. In fact, it has been proven time and again that
a blooper reel of a newscasters slight momentary exploitation will attract larger headlines and
more attention than crucial top stories that may be necessarily pertinent at that moment.
Broadcasters will actually be the first to run this reel being as though it is socially understood sex
and confrontation sells like hot cakes. If the Media says it everyone repeats, memorizes, and
learns it regardless of necessary proof that the information is even accurate. Stereotypes are an
Erroneous, relatively fixed, simplistic, and mostly negative generalization (based commonly on
bigotry, ignorance, and prejudice) held to be true about certain individuals or groups. Lacking
individuality or originality, stale (BusinessDictionary.com).
The meaning of media is communication channels through which news, entertainment,
education, data, or promotional messages are disseminated.
Media includes every broadcasting and narrowcasting medium such as
newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, billboards, phone and internet (BusinessDictionary.com).
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women in the media

Since the introduction of internet, the medias ideal image of a women has always been
misinterpreted. The Nielsen Company reported (2008) that more than 80% of Americans have
a computer in their homes. Of that group, 92% have Internet access, a number that increased
over 77% from the previous year. In 2000, only 30% of Americans had internet access in their
homes (Census 2000) (The New York Sociologist, Vol. 5, 2010, pg. 2-3). The abundant use of
the internet has surely helped advertisement, and entertainment media reach a lot more people.
Because of the media there is a sharp increase in cosmetic and non-emergency surgeries done to
become that perfect girl that really does not exist. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons
reported that from the year of 2000 to 2009, there was a: 36% increase in breast augmentation
surgery, an 84% increase in abdominoplasty (tummy tuck) 4,184% increase in lower body lifts
4,191% increase in arm lifts 132% increase in buttock lifts 65% increase in breast lifts ( The
New York Sociologist, Vol. 5, 2010 pg. 4)

Considering that most women are portrayed negatively in the media, there
should be ways this society can improve the image of women in general in the media. What is
the price of perfection? Who sets this price? More importantly, who defines the meaning of
perfection? The portrayal of women in the media has always been corrupted. It has, throughout
the years, reduced women to being nothing more than objects of desire, prizes to be obtained and
flaunted. Which is in essence abusive towards true womanhood It is clearly visible that the
widespread use of internet, the constant occurrence of sexual advertisements and reality
television are all presenting to citizens that to lose an abundant amount of body weight by taking
pills would somehow make you a better woman. Music videos are also showcasing women
wearing short shorts, and jiggling their bottom in front of the camera presenting themselves to be
items for sale as they sway under falling dollar bills in most videos. However, one well known
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women in the media

atist was notoriously praised for his role in a music video seemingly swiping a credit card
through a womans buttocks. These are the direct messages that we are allowing to fall under
freedom of expression laws that are destroying the future of our youth in terms of chivalry, self
respect and respect for others. Because a young lady may see this as acceptable while a young
man may view this as applaudable. These overtly and harshly discriminatory objectives are
encouraging women to take risk and pushing them out of their comfort zone to be attractive.
The women that are viewing these materials are getting inspired to have surgery done and
develop an eating disorder just to feel the need of feeling needed. The men are sadly mistaken 1)
for allowing their female counterparts to be misled by social-news- and advertising media. 2) for
being misled themselves and lacking the loving masculine role of what is described as a Man in
today as well as yesteryears society. But, that is due to the implementation that you are ...not
quite a man if you neglect to allow a woman to express herself. However, this begins the
flirtation with the boundaries of self expression. The majority of the women are not comfortable
in their own skin or happy with their body to the point that the only thing that the media is doing
right now is pushing more images and videos down the throats of the young people. Which in
turn refuses to permit women peace with themselves.
The The New York Sociologist was studying various types of philosophies
presented in magazines. Their study show that the magazines set standards for women to follow.
The standards that women are looking at everyday in these magazines create a personality for
them, it also reinforces the sexists/ religious belief that the male is superior to the female. The
author stated therefore, the female has a set of guidelines that instruct her how to behave, when
to wear makeup, how to dress, what her body should look like, and how to treat her lover (The
New York Sociologist, Vol. 5, 2010, pg.5). Some of the mass media tries to impose

women in the media

empowerment, but yet is telling the women to change themselves in order to be empowered.
Which is twice as manipulative because that can be compared to cloaking evil in the apparel of
goodness. The exemplification of women not only brings about shame, fear and lack of
confidence in women; it also imposes the way they get treated; inhuman-like playthings and
breeds a lack of respect so deep that in some circumstances these expressive disagreements
may even lead to physical abuse within a relationship.
The sexual representation of women is abnormally prevalent in advertising.
Women with thin bodies, barely clothed, appear in magazines, on tv, and on back of buses. A
woman staring down from a billboard in a bedroom, with dreamy eyes, and wearing nothing but
lingerie. They are everywhere you turn, in clothing stores and weekly magazines.
The mechanism used in these ads is quite simple: Attractive bodies are employed
to
grab attention and stimulate desire, which advertisers hope will then be
transferred to
the product. Buy the beer, get the girl. In this way, womens bodies are equated
with
commodities, presented as rewards of consumption. By instructing men to regard
womens bodies as objects, ads help create an atmosphere that devalues women
as
less than people but mere tools for powerful marketing schemes. People
encourage
sexual harassment, and worse (Jacobson and Mazur 1995:84)
(The New York Sociologist, Vol. 5, 2010 pg.8).

women in the media

The media is capable of controlling the female population because they are
able to mold the bodies to their liking with the power of technology. These objectifying schemes
keep women enduring heavy scrutiny. Women are continuing to look at their bodies through the
eyes of a heartless marketer. They believe that they are far from having the perfect body/image
because of the narcissistic obsession over their own physical appearance. Society is well aware
that the women you see on the screen is not how they really look. The media is forcing the
perfect, ideal body on women through every advertisment, music video, magazine, etc.
Women are forgetting that all of that may look like glitter and gold, but really it is not. Not
everything that glitter is gold. The media has brainwashed us all to think that someone we can
actually have a flawless, perfect body.
When a great deal of the population has succumed to everything the media has
dished out, everyone starts to follow suit. It becomes hard to break cycle of this self destructive
trend, if everyone is being persuaded by someone or something. Society starts to model the
behavior of the advertisements, reality televisions, music videos, etc. The repetitive behavior
then becomes a driving force that changes society as a whole. When the change is proven as a
great detriment, thats where the concerns begin to grow. With women modeling the behavior of
Paris Hilton or Lindsay Lohan, the outcome looks harmful not only to women but to the men
also. Men get the way they treat women from the media. Such as in the music videos or the
reality tv shows, if a man verbally demeans a women in any kind of way it is naturally being
practiced directly or indirectly day in and day out. Eventually the men will start to adapt and start
modeling the same behavior. There is a survey that the National Crime Victimization has and it is
said that , 2008, finds one woman per hour being raped or sexually assaulted in the U.S.. The
same survey also reports that 1,006,970 women are stalked annually in America, and of that

women in the media

number, 79% will report sexual abuse during the time that stalking occurs (The New York
Sociologist, Vol. 5, 2010, pg.12).
There has been many research of the constriction of women in the media, no
one really talks about the positive things. There are positive images of women in the media, we
just haven't taken it into perspective like we take all the rest of negative images of women into
the limelight. One positivity that came from the media was the Scandal series. The main
character is a former lawyer and a white house aid that can efficiently `drum roll intricate ideas.
She is a standard middle-class black woman who is well educated and showcases an emotionally
strong, professionally powerful, yet created version of what a striving woman can become.
Feminine leadership shows that you can be very classy yet sexy at the same time. The character
is one of the positives that the media conspires against.
The next big television show that illustrates positivity for women is Being
Mary Jane. There are actually two characters on this show that portrays positivity. One is the
main character Mary Jane being played by Gabrielle Union. Mary Jane is a successful tv news
anchor who has it all. She is self-sufficient, she is a strong woman who remains devoted to her
family, who doesnt share her motivation. As Mary Jane juggles her life, her work, and her
commitment to her family, we go on the adventure with her to find the puzzle pieces that she and
society insist are missing from her life as a black women. The next character is Kara Lynch who
is played by Lisa Vidal. Kara Lynch is Mary Janes friend and also the lead producer of Mary
Janes show. She was recently divorced in the show after her 15 year marriage. She is struggling
daily with being a very career-driven women and trying to be as equally present in her childrens
lives. She is very hardworking and stays focus. She portrays a middle-aged strong Latino
women. These two women are what society needs more of. They need more of these kind of

women in the media

women to influence women that they can be comfortable in their own skin.
The media is everything to society on a whole. Whatever they put out has a major
impact on everyone. Like they say Monkey see Monkey do, right? We need to turn society into
leaders and not followers of everything they see. Empowering women through media would be
our next step to get through to the world, by changing the negative way women think about
themselves and other women.
Empowerment means to enable or permit (dictionary.com). If we empower women through the
media then we are enabling them to accept themselves for who they are. We are making them
feel more comfortable in their own skin.
2012 was the year that people remembered because girls truly started to fight back and
gain traction against centuries of damaging ideas and images about beauty and stereotypical
media portrayals. There is a seventeen year old girl named Lauren Alberti, who will always
have her place in history. She attended Northern Valley Regional High School in Tappan. She got
this idea where one day in early December she asked all the female scholars she knew and did
not know to come to school without wearing any makeup. She was trying to get through to them
that they can feel good in their own skin and not feel the need to look like Taylor Swift or Megan
Fox. A girnamed Julia Bluhm came up with a petiotion for seventeen magazine called,
change.org to give girls a view of images of real girls. The magazine made her a promise
not try to fix the body size or face shape of the girls to be translucent in what they do to the
photos. Young girls like Alberti and Bluhm are using the media to show a positive picture of a
true girl . They are using platforms like change.org to stop the stereotypes, and possibly change
the way society thinks. The CEO for Ms. Foundation for Women emailed them stating that "We
are so inspired by the strength and courage of girls in this younger generation,[...] They are

women in the media

breaking barriers and standing up for equality in such powerful ways." (Yorio, 2012, Pg.1). There
are television shows, magazines,and movies that are other forms of media that are showcasing
images of super thin, halved dressed, girls and women who have no acne and all white teeth,
with the perfect hair. These images are usually edited on photoshop, with lighting, shaping,
and other means, which provides girls unrealistic ideals for females to live up to; it is frequently
blamed for eating disorders and low self-esteem issues. I know I've felt like that for as long as
I can remember, never being happy with the way I look, always comparing myself to the
magazine covers, Alberti said (Yorio,2012, pg.1).
Considering that most women are portrayed negatively in the media, we can bring
empowerment and improve the way people see women in todays media. Because our minds
were exposed to seeing women portrayed negatively in the media, we have to overway the
negativity by bringing forth the positive, so we can open the minds of society to see the truth
behind these womens lives. Therefore we can start to make a change the sameway that these
girls started. we can get into contact with other organizations for women and with other mass
medias. We can start to make the people view the ordinary girl that we see in society walking
down the street or sitting on the bus. Rome wasn't built in a day. So yes its going to take some
time, but if we can get people to change their point of view on some things then people will start
to follow that trend. Women and girls will start to feel comfortable in their own skin and not only
think, but know and believe that they are beautiful.

Resources

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women in the media

Berberick, S. N. (2010). The Objectification of Women in Mass Media: Female Self-Image in

Misogynist Culture. The New York Sociologist, 5, 1-15.
Prasad, K. (2008). Gender Sensitive Communications Policies for Womens Development: Issues
and Challenges.. Feminist Interventions in International Communication: Minding the Gap, 7489.
Sharma, A. (2012). Portrayal of women in mass media. Media Watch: An International Journal
in Media and Communication.
Yorio, K. (2012, December 22). Young women are fighting back against media portrayals of
beauty. Retrieved March 13, 2015, from http://www.northjersey.com/news/young-women-arefighting-back-against-media-portrayals-of-beauty-1.537501?page=all

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