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Media Representations of Gender - Coggle Diagram
Media Representations of Gender
Men
The Metrosexual Male (Postmodernists)
Evaluation
Edwards
: the New Man is simply a product of advertisers so they can sell their products to males and females, not a representation of reality.
Colliers
: men's magazines are often contradictory in their representations- there are still images of rugged, extra strong macho men circulating in popular culture.
Rutherford- Retributive Masculinity
: there have been attempts to "reclaim" traditional masculine authority by celebrating traditional masculine characteristics and interests in media content- birds, booze and football.
Representations have moved away from the tough, emotionless male to one comfortable with emotions and caring about appearance.
Frank Mort:
rise in male fashion magazines/ products reflects change in social attitudes of men and the emergence of the metrosexual man- straight male who engages in grooming, beauty treatments, and fashionable clothes
New breed of magazines in 80s aimed at men encouraged:
portrayed men as emotionally vulnerable
men shouldn't be afraid to get in touch with their feminine side
should treat women as equals
should care more about their appearance
active fatherhood is important
Gauntlett
: studied content of For Him Magazine, found extremely positive results, encouraged men to be caring, considerate lovers, helpful in the home, fashionable and funny
Masculine Myth
Easthorpe
: media such as Hollywood films and video games give impression that a real man is base on his strength, aggression and violence- this is an ideological myth as majority of men are unable to reach this goal of hegemonic masculinity.
McNamra
: men are demonised in the media- found 80% of media representations of men were negative, showing them as violent/ aggressive when in reality only a small proportion of men are like this.
Women
Roles in TV/ Film
Women increasingly achieving visibility outside the home and competing with men equally but this is not represented in media:
women given fewer number of roles
less visibility in the media than men
selected to appeal to men
presented as "ideals" not normal humans/ characters
Bechdel Test:
way of assessing how women are represented in the media, asks whether there are more than two named female characters in the film who talk about something other than a man- many films fail
Tuchman (1978)
Their other role is to play
sexual or romantic interest
, not sophisticated characters/ storylines
This suggests women in work are unsatisified and still desire to have a husband and children to feel truly fulfilled. Suggests that women can’t have both a good job and a healthy, stable relationship. If they want to form relationships, they should leave their jobs.
Symbolic Annihilation:
Women presented in a
narrow range of social roles
: usually in
domestic settings
as housewives, mothers, consumers, while men are represented in a full range of social and occupational roles.
Women
rarely presented in high-status occupational jobs
(doctors, lawyers). If they are, they're presented to have problems in their life. Portrayed as
unfulfilled, unattractive or unstable
/ having issues with relationships.
Women are only successful in TV and cinema if they have sex appeal- attractive, young. Most women in films and TV, especially presenters, tend to be under 30 years old. The same doesn't apply for men- still accepted as sexually appealing when they are older.
Symbolic Annihilation
Symbolic Annihilation
: women are absent, condemned or trivialised in the media. Female issues are often marginalised and their achievements are trivialised/ overlooked, suggesting they aren't a big deal.
Newbold
: Women's sport is massively underrepresented and female athletes are viewed through the male gaze. The little coverage there is tends to sexualise them, and trivialise/ devalue their sporting accomplishments.
Duncan and Messer
: different discourse is used when talking about women in sport- often referred to as "vulnerable" or "fatigued" whereas men are described as aggressive and gutsy
Feminine Identity
Connell (2000)
: feminine identity in the UK is STILL the product of hegemonic ideas of how the sexes should behave. All agencies of socialisation involved in maintain these ideas, but media plays particularly important role in reinforcing traditional ideas about women.
Ferguson
: content analysis of women's magazines from 1949-1980, found they were organised around a
cult of femininity
. They acted like
"apprentice manuals"
to teach women domestic skills and promoted feminine ideals of marriage, caring for family, upholding a good appearance.
however modern female magazines aimed at teenagers found to be moving away from these stereotypes
McRobbie
: magazines from 1960s e.g. Jackie encouraged girls to see romance and marriage as primary goals and to value themselves in terms of appeal to men. However magazines in the 80s had a larger emphasis on careers.
Ballister
: women suffer from
contradictory messages
in the media: encouraged to behave radically in terms of sexuality, independence and careers, simultaneously encouraged to aspire to traditional feminine ideals and see marriage/ children as ultimate goal
Media Jobs for Women
2005: women made up less than 5% of chief executives of largest media companies in UK and less than 10% of editors of national newspapers.
Women absent from top jobs in media- glass ceiling stops them from becoming media owners or hold influential positions. Vast majority of media owners are men e.g. Murcdoch, Viscount Rothermere
Male Gaze (Feminism)
Wolf
: unattainable "
body ideals
" for women are presented through advertising and magazines/ newspapers (e.g. size zero body ideal constantly advertised in early 2000s). Women are subjected to the
beauty myth
= strive to obtain body ideals to be valued by men, are more concerned with having the perfect body than competing with men for positions of power.
Orbach
: such images have been linked to an increase in eating disorders amongst teenage girls e.g. bulimia, anorexia
Mulvey: film-makers employ a male gaze where women are presented through the "lens" of a heterosexual man- encouraged so see women through their eyes with scenes focusing on women's curves, use of slow motion etc. Thus women's roles are decorative- they are not important for the storyline. Simply viewed as sexual objects for both the characters and the audience.
Male gaze contributes to hegemonic patriarchal ideology: encourages men and even women themselves to objectify other women and view them from the male gaze.
Evaluation
These studies are now outdated as character of women's magazines has changed during last 30 years with new ones Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan- tend to focus on issues previously ignored e.g. domestic violence, careers, sexual freedom. Reflect fundamental societal changes in views to women.
Pluralists
: the media simply reflects social attitudes of society at the time. It broadcasts what people want to see and meets their demands. Media bias is the reflection of society's wants, media owners (men) are not using their platform to spread their own ideology (patriarchy)
If people were unhappy, they would not endorse in their media products, however they DO endorse in magazines, films etc, which is why they have not gone out of business.
Postmodernists- Gauntlett (2002):
Increase in proportion of female main characters from 18% in 1980s to 43% in 1990s
Massive decrease in proportion of women portrayed a housewife, now only 3%.
Men and women are increasingly likely to be represented in the same way, no longer in traditional roles
Increase in stronger roles for women: in soap operas, Sex and the City, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Lara Croft etc
Hakim (2011): Erotic Capital
In addition to economic, social and cultural capital, people also have erotic capital which should be exploited to advance within society
Women have more erotic capital than men as they work harder at it- it can allow them to get ahead in many areas of life: politics, advertising, sports.
Neophiliacs- Plant:
Women can be empowered by the new media. The internet has disabled patriarchy as women can subvert traditional expectations and create new identities online.
however many women who use new media face sexism through sexist abuse, death threats, exploitation.
online groups such as TradWife movement or MumsNet reinforces traditional gender roles