The Media and the Portrayal of Women

Women in Magazines

 

“Feminism? Women’s rights? Women’s right to vote? Women’s suffrage……..Hahahaha yeah right like that’s going to make society better?” (Sarcastic tone).

YES! Yes all of these contribute to giving and representing value for women in society and has definitely made a great impact on society today.

Women have been ranked as lower status compared to men in our world for a very long time. But what makes a women undermined and overthrown is society’s whole portrayal of what women are really like. Who is to blame for this very disappointing idea? The media is the criminal of this false, and crazy perception of how women are. Yes, the mass media of television, internet, radio, newspapers, magazines, are all part of our everyday life. Yes, it is a powerful tool that provides us with information and entertainment. And yes, it reflects our society by its influences the way we think. We create our identity in relation to the images we see around us from a young age. That is why we may not realize is the demonstration of unequal portrayal for women in the media through this powerful tool.

Sexualizing Women in Advertisement

For example when people are repeatedly shown images of women as victims, sexualized, or in domestic roles in the media, then they are more likely to accept these images as normal. Or even when women are portrayed as passive, dependent or weak, it can seem unusual for them to be active, independent or powerful in society. Needless to say, all these activities assumed that images of women in the mass media have some sort of detrimental impact upon both individual consciousness and collective social life. This leads to encouragement of this whole concept of lowering women and their role in society.

The perceptions the media offers for the representation of women in society are by the “standard” female roles their given in shows, news, on the radio, and all over the mass media. A 1971 study revealed that advertisements appearing in an issue did not present a full view of the variety of roles women actually play in U.S. In television shows, women are always given a “feminine” role or are either shown very sexually. The Medias deleterious role models, when internalized, prevent and impede female accomplishments. They also encourage both men and women in terms of men (as sex objects) or in the context of family (as wives or mothers).The media has been criticized for its portrayal of women as objects whose value is measured in terms of their usefulness to others. It becomes difficult to see them as thinking, feeling, and capable people. This then becomes a human rights issue.

The media brings us back to the idea of unequal rights, false perceptions, and gender roles of women in society because the media( television, magazines, newspapers)  greatly impacts their viewers to be have the idea that women are actually like what they see in the media. And because of that idea it leads to discrimination and unequal rights for women for society because of the way they are treated. Women have fought for their rights for a very long time and they will continue to do it even if the media takes a toll on them. We can make a change, and make women’s and men’s rights equal. All it takes is a voice within a community to speak up.