A-level Sociology: The Media - Gender Representations

Kibourne

'powerful women are seen by many people (women as well as men) as inherently destructive and dangerous. Some argue that it's men's awareness of just how powerful women can be that has created attempts to keep them small'.

Social construction of gender: Connell

States that gender identities are in part constructed by the media as they produce hegemonic or culturally dominant stereotypes of the roles and relationships between men and women.

Social construction of gender: Wolf

Coins the term 'the beauty myth' which is the idea that there is a beauty ideal and women are obsessed with achieving this. The media reinforces this through advertising as a woman's worth is primarily assessed on appearance according to wolf.

Social construction of gender: Tebbel

- Suggests that women are more preoccupied now with their body shape than at any other point in history. This is perpetuated through adverts, magazines, TV and films, all promoting an 'ideal' body shape which Tebbel suggests is more like a Barbie doll than a 'real' women.

- The bodies of 'real' women have been marginalised and pushes from the media, becoming invisible and in its place are airbrushed, youthful images. This is again, promoted by the fashion and cosmetics, plastic surgery and diet industries because it is profitable.

Children Now (2001)

- Found that females characters were very underrepresented in video games, accounting for only 16% of the characters and the majority of characters were highly sexualised and scantily clad.

- Female and male character roles and behaviour were frequently stereotypes, females more likely to scream or play a nurturing role and males more likely to be aggressors

- Games like Grand Theft Auto have been highly criticised for their portrayal of violence towards women.

Wolf and Tebbel

Suggest women in the media have traditionally been shown as young, pretty and sexually attractive. They are typically white and wear heavy makeup even in action roles. They are more commonly shown indoors, in the private sphere of the home, rather than in the public world of men. They are frequently presented as emotional and unpredictable.

The WAG (representation of women in the media)

Concerned with beauty, love, romance, getting the man or keeping their man

The sex object (representations of women in the media)

Slim, sexually seductive, scantily clad: used to be in red top newspapers

The superman (representations of women in the media)

Happy homemaker, maybe part time worker - keeps the family together

The angel (representations of women in the media)

She is 'good', displays little sexuality, sensitive, domesticated and supports her man

The ball breaker (representations of women in the media)

Sexually active, strong, selfish, independent, ambitious and career minded - doesn't need a man

The victim (representations of women in the media)

Like in a horror film, men are the cause of their problems but sometimes also their saviour

Ferguson (1983)

- Argued that teenage girls' magazines traditionally prepared them for feminized adult roles and generated a 'cult of femininity'.

- Males on the other hand have a much wider range of roles, mostly in the public sphere outside of the home. They can be portrayed in a wide range of occupations, particularly those which have a higher status, e.g. CEO 'boss', doctor, lawyer. Men often provide the voice over for TV, radio and adverts as this reinforces them as authority figures or experts

- Mulvey's male gaze

The joker (representations of men in the media)

Uses laughter to avoid displaying seriousness or emotion.

The jock (representations of men in the media)

Shows aggression to exert dominance and win the affections of women.

The strong silent type (representation of men in the media)

In control, avoids showing emotions, successful with women.

The big shot (representations of men in the media)

High social status due to success, both economically and socially.

The action hero (representations of men in the media)

Strong, extreme aggression and violence.

The buffoon (representations of men in the media)

Lighthearted, TV sitcom type who is inept at household tasks/childcare.

Pluralists - where do these representations come from?

Audiences perspectives on gender stereotypes. The people want these stereotypes and the media want profit. However, where do the audience beliefs originally come from?

Liberal feminists - where do these representations come from?

Liberal feminists believe that we need to make changes to the structure of the media to ensure that the male gaze changes. However, they do recognise that some positive changes have happened - more women working in the media, etc. Media representations are based off of the lack of women leadership in the positions of media.

Marxist/Marxist Feminists - where do these representations come from?

Marxists argue that these media representations comes from the dominant readings from the dominant class. The media owners directly control media content and just present their dominant views. Tebbel magazines found that when putting a size 16 model, many advertisers withdrew. Gender representations are driven by patriarchy, they also promote lifestyle that working class women cannot afford.

Radical Feminists - where do these representations come from?

Comes from the patriarchal society. Women need to be kept in a narrow range of stereotyped roles, where they are subordinate to men. They need to appear attractive to appeal to the male gaze. Mulvey calls this 'to-be-looked-at-ness'. Powerful women are seen by many as destructive.