Summer Task 3

Discuss the role that media plays in shaping our views and opinions on any one group in our society; is this representation good or bad?

Gender & Society

The media has always placed judgement upon how women should present themselves and what their roles, appearance and behaviour should be like. Too often, media is seen as the correct guidance for behaviour and appearance such as new slang terms and the latest trends. Due to this, unrealistic expectations of women are beginning to increase because of unfeasible images formed on photoshop and objectification. This essay will explore how media builds society's views on women and how they represent them.

The TV/Film industry often gives female roles a stereotypical appearance conveying conventional beauty ideas (tall, slim and somewhat unintelligent). overweight female characters often have comments made about them by men followed by 'canned' laughter. This has a negative psychological effect on women subconsciously providing expectations for body types, behaviour and values. In addition, female characters are fewer than men in the film industry (for example no two women have a conversation in Lord of the Rings) and their priorities are often marital status and family issues, creating an underlying impression that still in modern day society a woman's priorities should be to find a partner and care for the family. Overall Film represents women in a negative way.

Futhermore, many articles that are written in newspapers and magazines are unnecessarily sexualising woman. Above is Emily Ratajkowski, an actress and model, wearing a skin coloured dress with an open back. The Daily Mail News decided to make a story about this, despite the fact that all she did was go out to get an iced coffee. Furthermore, the pun used for the article had sexual connotations however she was only participating in an everyday activity. Articles like this belittle other work that Ratajkowski has done in the past such as Gone Girl and her cover campaigns on GQ and Vogue. On many occasions, news paper and magazine articles also represent women in a negative way.

Finally, despite being a lesser used form of media, Radio has a very low representation of women. Statistics show that for every 4 men being a radio host, only one of them are women. This is bad because it shows the inequality in modern day society. This just means that there is one less media platform for women to voice their opinions on.

Overall, women are represented quite negatively in the media, however there has been change. In recent years a strong feminist movement has occurred and specifically hit social media, empowering women to believe that they have as equal value as men do. More attitudes like this should be shown through different forms of media and display woman more positively.