Media representation of Gender

Traditional representations of Women
1. Narrow range of social roles, men perform a full range of social/occupational roles.
2. Tunstall- media representations emphasize women's domestic/sexual/consumer/marital activities. Media ignore the fact women go out to work.
  1. Working women presented as unfulfilled/unattractive. Working mothers implied to have neglected their child.
    1. Symbolic Annihilation- Tuchman. - women's achievements not reported/condemned/trivialised by media. Sexuality more important than achivements.
      1. Newbold- women's sport coverage tends to oversexualise.
        Women's magazines encourage conformity to patriarchal ideals that confirm subordinate position compared with men.
        Ferguson- content analysis of women's magazines between 1949-1974 and 1979-1980. Magazines organised around a cult of femininity- traditional ideal where excellence achieved through caregiving/family/marriage/femininity.
        Wolf- suggests images of women used by media present women as sex objects to be consumed by the Male Gaze. Bodys are a project to be continuously improved.
        Content analysis of women's magazines says that 70% focus on beauty and fashion whilst only 12% focus on education and careers. SLIMNESS= HAPPINESS.
3. Increasing number of positive female roles- these reflect social and cultural changes that females experienced in the last 25 years.
  1. Gill- depiction of women in advertising changed from women as passive objectives of the male gaze to independent agents.
  2. Gauntlett- female role models emphasise women can be strong but sexy.
Almy- media representations are important because they enter social conscience and reinforce hegemonic ideas about gender which represent males as dominant and females as subordinate
1. Gauntlett- points out sociological analysis of media representations needs to be cautious because of media diversity in Britain.
Traditional representations of Masculinity
1. Easthope= media transmits the view that masculinity based on strength/aggression/competition/violence is biologically determined and thus a natural goal.
  1. 1980's- glossy magazines for men, GQ, Maxim, FHM, suggest men are emotionally vulnerable, should be more in touch with feminine side, treat women as equals, care more about appearance, active fatherhood worthwhile.
    1. Gauntlett argues there are still plenty of magazines aimed at men which objectify women and stress images of men as traditionally masculine
      1. Rutherford- magazines are symbolic of what he calls retributive masculinity- an attempt to reassert traditional masculinity authority by celebrating traditionally male concerns.
  2. "the new man"- new type of masculinity led to post-modern sociologists saying that masculinity is responding to the assertiveness of women.

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Media representation of Gender

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	Created by Lauren Davison about 10 years ago