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Page 1: Women in the media   ethical issue
Page 2: Women in the media   ethical issue

Women in the MediaThe mass media represent women both positively and negatively. Although women are all different depending on religion, age or even build, the media have a stereotypical idea of the “perfect woman”. They express this all over the media industry, typically aiming at celebrities because they are the people that the population look up to and admire. The media have a big influence over the public therefore they have an impact on their views and opinions because they have the power to choose what to publish across the nation.

Even though this is still an issue today, the representations of women in the mass media have changed greatly in the past twenty years. However, I think that quality still does not exist between men and women.

The mass media includes television, radio, the internet, video games and print media like newspapers and magazines. Slowly, the media have started to change how women are portrayed. They are now commonly used as sex objects in adverts, video games, newspapers and magazines. This stereotypical image has been created by television programmes such as ‘The Bachelor’. The programme contains several women competing for the attention of one man, and often using their sexuality or body to achieve this goal. Another example of this observation is magazine adverts for products like perfumes. These are advertised by displaying a half-naked female body in the foreground using dominant contrast therefore it stands out. The product is sometimes not the most eye catching point to an advertisement even though it is the unique-selling-point and star profile.

Page 3: Women in the media   ethical issue

Women are represented and seen in different ways and roles within the media. These include positive and negative ways.

Video games are a large cause of how women are seen negatively in the media. This is because the female characters are typically dressed inappropriately and highly sexualised. 38% of female characters are wearing revealing clothing on games such as ‘Grand Theft Auto’.

Women are often seen as “sex objects” in the media industry. This is usually seen in print media, for instance, newspapers and magazines. They are portrayed in this way in order to sell a media product that has a male target audience therefore it would appeal to them and persuade them to buy the product. This shows that exploitations of women’s bodies sell products or magazines in this case.

Another negative point of how they are portrayed is in television, film and also real-life. This is how women are seen in a household and family life. The media represent them completing the same domestic jobs around the house like cooking, cleaning and looking after the children. On the other hand, men in the past were often seen as the more dominant person in the family, relationship and frequently many diverse situations too. This is still a problem today, however not as much as in the past.

In terms of the mass media, women were often typically seen less often than men on television, and even less in main roles. Women on television were seen to be less powerful than men and it was the other way around, it would be seen to be unnatural. An advertisement such as ‘Fairy Liquid’ is a popular example to show how women were perceived in the media in the early to mid-1900s.

The media can have an impact from a young age. Some girls get the message from a relatively young age that the most important thing is how you look, and that their value and worth depends on this. Young girls would get this from all types of media but also celebrities too. Children look up to many people when growing up and it’s common that some look up to models as they are the media’s idea of the “perfect woman”. By growing up with thousands of women of this nature, girls might think it is normal or compulsory to be underweight and covered in make-up.

Now-a-days, this is not as much as an issue. This is because the media also recognise successful and independent women that are of a completely different nature to the ‘model’ look.

Despite the negative stereotypes found in the mass media, there are also positive examples of intelligent and independent females. Examples of these are found in television. Lisa Simpson is a great illustration of this theory because she is seen as a brainy and gifted child as she is good at everything she does and isn’t afraid to speak her mind. Another example of a TV character that has a positive reflect on how females are portrayed in the media is Dora the explorer. She is a fictional cartoon character who appeals to children as she features as the star profile in a television programme. She is seen to be adventurous and daring, different to how the media would portray a character of this sort in the past.

In recent years, female roles and generally females involved in the media industry have become stronger, confident and more independent. Examples of this are again in the television industry. TV programmes such as ‘Desperate Housewives’ have all female main characters and they are each exposed with unique and confident personalities and characteristics.

Page 4: Women in the media   ethical issue

Laws & LegislationsPress Complaints Commission (PCC)The press complaints commission controls the system of self-regulation for

the press. The self-commissioned organisation deals with complaints about content of newspapers and magazines and the behaviour and conduct of journalists. They protect the rights of individuals as well as preserving appropriate freedom of expression for the press. This is appropriate for women in the media because females can. An example of this is celebrity Holly Willoughby, who complained over ‘fake up skirt’ photo. The presenter stated: “I was outraged to discover that I was the victim of this misleading trick by the Sunday Sport, which I know it used on many other women such as myself. I have instructed my lawyers to take firm action against the paper." A spokesman for the PCC confirmed it had a complaint from Willoughby under clauses 1 and 3 of the editors code of practice that relate to accuracy and privacy.

Equal Opportunity Act 2010This is a quite recent established act however it focuses on equality of all

kinds. This act has replaced other equality legislation such as the Race Relations Act, Disability Discrimination Act and Sex Discrimination Act. The Equal Opportunity Act has been made to find and act upon discrimination of any kind. This law helps because now-a-days women have the right to work as much as men and most often some women have better jobs than males, and are the breadwinners, whereas back in the day it was the norm for the males to play the dominant role in bringing in the income to support their family. However, it is sometimes quite the opposite therefore this particular act doesn’t resolve every single act of discrimination.

Page 5: Women in the media   ethical issue

What Happened Next?• The issue of how women are portrayed and used in the media is an on going

matter. • This is because the media see women in one particular way and force the public

to think that this is certain image is the way a women should look and do. They see the medias perception of women in all sorts of media; television, magazines, films, newspapers and even in books.

• This doesn’t apply for all women, however. Some women are completely happy with the way they look and feel and don’t think that the media are forcing them to look a certain way.

• Issues from this matter have risen in the public eye many times. Examples of these are from women undergoing plastic surgery, doing excessive exercise, and suffering from eating disorders.

• The media are slowly changing their opinion on how they see women, in a healthier and curvier way as this is seen more realistic to real women now-a-days.

• It is also important to think about editing in the media too. A model or woman in the media can look completely different in real life than they do to men and women in the public through the mass media. This is down to Photoshop and other editing programmes available now, where you are able to take something and manipulate it into something else that will be more appealing to the public. This is mainly used when a company is trying to advertise a product as they will want the model to look flawless in order to make the product appeal to their target audience.

• The mass media are doing this by promoting images of healthier looking women in advertisements and through the media. This will then gradually change how women are seen and thought to look like as society will be socialised into images of more practical women of the modern day.

Page 6: Women in the media   ethical issue

Conclusion• In conclusion to this essay, I think that women are still portrayed as

a sex symbol and are not treated equally in the media.7• The points that I have made shows that there is still a problem with

the representation of women in the media and I think that women are more often used for people to look at within the media. Even though this is true, it still seems to work in a way that people have realised this yet this is still an issue today which proves that using women to the media’s advantage has an outcome on the public.

• However, I think that women are treated more fairly in the workplace more than the past as they could never have an equal job to a male, but now-a-days it is seen as normal.

• I hope that in the future, teenage girls and women realise that the way women are seen and used in the media is not the way to be, and you should feel comfortable the way you are in your own body.

Overall, I feel that the portrayal and representation of women in the media has both changed and stayed the same in different ways. For example, the idea that women are used as a sex symbol still remains, and the idea that women stay at home whilst the man goes to work as changed because now women are allowed to go out to work and be the breadwinners for their family, and this is expressed through media such as television and films.