Other Issue in Media and Society

The following blogs extensively discuss other important issue faced on various media platforms;

Racism in today's media and society
This particular blog explores invisible forms of racism existent in the media. This blog basically reveals the underlying faces of racism in the media. Visit this blog for more information.

The overuse of drugs in the society
This blog talks about the ever-increasing use of drugs, particularly the use of prescription drugs in the mainstream media such as music videos for example.

Social Media and its impact on teenagers
The blog discusses the effects social media has on teenagers and basically how it has shaped teenage behavior nowadays.

My view

We’ve all witnessed sexism in various shapes and forms may it be in in our lives on a daily or on the media. As far as I’m concerned, for as long as I remember there’s always been gender inequality and of course I barely thought of it when I was young. But as I grew up my friends started to diversify so I had more female friends and I started consuming much more media content. Sexism within the media has remained an issue for so long because most males are numb to it from a young age. Most movies usually portray most male actors (which are usually the main characters as well) as strong and powerful beings while their female counter-parts are either there for sexual purposes or simply as support roles. This makes the male viewers feel like they are placed on pedestal above females and that stops them from advocating for equality. Of course this not only in the cinema industry but in almost all aspects of media. The most prominent positions in the media are almost always reserved to men. A recent study conducted in 2017 stated that women are twice more likely to be shown naked or underdressed in adverts, 1 in 10 women are pictured in sexually revealing clothing (which is six times more than their male counter-parts). According to Social Change initiative at the University of Southern California of the 4,370 ‘speaking or named characters’ in last year’s 100 highest grossing US films, only 31.4 percent were women. (Rosseinsky, 2018) Female TV presenters also seem to be sat on the right side of the camera which seem inoffensive at first but since we all read from left to right we automatically focus on the left side of the screen. Camera left is mostly the dominant side. All throughout media content we can see clear unreasonable physical standard set on women. These standards hinder the progress of women at these particular positions, they might get laid off for being considered overweight, not young enough or plainly not attractive enough for the camera, which like I mentioned in a previous post is absolutely ridiculous. But by far the most harmful type of sexism displayed in the media has to be objectification. Far too often have we seen women put in ad, movie or show purely because of her body. Purely in the aim to please male viewers. This has mainly been the bread and butter of music videos in the last decade or so. Especially in the hip-hop genre, this objectification has been so overexposed that at this point most viewers have become numb to it regardless of their genders. It’s almost become a norm. On the other end of the spectrum we have advertisement for home supplies that always feature a male and female actor and usually put the female in a subordinate position. Almost in this ‘house-wife position’ that doesn’t even really exist anymore in this day and age. Women can be breadwinners just as much as men.

New Study Uncovers The Shocking Sexism Of TV And Film Adverts

For Further Research

What I wish people understood about sexism and TV news

This article in particular was written by a female news reporter and she shares her experiences in the industry. She talks about how women are demanded to follow stricter physical standards than men and that a woman’s career in this industry can solely depend on her looks and/or age. The article provides insight on a situation that we as viewers wouldn’t necessarily be aware of.

How media sexism demeans women and fuels abuse by men like Weinstein

This article basically lists a bunch of different instances in which flagrant sexism was displayed in the media. Most of these are advertisements that face heavy criticism for exploiting gender stereotypes.

Who Knew, Eh? Study Says Sexism in the Media Puts Women Off Politics

In this article we can see sexism discussed in a political setting. This article delves into how media reports tarnish the image of female politicians and tarnish the potential career these politicians could’ve had.

What Experts Say 2

This particular article is called ‘Shake it baby, shake it’ and discusses media preferences, sexual attitudes and gender stereotypes among adolescents. The sample space consists of adolescents aged between 13 to 16 year-old in 480 Dutch schools. The study aims to look at the exposure to and preference of these teens for three important media platforms (TV, Music and the internet) in relation to their permissive sexual attitudes and gender stereotypes. This article discusses in depth how growing up around media entertainment platforms that push negative gender imageries affects sexual attitudes growing and perpetuates the issue. In the Era we live most teens do get information from their parents concerning physical, social, and emotional aspects of dating, romance, and sex. (ter Bogt, Engels, Bogers & Kloosterman, 2010) While sexism and stereotyping of genders is present everywhere including our own homes, the same can be seen in most media platforms today aswell.

Shake It Baby, Shake It”: Media Preferences, Sexual Attitudes and Gender Stereotypes Among Adolescents

What Experts Say 1

According to the Council of Europe, which is the continent’s leading human rights organisation most traditions contain gender stereotype but since these stereotypes are made by people it is vital to remember they can be reformed by people aswell. They define as ‘Gender Equality as Gender equality means an equal visibility, empowerment, responsibility and participation of both sexes in all spheres of public and private life’. And Gender stereotypes as ‘Gender stereotypes are generalised views or preconceived ideas, according to which individuals are categorised into particular gender groups, typically defined as “women” and “men”, and are arbitrarily assigned characteristics and roles determined and limited by their sex.’(2018) The information is presented as sort of informational pamphlet and discusses how the image of female conveyed in the media undermines the progress made on gender equality and further discusses how to eradicate sexism and gender stereotyping in the media.

Combating gender stereotyping and sexism in the media

Current Event 2

Sexism in news broadcasting has been an issue since the late 1960s and early 70s all the time until now. The position has male-dominated in the past but in the #MeToo era more and more women have obtained these position but of course once again in subordinate position compared to their male-counterparts. The two main traits of sexism in the news broadcasting industry are; aesthetics and power. In other words, women are subject to strict physical standards that usually cost them the job, they might be pushed out for not looking young enough, thing or even facially attractive which is ridiculous since their male-counterparts face almost no physical requirements apart from dress-code. Secondly, television news heavily focuses on celebrity anchors (usually men) who make sexist comment on air but face no repercussions because of their value to the networks and the female co-workers rarely speak out of fear of the consequences that may follow. Since television is a visual medium, women must adhere to a particular beauty standard on television that isn’t required of their male counterparts. And for some reason it is believed it is all done in the hopes of ‘bettering the news product’. This goes as far as female anchors asking to edit shots of the broadcast to visually enhance physical features and make them look more appealing, these anchors do this to protect themselves in an industry where they could get dumped easily for not adhering to the code. According to 2017 Women’s Media Center report men report 3 times as much as women do on ABC, CBS and NBC and it’s all out of choice.(Yarrow, 2018) Choice of the male anchors that is.

Sexism in the News Broadcasting Industry

Current Event 1

Audi used cars commercial in China

Last year (2017) Audi released an ad on the Chinese market and it made worldwide headlines because it was directly comparing a bride to a used car. The 30 second clip starts in the midst of a marriage ceremony and the groom’s mother interrupts the ceremony and promptly examines the bride physically to check if most of her features were still in good condition. The groom’s mother then walks away from the couple down the aisle and confirms the groom’s choice and the ad’s tag follows “An important decision must be made carefully” and a flashy new Audi. This is objectification that we see a lot in advertisements. As if buying a new Audi and get married required the same level of decision-making. This ad was eventually banned after all the criticism of course but these types of ads shouldn’t be published in the first place. The ad goes on to encourage viewers to visit a website selling “Audi-approved” secondhand cars and a male voice-over says “Only with an official certification can you rest easy”. This created uproar in China and Chinese Audi called for boycotts. Not only was there complaints about the flagrant sexism in the ad but they also felt like Audi specifically made this ad for the Chinese market without really caring about the consequences specifically because it was the Chinese market.

Sexism and the Media

Sexism seems to be a flagrant issue in almost all types of media nowadays and even though there are slow changes being made, the media in general is still very much male dominated. Through these posts I hope to shed a little light on how women are treated and illustrated in the media. We often overlook the obvious misogynistic references that we see on a daily may it be in advertisements, television shows or music videos. I took particular interest in this because for as long as I can remember the image of women conveyed in the media hasn’t been positive, constant sexual innuendos, objectification and ‘traditional’ gender ideologies/roles have made it hard for women to reach equal grounds. Talking about this from a male perspective is important as not too many males would want to do so, they are in a position of comfort and feel the need to address this but it is a big issue today and always has been