Introduction
Mass media plays a very important role in the society today. Its role has significantly increased as compared to the old age times when getting information was a very difficult task. However, as much as the media plays a major role, it has been characterized by the development of some unacceptable trends in the society. For instance, the role that it has played in portraying women negatively cannot be taken for granted. Through media, women have been depicted differently and as such, stereotyping has been a major effect of this. The women have been portrayed as sexist commercials in most of the advertisements that are run in the media. Through insisting to put almost naked women in the front pages in order to attract attention, the dignity of the women has been lowered and undermined. A sexist commercial study by Davis stereotyped that most of the women act childish and girlish as compared to those that behave intelligently. This study is based on the day-to- day experiences that women undergo and the observable characteristics in them. This paper aims to look into the various ways through which the media has branded women negatively and provide the necessary remedies that should be applied to ensure this trend is curbed.
There are several issues that affect the society negatively. Some of these issues are as old as mankind while some of them keep on emerging from the day to day experiences that the human beings undergo. Some of these issues may include the inequality in the civil rights, the increased rate of gun violence and some behaviors that contribute to making the society inhabitable. In order to overcome these problems and ensure that the necessary development is attained, these problems should be solved as soon as possible and lasting solutions be found. The solutions should then be implemented to ensure that the researches that are done are of utmost importance. It will not make any sense for a research to be conducted only for its findings not to be implemented. This will contribute to wastage of resources that should have been allocated to different sectors for the development of the economy.
In the modern times, the media has played a key role in influencing how people think and even make judgments. Unlike in the old times when media coverage was inadequate, the modern times have seen an increase in the number of media services, as a result bringing information closer to people. Whether through internet, through radio, through televisions, the media has maneuvered its way to be closer to the humans, the impact of which is the increased rate of how information is spread and shared. The introduction of the social networks such as twitter and Facebook has also meant that one can get the information at the comfort of their homes, without having to travel a lot to be informed. The fact that most people learn by observing what is going around means that the manner in which the media portrays women plays a crucial role in how they are treated in the society (Davies et al, 2002).
Inherently, from the past generations, the society has been characterized to be patriarchal. To this extent, the males have always been considered as being the superior of the two genders. As such, women have always played a subordinate role. There is however an increased pressure to ensure that both the genders are treated equally. Several challenges, however, have been encountered in ensuring this.
Among the issues that need to be fixed at the earliest opportunity possible is how media portrays women in the society and to what extent that it navigates us to the stereotype of femininity. Through the media, there has always existed a certain form of pressure for the women to behave and look in certain ways. This is a problem that is deeply rooted in our cultures and traditions. Despite there being attempts to ensure this has been amicably solved, there is a lot that needs to be done in order for it to be tackled successfully. The impact that culture has played in determining how the members of a given community feel about themselves and their bodies cannot be overlooked (Donnellan, 2001). As such, women will forever feel as though they are being subjected to unequal treatment and although at the face value discrimination may be curbed, internally they will always remain inferior.
The media plays many roles. Some of them are positive while some of the roles may be said to be negative in nature. For instance, through media, there has been a transfer of stereotypes, values and beliefs of the society. Through this, the existing order of the social life is constantly being promoted as it is transferred from one generation to the other. There is a strong influence that is always exerted by the mass media on the way human beings think. However much the women have fought against the manner in which the media has portrayed them, the notion of sexism which is leveled against women still remains. The media therefore should be encouraged to play a positive role in ensuring that gender equity is achieved and that the women are treated with dignity.
In most cases, it has been argued by media researchers and several gender theorists that the manner in which the men are portrayed in the media is predominantly positive and unproblematic. This is because they have, in most cases, been considered or at least depicted as being heroic and dominant. This is unlike the manner in which the women have been portrayed as being weaklings and dependant on the men.
It is a common thing to see a number of airbrushed images of women whenever we watch our televisions, read the newspapers and surf the internet. Most advertisements that are carried out by the media also tend to contain more pictures and photographs of women who are half-naked. This is not a good thing as it lowers the dignity of women as they often than not get treated as sex objects. The images of female bodies are always everywhere in the media, whether in the print media or the visual media. As such, the standards of beauty have effectively been imposed on women, all for the economic purposes. This plays a big role in depicting the women as being weaklings and objects of desire in the community. To avoid these stereotypes, the media should first be reformed to be aware of the extent to which they can go to protect the dignity of the women as important members of the society.
The media has also successfully managed to depict women as people who tend to fantasize about unachievable things (Royo, 2001). As such, it is common to see many industries that deal with diet and cosmetics using a picture of an ideal person that is unachievable in the real life setting. This works magic and satisfies the purposes of the industries in maintaining the profits. This is because most women who are not proud of their bodies develop a high chance of purchasing these beauty products that are being advertised. It is many girls’ dream to lose weight and as such, several researches carried out have concluded that women have induced mechanisms such as vomiting or diet pills in order to achieve this dream of losing weight. There are therefore faced by many challenges and diseases such as eating disorders. As such, the media plays a big role in influencing how the women and ladies in general are depicted in the society.
The fantasies of women to attain the ideal body have led to many sacrifices made by the ladies. The importance and worth of a thin body for women has also been reinforced and developed by the televisions and several movies. As such, most ladies that take part as characters in the TV programs are often underweight. It is therefore common to see most women’s magazines being sold out as compared to the male magazines. Most programmes in the televisions and the advertisements that are carried out in the televisions mostly emphasize on the ideal women. It is almost impossible to see a media personality who is not appealing to the eyes of the viewers in the case of the televisions. As such, the women are effectively depicted as instruments of attraction and commercialization objects. All these have been brought about by the fact that the society places high regards to the importance of beauty. However, this plays a big role in lowering the self-esteem of those that cannot afford such lifestyles and body looks (Kanner, 2004).
There are several effects that are brought about by the way that the media depicts women in the society. Most of these effects, however, are negative in nature and as such, the media should be advised on how they should carry out their businesses. As a matter f fact, the fact that most of the female pictures that are put in the advertisement columns are semi-naked, the women are depicted as sex objects. In the modern society in which gender equality is the cry of many, this portrays a very bad picture. Dignity of women has been lowered by these pictures. The beauty industries that deal with this advertisement take out the chance and opportunity that he women want to look sexy to manipulate them. This puts more pressure on the women to look sexy and as a result, the women do unnecessary things such as skipping meals in order to achieve their dream bodies. This may lead to a complication in the way that the body works and may lead to several disorders.
The media has also played a very key role in the development and continuation of the gender roles. This refers to the communal construction of a set of behavioral and social norms that are within a specific culture. In most cases, these roles are widely considered to be only appropriate for the members of a specific sex and it may seem odd for a member of the other sex to perform them, as they would be going against the society’s expectations. As such, it is important to note that different societies in the world have different gender roles. This means that the gender roles are not universal to all the societies in the world as they have been developed aligned to the tradition of the societies and communities in question. Although these gender roles are socially constructed, the media plays a key role in defining them since it can be argued that these roles are as a result of the socialization experiences that the human beings are subjected to. The gender differences are not brought about by the biological sex. These differences are highly influenced by the culture of a given society since the norms are inherently adopted.
Through several ways, mass media has played an important role in strengthening the stereotypes that are leveled against women. In the modern world where the information is broadcasted in a fast pace, the misconception that women are perceived with may have a negative impact to the day to day activities that the human beings are involved in. Most of the gender stereotypes are portrayed mostly in the commercials as a persuasion technique.
The knowledge about the world around us plays a big role in coming up with the stereotypes that exist in the society. The media, being the tool through which much of the information around is acquired and spread, therefore becomes a key element through which these stereotypes are spread, by creating cognitive schemes which display the reality that exists in the present world. Stereotypes represent the opinion that a group in the society may have about other members or another different group in the society. The socialization process plays a great role as far as the internalization of these stereotypes is concerned. It is always a difficult task to change a given stereotype since they are always based on the traditions
As already argued above, most commercial in the televisions are based on the stereotypes that exist within the society. In advertisements that are made on the mass media as pertains to the beauty products, women are always portrayed as independent of the social expectations that confront them. Most of these commercials and advertisements portray the women as being objects of desire and sex objects and as such, it is common to see women struggle to attain certain body figure that are deemed as being the best (Kimmel et al, 2001).
Because the media and in particular the commercials are essential in shaping the opinions of different people, the old-age stereotypes are transferred from one generation to the other in an easy way. As a result of using these stereotypes in the advertisements and the commercials, specific groups are described in relation to how the members carry themselves. This is despite the fact that there may exist individual differences of the members of the groups. Nevertheless, mass media plays a significant role in promoting the stereotypes about a given society.
There have been several fulfilling prophesies in relation to the assumptions of being women. These are better explained by the labeling theory, which deals with how the behavior and identity of individuals is determined by the terms that are used to classify them. Essentially, it has always been the norm for the majority to label the minority rather than the other way round. A negative label subjected to an individual effectively changes the self-conception and the way people may see themselves. Social identity therefore is sometimes influenced by the stereotypes that the individuals may be subjected to. As such, labeling women as being subordinate to the men may have an impact on the women’s perception on their abilities. They will be seeing themselves as weaklings and they may never do anything to overcome these misconceptions. The nature of jobs that women take has also been promoted by these prophecies. As such, it has become a tradition for women to occupy some less paying jobs and it is considered inappropriate for a woman to be in a superior position in a given company. Powerful positions are expected to be occupied by men. To change this, then the media has to play an important role in educating the society about gender equality.
As a matter of fact, there is no place for discrimination in the modern day era as all the genders are considered equally important in the development of the society. Gone are the days when women were considered inferior and their roles limited to doing house chores taking care of the children. The empowerment of the women is an essential thing as it means that the workforce is increased. Over time, women have proved that they are equally capable of doing whatever men can do. Stereotypes that may negatively affect the women therefore need to be avoided. By avoiding these stereotypes, women will be in a better position to employ their skills and expertise to the development of the society. Through this, development will be improved. In conclusion therefore, the mass media should play a different role in educating the society n the effects of stereotyping and strengthening the belief in women that they are equally important in the society.
References
Davies, P.G., Spencer, S.J., Quinn, D.M. (2002). Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Cambridge
Donnellan, C. (2001). Gender roles. Cambridge: Independence.
Kanner, B. (2004). The Super Bowl of advertising: How the commercials won the game. Princeton, N.J: Bloomberg Press.
Kimmel, M. S., & Messner, M. A. (2001). Men's lives. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Royo Vela, M. (2001). Sexism and gender role portrayals in spanish tv commercials. Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas (IVIE.
