Examine the ways in which males and females are represented in the mass media

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Katie Jackson 12MH

Examine the ways in which males and females are represented in the mass media

I believe that the representation of males and females in the media is an interesting and important issue to address as it is evident that through television especially, females are depicted to be passive, anonymous sexual objects where as men are portrayed as hard working, dominant figures of authority within society.  In this essay I will examine the different ways in which both males and females are represented in all types of media and the ways in which, according to certain sociologists this affects the way society perceives males and females to behave and how the younger generation are affected.

With reference to newspapers, society is often concerned about the media representation of sexual violence against women. Newspapers often sensationalise the details of rape attacks on women and thus rape victims are stereotyped as good or bad, therefore deserving or undeserving. Joan Smith (1989) suggests that the female fear of violence is used as a basis for many TV shows for example, “The Shining” which adds to the notion of women as weak and vulnerable figures within society. In my opinion this cannot send a healthy message to young people of society if when reading exaggerated stories of rape accounts and viewing it on TV they are accustomed to the view that males are aggressive characters whom women live in fear of. This approach of ‘De-sensitisation’ was adopted by Hilda Himmerlweit (168) as she suggested that prolonged exposure to programmes portraying violence may have a ‘drip-drip’ effect such that individuals are socialised in accepting this ideology.

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     According to Tuchman (1978) women’s issues are also marginalised as newspapers contain “women’s pages” and he uses the concept ‘Symbolic annihilation’ to describe the way women in the media are absent, condemned or trivialised. Diana Meehan (1983) states that there are only 10 female character types presented in American drama serials and whilst men play more subtle roles, women are portrayed as the extreme as either typically good or evil. I also believe that women are represented as a minority within the media which is quite ridiculous considering that women take up over ½ the worlds population. For ...

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