James Bond is good example of sexism in films. James is seen as the rough tough guy who goes round using women for sex. In every film there is of James Bond he must sleep with at least 2 or 3 different women. The women are always seen as the sex symbols even in the James Bond films now days, for example ‘The World is not enough’.
An advert from a James Bond film from 20 years ago is using a woman as a sex symbol yet again. She is barley wearing anything and is described as James Bonds ‘lady love’.
A film from a good few years ago ‘Grease’ is also very sexist. All the lads are in leather jackets, riding motorbikes and are smoking, where as the girls are in pink, driving a pink car and they to are smoking. According to the lads the girls belong to them and they have to do everything they do. The lads just want to use the girls so that they can sleep with them.
A film called ‘On the Buses’ from `1971 is one of the most sexist films I have ever seen. The male bus drivers hear that they are going to take on some women bus drivers and they go mad and say that women could never drive buses. The women prove them wrong and get promoted to inspectors and the men threaten to quit because they don’t want the women in charge of them.
Another thing that the men do is go round using the women and trying to get them into bed. That’s using the women as sex symbols once again. Also when the men are driving the buses they go past women whistling at them. This film is very sexist.
Another very sexist film from the present day is ‘Austin Powers, the international man of mystery’. He is a swinger but he manipulates girls, he goes round thinking that it is ok for him to go round sleeping with girls when and where he wants. He thinks that he is gods gift to women and that as soon as he looks at them they should be attracted to him in a sexual way. Take for instance one character ‘Alota Vagina’; Austin Powers uses her for sex so that he can get some information out of her. If this was the other way around and Alota was using Austin for sex then she would be seen as a slut and a slag.
I am now going to discuss TV; the first area in TV is soap operas.
There is a lot of sexism in soap operas, for example, someone not getting a job because of their sex, or a boy wanting to go out with a girl so he can sleep with her.
Eastenders is a very good example, a character Ian Beale has a nanny called Laura to look after his children. Ian uses her to do everything not just take care of the kids, and when he has had a few drinks he likes to slip into bed with her, but when he is soba she is nothing but a skivvy to him.
The Café is a sexist place. The people who work there are all women, no men. It’s a man that owns it; he would rather see women slaving over the cooker.
Two other characters Robbie and Kerry, Kerry is taking Robbie for a ride saying that she fancies him; Robbie believes everything she says because he wants her for sex.
Barry and Roy are opening a taxi firm. They have hired drivers but they are all men. This is very sexist what’s wrong with women drivers? They have women working on the radio in the office though.
Sonia, a 16 year old character who has just had a baby, she has a social worker that is a woman, why can’t it be man? Are they to rough and tough to handle a situation like this? This is another very sexist case.
Another soap opera Coronation Street is very sexist.
In the pub the people who work behind the bar are all women. What’s wrong with a man doing bar work?
There is a doctor’s surgery, the doctor who works there and he is a man, and he has women receptionists. Why cant this be the other way around?
Another very sexist thing is that there is a hair salon, all the staff are women. What is wrong with a male hairdresser?
20 years ago in Coronation Street there was a pub and a corner shop but only women worked in them. Also then a lot of women didn’t work they stayed at home and played the housewife while there husbands went out to work. What would have been wrong with a man working in the shop then?
Soap Operas mirror society and every day life, so when society changes the Soap Opera will follow but there is not much evidence of change at the moment.
The next subject in TV I will discuss is Game Shows.
Family Fortunes is a sexist show. It is hosted by a man ‘Les Dennis’ and has been for ages. Why cant a woman do the job? If they ever decide it change the presenter then I think they should get a woman. The only bad thing is, if it is a woman they might get her to dress up in really skimpy clothes so she looks like she is up for anything.
Another bad thing about this programme is the questions, they sometimes have ones like ‘we asked 100 men from the public what they like their wives to wear (clothes wise)? This could offend some people.
Bruce’s is price is right is a really sexist game show. Bruce (the host) is a 70 year old man who has young women who must only be in there 20’s posing for him with maybe only a bikini on. He has them posing with the prizes and is always making comments on how they look.
Wheel of Fortune is sexist. It has male host (John Leslie) and a women (Jenny Powell) posing in very skimpy clothes applying the letters on the board that the contestants have asked for. John always makes comments about the way Jenny looks for instance when she goes to apply the letter he will say ‘can the lovely Jenny do that’.
Comedy shows like ‘The Royle Family’ are also sexist. Characters Jim and Barbara are married, Jim doesn’t do anything, and Barbara has to do it. If the doorbell rings Jim tells Barbara to get it, if the meals need cooking Jim tells Barbara to do it. They also baby-sit for their grandson and Barbara does everything for him as well as everything else and Jim sits and watches her.
A music show called CD:UK keeps you up to date with the latest chart music. Some of the bands featured in this programme are quite sexist, here are a few: -
- The Sugar Babes are sexist because they are an all girl band. Why can’t they have men it to?
- Bonjovi is an all male band. What’s wrong with having girls in it? Well the band has been around for years so maybe sexism was worse then.
- Ronan Keating is a male solo artist, but he has girl-backing singers who are all dressed up wearing not much. Why couldn’t he have male backing singers? Would they look too puffy?
I am now going to discuss cartoons.
Not a lot of people realise that cartoons can be sexist in a lot of different ways.
One cartoon that dates back to over 20 years ago and is still being made now is Tom and Jerry.
In a lot of the cartoons its just Tom and Jerry fighting but sometimes they will have a female cat as one of the characters. She will always look attractive towards Tom like a sex object but Jerry always seems to end up kissing her at the end.
If there are ever humans featured in Tom and Jerry then it’s always a woman. She is the one who does all the housework and takes care of the animals, why can’t a man do this job?
Another cartoon that I think is sexist are the Bugs Bunny cartoons by Warner Brothers.
In some of the cartoons there is a hunter trying to kill the rabbit (Bugs), his name is Elmer Bud. As I noticed he is a man, what’s wrong with a female hunter? Are they not strong enough?
Sometimes there is a female rabbit called Babs, she is used as a sex symbol for Bugs to be attracted to.
A cartoon that I think is really sexist is The Simpsons.
In the household where The Simpsons live there is the mother Marge, the farther Homer, and the children Bart, Lisa and Maggie.
All Homer does apart from work (where he only sits around) is watch the TV, eat and go to the pub. Why can’t he do any of the housework? One thing he is lazy, the other is that he thinks it’s Marge’s job to do everything. I’d say that was very sexist.
The children Bart and Lisa are completely different. Lisa is a total brain box at school and a real swat where as Bart is the complete opposite. He is thick and naughty at school. Why is it always the boys who play the naughty characters? Why is it the girls who have to play the intelligent ones? I find this very sexist.
I am now going to discuss adverts; I feel that this is a really important subject.
First I am going to discuss adverts from 20 years ago. An advert for tampax from 20 years ago shows a woman prancing around very elegantly looking into a mirror. This is probably to make sure she looks the same as she did, because she has been prancing around a field. The article states ‘she is the fairest in the land’.
Another advert from 20 years with the title ‘A lovely bosom’. This advert is talking about bosoms being a woman’s rightful possession. It is advertising where you should write to, to get a desirable figure in your own home. Why does it have to be a woman who looks desirable? What if a man wants to look sexy?
The woman actress Christine Rucker is shown as a sex symbol in a photo advertising her latest film. But this advert also states that she has a ‘fabulous figure’ and it even gives her sizes. If this were a man trying to advertise his film, then he would be seen wearing clothes, not any, he would also be seen as the rough tough guy.
In an advert advertising a popular movie villain (a male of course) is shown as a cowboy who is rough and tough. What about a cowgirl? Why can’t a woman be used as a villain?
Adverts today continue to stereo-type women.
A cartoon advert from a newspaper shows a woman and a man talking about votes. The woman is made to look sexy throughout; I think this is for the man to agree with her.
An advert for a mobile phone uses a woman to advertise it. It talks about the mobile being a ‘sex object’ and goes on to say that the woman isn’t that bad either. Why does it have to be a woman advertised as a sex object? Is a man not good enough to be one?
Another advert from a newspaper says ‘Sex? There’s no read quite like it’. This is advertising a new sex magazine called ‘The Erotic Review’ which is for over 18’s only. It’s sexist because it shows a woman’s upper body including the breasts. Why can’t a man’s body be used? Or don’t they have anything to gaze at?
An advert that shows a woman as a slag because she is 19 and has lots of boyfriends, she has also slept with most of them on their first date. If this were a man then he would be seen as the cool guy because he has loads of girlfriends and is having sex all the time.
A business like advert shows an important man in the front and an unimportant woman in the background, but not seen as a sex object this time. Again, why cant the woman be the important one?
An advert from the TV that isn’t as sexist as it would have been 20 years ago, advertises Nivea Skin care for men. Once over it was just skincare for women and it would have been unheard of for men or if it was they would of probably been called gay or weird. I think that it is good for it to be advertised for men now and not just women.
After looking at all my information on adverts I don’t think much has changed.
The last topic I am going to discuss is News Presenters. 20 years ago you would have never seen a female news presenter, but now a days there are a fair share of male and female presenters, after all there is nothing wrong with a female.
I think that they have allowed females to present the news because for one it was sexist not letting them and two it may attract more people to watch the news (mostly men), and maybe the male presenters attract females to watch the news.
Another thing is that you would of never of seen a female weather presenter forecast presenter 20 years. But now there are lots of them. I think its better the have a mixture both men and woman.
I am now going to discuss a survey that I made (appendix 2).
I carried out this survey to find out whether people think that sexism has increased or decreased in TV.
The results I got were very similar. A lot of people think it has increased and about the same amount think it’s decreased.
I asked my mam about this, she said, “I think that sexism in TV has increased. I say this because women can be still be used as sex objects in adverts and in programmes on the TV. Its always men that who are used for adverts that advertise cars or mobile phones, what’s wrong with a woman doing this?”
I myself think that this is quite true; all this still does go on in TV programmes and advertisements on the TV.
My Grandad also answered the question for my survey; he thinks that sexism in TV has decreased. This is what he had to say, “I really do think that sexism in TV has decreased. I don’t think that woman are used as much as sex objects as much and they are being used in a lot more adverts that once over would of only be associated with men.”
This is another good point being made again, I also feel this is a true statement.
If I had to choose I would say that sexism has decreased a bit but not as much as it should have done.
After analysing all my research and results I have come to the conclusion that sexism in media has decreased in several areas.
Films is one area, I studied lots of different films from 20 years ago and the present day and I found that films are no where near as sexist as they used to be.
The TV was another example and I looked at sitcoms, soap operas, game shows and music shows. These continue to be quite sexist.
I also looked at news presenters and found that there are both sexes presenting the news now and not just men.
Adverts are improving – women are seen driving cars more of than 20 years ago and are shown to be more in control but there is still much evidence of gender stero-typing.
The final area I am going to discuss is schools. But sexism in schools is a very controversial issue.
Bullying is a major form of sexism in schools. A girl might get bullied for wanting to play rugby, or a boy for wanting to play rounders.
Uniforms are another sexist area. In some schools girls aren’t able to wear pants, only skirts. A lot of girls don’t agree with this and try to do something about it.
My views on uniforms 20 years ago are that it was wrong that girls couldn’t wear pants and were made to wear a skirt.
Old textbooks can be sexist in schools. They can contain things that can be offensive to boys or girls, for example it could show a picture of a woman doing the cleaning with no man present in the picture.
Teachers can be sexist towards pupils, a male teacher might treat a boy different to a girl, or it could be the opposite way around with a female teacher.
Different subjects can be sexist in the way of not wanting a pupil of a certain sex to take it, for example boys who take woodwork might not want a girl to do it. The same is true for cookery, textiles etc.
In this final area I will include every area of sexism in schools and discuss things from 20 years ago and today.
First of all I am going to look at secondary schools form 20 years ago.
Secondary schools weren’t really mixed until 1979 when the schools become comprehensive. Before then most of them weren’t mixed they were all separate.
There was a big difference in uniform. Boys had to wear trousers, shirt and a tie while girls had to wear a skirt and a blouse.
Sports were different girls had to play netball, hockey and rounders, but weren’t aloud to play football, rugby and cricket, they were for boys only. It was the same for boys they weren’t aloud to do the girls sports.
In technology boys and girls studied different things, boys had to do woodwork, metal work and technical drawing where as girls had to do home economics (cooking) and textiles (needlework).
Science was not compulsory so if you didn’t want to do it you didn’t have to. There were a lot of boys that chose to do science, but hardly any girls.
There was careers advice but it wasn’t very good. It was suggested that if girls were clever they should get a job teaching, nursing, as a cashier in a bank or as a secretary. Other jobs that were recommended were working in a shop, in an old peoples home, or a factory. Girls were expected to give up work, at least for a while, so they could have children.
Boys were expected to have good careers and jobs such as doctors, lawyers, accountants or work in the shipyard as plumbers, electricians, joiners or builders, but you would never see a woman working there.
I am now going to discuss secondary schools today. At the Alfred Barrow school (where I attend) girls and boys are treated the same because we have an equal opportunities policy.
Both boys and girls are aloud to pick the same options, but it is mainly boys that pick D and R, and more girls choose textiles and food (home economics). They are both aloud to do the same technology lessons though if they want.
Boys and girls both do the same science subjects, and before we use the textbooks we check to make sure that they are not sexist in any way so that they don’t offend any one.
PE is the subject that has changed the least. Girls and boys are still taught separately but girls can play rugby and soccer and both can play rounders.
Both boys and girls can wear pants, and both can wear polo shirts and sweatshirts, they can also wear tracksuits for PE.
I think that it is great that girls can now wear pants for school, and have there uniform near enough the same as the boys.
There are a lot of departments in the school that have women heads. 20 years ago there were some women heads but only in PE and French. Alfred Barrow School also used to have a female head teacher (Mr Titcombe).
Boys and girls both get the same careers advice now, and both are encouraged to get good jobs.
I attend the Alfred Barrow School and I don’t think it is sexist in anyway, apart from the PE department. But this is now changing, we sometimes do get taught together now.
I am now going to discuss nursery school from 20 years ago.
20 years ago there wasn’t a lot of bother over sexism in nursery schools, nobody treat the two sexes any differently they were all treat the same. Boys would play with cars, tractors, garages and run-abouts. Girls would dress up in long dresses, hats and beads and play with dolls and prams. Both boys and girls would play in the Wendy house pretending to make cups of tea and food, but you would never see a boy playing with dolls.
I am now going to talk about nursery schools today
A teacher Mrs Dower, From Abbotsmead Nursery School says that both boys and girls are treated the same. She also said that boys and girls share their toys and they both play in the playhouse. They both play doctors and nurses and boys are encouraged to be the nurse and girls the doctor. Boys and girls both play with dolls, they both dress them up and they both change their nappies.
When I went to nursery school me or anyone else didn’t bother about who done what or who played with what, we all shared toys and played in the Wendy house, nut I suppose we didn’t know what sexism was then. Also the teachers didn’t treat us any differently.
I am now going to discuss exams. I studied a graph that contained the results of 16 year olds exam results from Scotland who all achieved GCSE grades A-C2, the dates for this are 1992-1993. This graph excludes computer science (England) and computer studies and statistics (Wales).
In English girls achieved a lot more higher grades than boys, girls got 67.7% grades A-C2 while boys only got 43.9%.
In Mathematics the results were very close between the boys and the girls, boys got 39.5% and girls got 40.4%.
The science subject biology had the most grades achieved by girls who got 9.0% where boys only got 7.3%.
Boys achieved the most A-C2 grades in chemistry at 9.4% where girls only achieved 7.4% of the graded.
Physics, another science subject with the most grades achieved by boys at 10.8% and girls only got 5.7% of these grades.
The foreign language French had the most A-C2 grades achieved by the girls at 31.4% where boys only got 19.6%.
Boys achieved 22.4% of the grades in Geography where as girls only got 20.0%
In history boys didn’t achieve as many A-C2 grades, boys got 17.0% and girls got 22.4%.
In craft, design technology boys achieved 18.9% and girls got less than half of this number they only got 9.2%.
After studying this graph I think it shows very strongly that English has the most A-C2 grades achieved by both boys and girls than any other subject.
I think that the fact that boys do better than girls in chemistry is because girls prefer and do better in biology.
School text books today don’t seem sexist. Using information from English, Science and French textbooks that I revise from, I didn’t really find anything that sexist in them.
The textbooks contain information that I don’t find sexist and they are also illustrated. They don’t just have pictures of men or women it contains both, and I would say that they contain even amounts of pictures of each sex.
Another good thing is that the pictures in these contain pictures of men and women of a different race e.g. Chinese, Asian etc.
I looked through an old science textbook of my mams from over 20 years ago and I found it really sexist. It wasn’t so much the writing, it was illustrated, and the pictures were all of men apart from maybe 5 or 6, I found this disgusting.
I am now going to discuss a survey of my own. I did a survey on people’s favourite subjects from now a days (appendix 3).
The people I asked for favourite subjects now were people from my school and friends from others.
The results I got are as follows: - I found that in English there are a lot more girls that like the subject than boys.
I found that girls liked the subject maths more than boys even though there weren’t a lot of people who chose it as their favourite.
Science again wasn’t a very popular subject by either boys or girls but there were still more girls than boys who picked it.
The foreign languages French and German were more popular with girls than boys.
Woodwork is very popular with the boys in fact not 1 girl picked it, exactly the same happened with metal work.
But, the technology subjects textiles and food (home economics), was picked by only girls.
Sport was quite a popular subject with the girls but there were more boys who picked it.
The after school humanities subjects were very unpopular. A few girls only picked history and Geography and RE wasn’t picked at all.
I think that the only thing this survey shows is these results simply show different preferences. They could be quite different in another school. (While carrying out this survey I asked 30 boys and 30 girls, I done this to get a more accurate result.)
I am now going to discuss another survey of my own. This one is about people’s favourite subjects 20 years ago (appendix 4).
The people I asked for this survey were family, and friends of the family who went to school 20 years ago, I also asked some teachers.
The results I got are as follows: - English was a more popular subject with the girls and not a lot of them chose it.
Maths was very unpopular with the boys with none of them choosing it, and there were only a few girls who picked it. Science and French also had the same result as this.
German was the most unpopular with no one picking it, not even any girls.
The technology subjects were the most popular, with woodwork and metal work being picked only by the boys, (and there were a lot who picked). Textiles and food (home economics),
were picked by only girls.
Sport was another popular choice; it was more popular with boys than girls though.
The humanities subjects (geography, history and RE) were a lot more popular then than they are now a days. There were an equal number of boys and girls, who picked history and geography, and there were no boys who picked RE, but there were girls.
I think that this survey shows that there was not a lot of difference but girls like to do the subjects that have a lot of written work in them e.g. English.
I think it shows that people back then used to like doing subjects that involved a lot of practical work. (While carrying out this survey I asked 25 men and 25 women, this was to get a more accurate result).
I carried out a questionnaire (appendix 5) and I asked four different people.
The first person I asked was my mam, she thinks that sexism has increased in schools. She said this because she thinks that boys and girls can still be treat differently.
She said that when she was at school male teachers were the strictest and girls were the ones who got told off the most.
She said that the sports rounders, netball, and hockey were associated most with girls, and the sports rugby, football, and basketball were most associated with boys.
My mam said that when she was at school it was mainly girls in the school choir and it was girls who had the neatest work in class.
She said that when she was at school, girls weren’t allowed to wear pants but thinks they have every right to now.
She thinks it was girls who achieved the higher exam results; I think she might be suggesting that girls were brainier as it was them who had the neatest work and them who were in the choir.
I asked my grandma and she thinks that sexism in schools has decreased. She said this because the rules on uniform are less strict and girls can now wear pants. Also when she was at school, boys and girls were taught separately.
Also like my mam she thinks that male teachers were the strictest but thought that boys got told off the most.
Again like my mam she thought that the sports netball, rounders and hockey were associated with boys, and rugby, football and basketball were associated with boys.
She thinks it was mainly girls in the school choir and that girl’s work was the neatest.
My grandma said that girls didn’t wear skirts at school when she was there but she agrees with it now.
She also thinks that it was girls who got the highest exam results.
After asking Miss Doyle and Mrs Williams I got the same answers as my grandma excluding 3 things.
They both thought that female teachers were the most strict, they thought both boys and girls work was neat and they thought both boys and girls got the same exam results.
I carried out another interview (appendix 6), this time I asked four of my friends.
All of my friends think that sexism in schools is decreasing and they all think that female teachers are the strictest.
Gemma and Nicola think that boys and girls get told off the same and Paul and Karl think that its girls.
All of them said that the sports rounders, netball, and hockey are most associated with girls, and rugby, football, and basketball are most associated with girls.
They all said that both boys and girls are in the choir and that both boys and girls work is neat, except Karl who thinks girl’s work is neater.
None of them agree with girls being made to wear a skirt and agree with them wearing pants.
Gemma, Nicola, Paul and Karl think that girls and boys exam results are near enough the same.
After analysing and completing all my research I have come to the conclusion that sexism in schools has decreased.
Uniforms are one of the main reasons that I made this decision. This is because girls are now aloud to wear pants and aren’t forced to wear a skirt. Also the rules in what you wear aren’t as bad.
The other reason is because of subjects. This is because girls and boys are now being taught together, and the teachers don’t treat any one any different. They can pick the same options even in technology subjects.
I have studied every area in schools and this shows that sexism in schools has decreased.
After looking at all the different areas in sexism I have found that there is still a lot of sexism but not as much as there was 20 years ago. I hoped to prove that sexism has decreased and I think I have achieved that.
I looked at Division of Labour, schools and media. In Division of Labour I found that 20 years ago women used to do almost everything around the house but now the jobs are a lot more shared out between both sexes.
I found that sexism in schools is decreasing all the time. An example of this is that girls are treated the same as boys and are now aloud to wear pants, and do subjects such as woodwork.
Media is the subject that has changed the least. After looking at all my research I have found that women still use sex to sell things and men are seen as the rough and tough ones.
Some of my sources are unreliable and give biased results. This is because when I have done a survey I haven’t asked the same number of boys or girls of the same ages (this is in my media survey only).
In other surveys I have done, I have asked the same number of people of different sexes.
In 20 years time I would like to see sexism disappear. In media I would also like women to stop being exploited.
I don’t think that it will be like this; I think it might be pretty much the same unless more emphasis is place on teaching pupils about sexism. Only by educating both boys and girls in the importance of equality are we likely to get progress in the home and it is what is going on in the home that is so important. Men need to read to their children and take greater part in their upbringing if the are to act as positive role models.
In my studies the school and media sections were particularly accurate. I found lots of information for media, not as much for school but I thought this section went well.
The Division of Labour section I found quite difficult to get information for and I don’t think it went as well as it could of.
I thought that the media section went extremely well as I had a lot of different information to use. Also I had a lot of my own knowledge to use as well.
The school section went quite well as I had a reasonable amount of information to use. I had a lot of my own knowledge to use and a lot of the information was still fresh in my mind as it’s not that long since I finished primary school.
To improve my coursework I could have used more sources like newspaper articles and I could of put more detail into my Division of Labour.
If I were to do this coursework again I would focus more on Division of Labour and interview more people to get more accurate results to work with. I would also like to use the internet to get some information.
Appendix 1.
Appendix 2.
Do you think that sexism in TV has increased or decreased from 20 years ago?
Appendix 3.
Appendix 4.
Appendix 5.
- Do you think that sexism has increased of decreased in schools?
- At school, did you think that male or female teachers were the strictest?
- Who do you think were the people that got told off the most, boys or girls?
- At school, were sports such as rounders, hockey and netball most associated with boys or girls?
- At school, were sports such as rugby, football and basketball most associated with boys or girls?
- Was it mainly girls in the school choir?
- Do you think that boys or girls work is the neatest?
- Did girls wear pants at school 20 years ago?
- Do you agree with girls wearing pants now?
10. Who do you think got the better exam results, boys or girls?
Appendix 6.
- Do you think that sexism is increasing or decreasing in schools?
- At school, do you think that male or female teachers are the strictest?
- Who do you think get told off the most, boys or girls?
- At school, are sports such as rounders, hockey and netball most associated with boys or girls?
- At school, are sports such as rugby, football and basketball most associated with boys or girls?
- Is it girls that are mainly in the school choir?
- Do you think that boys or girls work is the neatest?
- Do you think that girls should still be made to wear skirts?
- Do you agree with girls wearing pants now?
10. Who do you think get the better exam results, boys or girls?
Sources used.
To complete my coursework I used numerous sources such as newspapers, magazines, the TV, catalogues and my own knowledge.
I made up questionnaires for the people in my school and family to help me complete a number of different tables to analyse.
I watched adverts from the TV and recorded the sexism that I saw. Also I watched programs such as ‘Eastenders’ and analysed the sexism I saw.
I watched some films from 20 years ago and some films from now a days and compared them to see how sexism has changed.