4.5 media representations -gender

Question 1

What does Tunstall (2000) argue about the representation of women in the media?

Answer 1

• it’s biased because it mainly represents women as busy housewives, contented mothers and as sex objects in various ways

Question 2

What does Mulvey argue about the male gaze?

Answer 2

• male gaze = the way that the camera looks at a woman in the same way that a man does and this portrays women as sexual beings/as decorative

Question 3

What does Tuchman(1978) argue about the representation of women in the media?

Answer 3

• the suffer symbolic annihilation

Question 4

What is meant by symbolic annihilation?

Answer 4

• refers to the way in which women are represented by the media
• women’s achievements are often not reported or are condemned by the mass media

Question 5

When women are portrayed, how do they suffer symbolic annihilation?

Answer 5

• they are generally shown in a narrow and limited range of social roles and their achievements are often presented as less important than their looks and sex appeal

Question 6

What does Orbach(1991) argue that the media perpetuates?

Answer 6

• the idea that slimness equals success, health, happiness and popularity
• the media, esp women’s magazines, create the potential for eating disorders

Question 7

What does Kilbourne (1995) argue about the representation of women in the media?

Answer 7

• present women as mannequins: tall and thin, often size 0, etc

Question 8

What does Bates(2014) argue about the representation of women in music?

Answer 8

• the music industry is particularly guilty of sexually objectifying women in lyrics and videos

Question 9

What was the methodology of Children Now (1999)?

Answer 9

• they asked boys between the ages of 10-17 about their perceptions of the male characters they saw on TV, in music videos and in movies

Question 10

What did Children Now(1999) find?

Answer 10

• media representations of men don’t reflect the changing work and family experiences of most men today

Question 11

What were the dominant representations of masculinity that the Children Now study found?

Answer 11

• males are violent
• males are generally leaders and problem solvers
• males are funny, confident, successful and athletic
• men and boys rarely cry/show vulnerability
• male characters are mostly shown in the workplace

Question 12

What did McNamara (2006) conclude after his analysis of media?

Answer 12

• media representations of men and boys generally failed to portray the reality of masculine life
• 80% were negative, presenting men as violent, molesters, deadbeat, etc

Question 13

What was the other 20% of representations that McNamara found?

Answer 13

• focused on men and boys who were in touch with their feminine side - the metrosexual male

Question 14

What did Connell (2005) argue about the social construction of gender differences?

Answer 14

• gender identities are in part constructed by the media reproducing hegemonic/ culturally dominant stereotypes of the roles and relations between men and women

Question 15

What are some typical hegemonic masculine characteristics?

Answer 15

• heterosexuality, sexual dominance, repression of emotions, aggression, independence, etc

Question 16

What are some typical hegemonic feminine characterisitics?

Answer 16

• heterosexuality, sexual passivity, expression of emotions, gentleness, dependence (on men), etc

Question 17

How has the new media been used for sexism?

Answer 17

• under almost any article on an internet news site that positively focuses on women’s issues/rights there will be huge numbers of sexist comments

Question 18

What do Green and Singleton argue about sexism and the new media?

Answer 18

• they acknowledge that women’s participation in internet online communities e.g. Mumsnet and Facebook may merely reinforce the notion that women should perform the ‘emotion work’ for the family

Question 19

What do Marxist feminists argue about the representation of gender in the media?

Answer 19

• the roots of the strereotypical images of men and women in the media are economic
• gender images are a by-product of the need of media conglomerates in capitalist society to make profits and thus tailor content to a mainstream audience

Question 20

What do Radical feminists argue about the representation of gender in the media?

Answer 20

• traditional images are deliberately transmitted by male dominated media to keep women oppressed
• Wolf = the media dupe women into believing the beauty myth

Question 21

What do liberal feminists argue about the representation of gender in the media?

Answer 21

• media representations are slow to change in response to women’s achievements in society
• are also concerned about women being under-represented within the media profession

Question 22

How many women in 2014-15 were directors, producers, writers, etc?

Answer 22

only 24%

Question 23

What is meant by popular feminism?

Answer 23

• McRobbie = much of todays media constitutes a form of popular feminism e.g. magazines promoting the concept of girl power

Question 24

What do postmodernists argue about the representation of gender in the media?

Answer 24

• men and women no longer get singular and straightforward media messages that suggest there is one ideal type of masculinity/femininity
• Gauntlett = the mass media today actually challenge traditional definitions of gender

Question 25

What do pluralists argue about the representation of gender in the media?

Answer 25

- feminists are guilty of stereotyping women as **impressionable**