Portrayal of Young Women in the Media

Dutt, Reema. (2014). Behind the Curtain: Women Representation in Contemporary Hollywood. Print.

Dutt in her study begins by highlighting the popularity of mass media especially film. The films frame individuals’ ideas about social, cultural, and political issues. With the growing presentation of women in various roles, their depiction on screen is representative of patriarchal stereotypes and normative ideologies that deviate from reality, (Dutt, 2013). Concerning methodology, Dutt analyzed grossing films such as The Avengers, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Toy Story 3 . The approach involved visual analysis of the semiotic of women and identification of the portrayal of women as played by the female characters. From the study, the findings revealed representation of women in the film as fuelled by male dominated societal expectations of women. For instance in Harry Potter, Hermione begins as an empowered 21st century woman who ends up fulfilling a woman’s traditional gender role.

With the type of methodology used, it brings question to the validity of the study with it being subjective in nature. It does not incorporate statistical inferences and it was limiting following that the findings were inapplicable in other contexts. Regardless, the study points out the stereotypical conceptions of women in film and the corresponding characterization encouraging it.

Lowe, Rachel. (2012). Research into the Representation of Gender and Body Image in the Press: A visual and textual analysis examining the presentation, portrayal, and treatment of gender and body image in British National Daily Newspapers. University of Leeds. Print.

Lowe begins her study by drawing attention to the growing nature of celebrity culture. The popularity of television shows especially reality shows, encourages the growth of the media. The study aimed to evaluate the improvement in representation of gender and body image of women through print media, in particular newspapers. With the methodology, the study used content analysis of 36 British national daily newspapers. Results revealed the portrayal of an ideal body image that respondents found stereotypical and sexist. A recurrent finding was the under presentation of women in the media. With the study tracing to five years ago, the situation today is different with women well represented in print media. The uniqueness of the study owes to the evaluation of the newspaper industry that operates under a masculine cultural hegemony, alluding to the notion that men read newspapers often as opposed to women. 

From the results, Lowe (2012), points out that gender is not a determining factor in the type of shots featured in the newspaper, but other factors were in play. However, for the women featured in the paper, they had to display a certain level of physical attractiveness consistent with enticing the readers to read newspapers. 

Wykes, Maggie and Gunter, Barry. (2005). The Media and Body Image: If looks could kill. Print.

In their book, Wykes and Gunter offer an in depth analysis of the role of the media in influencing young women’s perception of body image. They explain body image dissatisfaction as having ties to a discrepancy between the perceived and ideal self, (Harper and Tiggerman, 2008). The ideal self-image is a societal construct influenced by the surrounding cultural and societal environment. The media paints the image of a perfect body as slender. Young women who do not fit into the ideal begin to have distorted conceptions of their self-image leading to a popularity of dieting and ‘quick fixes’ in weight loss. Among young women, the evidence of the distorted self-image is consistent with the increase in prevalence of eating disorders. This follows that women feel the pressure to conform to the societal ideal of the perfect body image.

Their book offers an analytical perspective by bringing into question the societal conception of body image.

Ottosson, T., & Cheng, X. (2012). The representation of gender roles in the media: an analysis of gender discourse in Sex and the City movies

The thesis centers on evaluating gender perceptions by relying on social constructivism as a theoretical concept. As Ottoson (2012), explains the theory centers on social construction as influencing change, adding that the concepts of right and wrong are in a constant state of change. With the growing popularity of feminism, films today are adapting to representing women in roles perceived to be male oriented. Regarding methodology, the study used discourse analysis to reveal the portrayal of women in the film Sex and the City. It focused on the production of knowledge and meaning of the character roles and their influence on perceived gender roles. 

The results revealed that the representation of women revolves around concern for physical appearance as depicted in the use of makeup. An essential element that comes up is the ideal body the characters depict. From a physical standpoint, most of the characters were of a small frame ranging from sizes 2-8. In an attempt for the characters to find love, they paint themselves in the idealized notion of the women they should be, which is a faulty representation of women. It introduces the idea of beauty being the most important quality in a woman, ignoring the other attributes. 

Parts of the limitation of the study involved it being a discourse analysis that is often a subjective measure in evaluating data. The interpretations of the scenes could vary from one individual to another. However, the knowledge generated helps us understand the role of film in propagating stereotypical behavior.

Loiseau, E., & Nowacka, K. (2015). Can social media effectively include women’s voices in decision-making processes?.  Paris, France .

In the article, Loiseau and Nowacka point out social media as a powerful tool for drawing attention to women’s rights. They show the importance of social media in transforming the sharing of information on a global scale. The article deviates from studying stereotypical ideals associated with gender roles and points out social media as an important tool in women empowerment. For instance, the uses of hash tags have been instrumental in mobilizing public attention to the issues affecting young women, with some of them taking a political turn. In 2013, the #Bringbackourgirls received over one million tweets to help rescue the abducted Nigerian students. Another advantage of social media involves tackling gender-based violence with various platforms providing support for victims. Harass Map is an online platform in Egypt that provides female victims an opportunity to share about sexual harassment experiences directly from their phone. 

The article brings to mind the effectiveness of social media as tool in advancement of the feminist movement. Through various social platforms such as twitter young women can share messages on their perception of feminism, with its popularity increasing owing to the rapid sharing individuals involve themselves in. Social media as a platform has helped bridged the stereotypical biases associated with women in society by giving women a voice they would not have in normal contexts. With body image issues taking center stage, social platforms are playing a role in encouraging diversity and body acceptance.

Dobson, Amy. (2016). Postfeminist Digital Cultures: Femininity, Social Media and Self-Representation. Critical Studies in Gender, Sexuality, and Culture New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

The book takes into account the social media practices young women involve in. The central idea is on taking girls and young women as game changers in media and cultural production. Growing research supports the growing number of young women in social media, with it being a significant factor in identity performance. Dobson (2016), sheds light on the ideas of Goffman by suggesting that social media signifies the performance of the self in everyday life. In an evaluation of the content people share today, they particularly revolve around food, fashion, and travel with young women within the lifestyle space on the increase. From an analysis of YouTube alone, there are thousands of tutorial videos available to help young women become better. As Dobson (2016), explains sharing has become part of identity performance with images, videos, and written material giving off impressions about the self. 

With her ideals setting precedence to understanding women’s use of social media, she points out power struggles women face even in representation of themselves. An understanding of the power struggle could be in the form of cyber bullying where women do not meet the societal ideal, go through bullying to raise awareness of their non-conformity.

Faucher, C., Jackson, M., & Cassidy, W. (2014). Cyber bullying among university students: Gendered experiences, impacts, and perspectives  Education Research International ,  2014 .

The study sheds light on cyber bullying as an emerging issue especially among university students. It employed a quantitive and qualitative approach to understand gendered differences in male and female cyber bullying. In evaluating the study, focus was in the female experience with cyber bullying being a consequence associated with social media. As Faucher and Cassidy (2014) explain, women are more likely to be victims of cyber bullying as opposed to males. They experience various forms of bullying in this regard such as ‘virtual rape’, ‘stalking’, ‘and verbal abuse’. It is interesting to note that for women, the bullying involves sexual harassment and blackmail. 

Results in the study revealed gender as a factor in cyber bullying with women experiencing it more as opposed to males. With the growing appreciation of technology, the concern is that even within the online sphere, there are social constructs individuals need to adhere. When individuals do not adhere to the established ideal, they deviate from the accepted norm. A new form of cyber bullying is body shaming, with it being common among young women.

Berberick, S. N. (2010). The objectification of women in mass media: Female self-image in misogynist culture.  The New York Sociologist ,  5 (1), 1-15.

The paper begins by pointing out the notion of the ideal woman as harmful. In terms of methodology, it utilized an empirical approach by using quantitive and qualitative methods of data collection. It displays the negative effects of the ideal stereotype by revealing the objectification of women. As a result, there is an increase in cosmetic surgeries and eating disorders. The media from print to film depicts an image of femininity that women feel they need to comply with. Berbick (2010) highlights sexism as a product of faulty beauty ideals and rigid practices believed. The media is a platform that allows communication of the ideals pointing out the need for the media to be all-inclusive and cater for diversity in the presentation of the ideal body image. For example, with the growing number of reality shows, there is a growing acceptance of undergoing cosmetic surgeries to fit into the societal ideal. 

Fardouly, J., Diedrichs, P. C., Vartanian, L. R., & Halliwell, E. (2015). Social comparisons on social media: The impact of Facebook on young women's body image concerns and mood.  Body Image ,  13 , 38-45.

His study provides a specific context of social media platforms and their influence on body image. It uses Facebook as the central aspect of the study. As a social platform, Facebook is popular with existing research supporting a positive correlation between Facebook usage and dissatisfaction of body image. As Fardouly et al. (2015), explains Facebook allows users to create public profiles, customized using photos and information of themselves. Similar to the exposure of individualized images from the mass media, viewing one’s or others idealized images on Facebook has a negative impact on women’s self-evaluation. Not only so, but Facebook offers additional elements such as comments posted by others that affect body image perception. The study employs an empirical approach by evaluating comparisons in magazines and the following effect in social media websites. Hew (2011) explains, that an apparent difficulty with Facebook is the need for approval from peers and potential partners.

Perloff, R. M. (2014). Social media effects on young women’s body image concerns: Theoretical perspectives and an agenda for research.  Sex Roles ,  71 (11-12), 363-377.

The dominant reliance of social media by young women draws importance on the infleunece of social media on perceptions of body image and body image disturbance. The article capitalizes on literature review analysis to reveal the social media effects of body image. It begins by describing the role of mass media in communication of cultural stereotypes. The internalization of a thin idealized body image is indicative of a stereotypical quality of beauty

Of interest in Perloff’s study is the complexity of social media influence. Borrowing from a mass communication perspective, the use of social media satisfies individuals. Young women review social media platforms and the content they share in an attempt to feel accepted. The study is useful as it proposes various models that help bring into perspective their role of social media in body image perception.

Media in general plays a role in influencing young women’s perception about beauty with it having various consequences. Some of them include having a faulty perception of body image. The perception draws them to experience problems associated with having a poor body image such as eating disorders, body dysmorphia, and the growing need to carry out plastic surgery. The media then has a responsibility to share items that promote a positive body image.

References

Berberick, S. N. (2010). The objectification of women in mass media: Female self-image in misogynist culture.  The New York Sociologist ,  5 (1), 1-15.

Dobson, Amy. (2016). Postfeminist Digital Cultures: Femininity, Social Media and Self-Representation. Critical Studies in Gender, Sexuality, and Culture. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Dutt, Reema. (2014). Behind the Curtain: Women Representation in Contemporary Hollywood. Print.

Faucher, C., Jackson, M., & Cassidy, W. (2014). Cyber bullying among university students: Gendered experiences, impacts, and perspectives.  Education Research International ,  2014 .

Fardouly, J., Diedrichs, P. C., Vartanian, L. R., & Halliwell, E. (2015). Social comparisons on social media: The impact of Facebook on young women's body image concerns and mood.  Body Image ,  13 , 38-45.

Harper, B., & Tiggemann, M. (2008). The effect of thin ideal media images on women’s self-objectification, mood, and body image. Sex Roles, 58, 649–657. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11199-007-9379-x

Hew, K. F. (2011). Students’ and teachers’ use of Facebook Computers in Human Behavior, 27, 662–676. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2010.11.020

Lowe, Rachel. (2012). Research into the Representation of Gender and Body Image in the Press: A visual and textual analysis examining the presentation, portrayal, and treatment of gender and body image in British National Daily Newspapers University of Leeds. Print.

Loiseau, E., & Nowacka, K. (2015). Can social media effectively include women’s voices in decision-making processes?.  Paris, France .

Ottosson, T., & Cheng, X. (2012). The representation of gender roles in the media: an analysis of gender discourse in Sex and the City movies.

Perloff, R. M. (2014). Social media effects on young women’s body image concerns: Theoretical perspectives and an agenda for research.  Sex Roles ,  71 (11-12), 363-377.

Tiggemann, M., & McGill, B. (2004). The role of social comparison in the effect of magazine advertisements on women’s mood and body dissatisfaction: Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 23, 23–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1521/ jscp.23.1.23.26991

Wykes, Maggie and Gunter, Barry. (2005). The Media and Body Image: If looks could kill. Print.