Name: Kornelija Gudzeviciute

Module: Contemporary Theories

Student ID: 5824283

How Feminism influenced the study of media and

communications?
Feminism is an organized movement which advocates social,
political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men. This is
how the Dictionary defines the Feminism concept. However,
Feminism is not just a movement, it is a womens lifestyle it is the
belief that men and women should have equal rights and
opportunities (Emma Watson, 2014). And feminism doesnt mean
that women want to be more powerful than men or that they are
anti-family but it is about having equal rights. Moreover, feminists
believe in equality between sexuality, age and race too. Also, media
is the most important aspect, which made a lot of changes in social
and political spheres and did a big jump from the past up until till
now. A lot of different approaches had an influence on media studies
but Im going to write about how Feminism approaches influenced
the study of media and communications. I am going to look at
Feminism from late 19th century when it started to develop until
nowadays when feminism is a popular and concerned topic in all
over the world which attracts the general public with positive and
negative opinions.
Feminism started to develop from late 19th century when around 200
women started a first womans rights convention at the Wesleyan
Chapel in Seneca Falls organized by two social activists, Elizabeth
Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott who were leading figures of the first
feminism movement. Before that, women were housewives who
hadnt suffrage, economic rights and were not educated. Woman
didn't expect a lot from life. They just were following cultural
traditions to marry early and start a family. Feminists of that time
wanted to get more rights, wanted to get equality between
genders, wanted to be viewed as individuals in general public life
and they wanted to be more visible and more heard. I would have
girls regard themselves not as adjectives but as noun (E. Cady
1815). As a result, Seneca Falls Declaration gave rise to the
movement. 1st Feminism Wave was the longest with a requirement
to obtain suffrage and voting rights for women. Feminists used
media such as newspapers, radio broadcasts, televisions, social
media and the Internet; also they wrote their own stories and
literature to spread their messages for society and politics. They
required that they be accepted with the same equal rights and
power as a man. Furthermore, media had a big influence on the
public so feminists had a much better chance of being heard. One of
the most used media forms was newspapers because it was a
dominant and popular form in that age. Furthermore, media could
turn audiences opinions in positive or negative directions.
Otherwise, it could effect public reaction to accept women to equal
to their male counterparts or not. However, media had chosen to

Name: Kornelija Gudzeviciute

Module: Contemporary Theories
Student ID: 5824283
show the feminism movement in the bad way. These modern ideas
about women are then disseminated aggressively because of that a
new womens movement was not started. (Angela, 2009). Women
were presented as aggressive and antagonistic man-haters who
require more, as rebels who wants to destroy a settled order. Even
the press showed feminists as unattractive bra-burners (Cagan,
1978) On the other hand, it was helpful for feminisms triumph.
Women won and got voting rights, more control in their lives.
Society started to change and accept that women can have more
rights and can be more than housewives. However, media didnt
accept these changes so fast and still preferred to write about
traditional stereotypes of women who are dependant on men due to
their lack of voice and the belief that they belong at home.
First feminism wave was finished but women didnt stop their
dreams about more benefits and more privileges in their life and still
wanted to change society and have it accept women as equal to
man. They wanted to get education and to be able to get a work
and the same salary because it was unfair to work the same job and
get a lower salary just because they are female and their was a
societal gender imbalance in academic staff. Moreover, feminists
paid attention to domestic violence and marital rape issues as well.
Inspired by the more activist focussed feminist second movement of
the late 1960s and early 1970s. Women started an attack on
traditionalist gender norms. (Curran, 2006). This time feminists had
chosen another way to show their ideas through the media. Women
did theatrical activism with posters and banners and invited a lot of
reporters and participated in media events. The media had changed
opinions about women from silly lesbians to independent, assertive
career women and because of positive behaviour in womens
movements this wave developed faster and gained more public and
political supporters. However, press didnt reveal all information
about this womens movement which demanded essential social
change. Relationships between feminism and the media werent
really good because women were openly hostile to reporters
because editors trusted only authoritative sources. Also when
editors chose stories they had to use certain standard criteria of
newsworthiness (Kahn, 1991) Moreover, the media had changed
from the 1st feminism wave to the second as well. They werent
antagonistic and it was really helpful for feminism because women
won more benefits again. Women, with the medias help, proved
that the female gender wasnt based solely around the home and
that she can work equal work and get the same salary as her male
counterpart. In addition, it helped to change societys views that
had discriminated against women. Media and communications
studies started be part of feminism and were involved in the
movement. Also it started to shape public attitudes and other
perspectives with the women becoming accepted into society as an
individual who can be educated, work the same job as a man, whilst

Name: Kornelija Gudzeviciute

Module: Contemporary Theories
Student ID: 5824283
also paying close attention to domestic violence and solving
problems such as marital rape.
Women were given benefits such as first wave voting rights, from
the second wave they got educational rights and the right to work
the same job as a man. However, all waves had struggles and these
benefits failed to incorporate the voices of black women, nonheterosexual, and many young women. These things influenced a
third wave. The last feminism movement started from 1990s and it
is continuing to the present day. Nowadays the media has a big
influence on feminism as well, differences between genders are
smaller but are still relevant. Furthermore, feminism is more known
and distributed these days. A lot of famous women such as
Beyonce, Lorde, Ani DiFranco are feminist musicians who sing
feminist songs during their concerts, and are showing that they are
feminists in their video clips and are speaking out for equal rights
for women. These women have a lot of fans because they are well
known public figures throughout the world and they have more
activists who agree with their ideas and want to join them. However,
women are still shown in media such as magazines, radio, films,
adverts and television as beautiful, vulnerable, pretty, brittle
housewives who are taking care of children and who are always
cooking and cleaning houses. Moreover, the all world is talking
about equality not just between genders, but also between race,
age, and sexuality. We are struggling for a uniting word, but the
good news is that we have a uniting movement. (Watson, 2014).
This third movement helped a lot of women to state their opinions
and to express what they feel and to let everyone know what they
want to become and the media helps to spread these messages.
Also, the media has changed and developed over all of these years.
The media changed their dominant form from newspapers, to social
networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr. These
social networks have made activism easier than ever, and removed
the barriers of distance and geography. (Chittal, 2015) It is easier to
discuss and communicate feminist ideas with common thoughts and
share stories with others. In addition, the press give more attention
to feminism and help feminists to spread their ideas. Even when the
media likes to show the traditional stereotype of women in movies
and television they still give attention to the new womens form that
is equal to that of their male counterpart. Media and
communications can help to solve some of the worlds problems but
can not solve them all. Before the media paid attention to the
feminist movement, it was a tool to effect its audience but now
media and communications have a more important role in our lives
than ever before which helps to raise feminism belief upward and
whilst helping society understand what significance equality
between genders, race, ages and sexuality holds today.

Name: Kornelija Gudzeviciute

Module: Contemporary Theories
Student ID: 5824283
In conclusion, the media and communications across all of these
years were, and still do, play an important role in society. Also, it has
been developed and influenced from time to time by feminism.
Furthermore, studies gave us an opportunity to know how
everything has changed and how we need to use media today. It
gives us the knowledge of what the a big effect media can have on
peoples lives and how the media helped feminists to get more
benefits and transform womens roles in society. Media and
communications have changed from basic forms such as a
newspapers to films and social networks. Studies grow, prosper and
change their views with age. These waves and this approach
changed study media and communications and helped shape the
publics worldview whilst pushing studies to new levels.

References:
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Fisher, J.A. (2013). First Wave Feminism: The Movement That is
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John Storey (2001). Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An
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Kim Fridkin Kahn and Edie N. Goldenberg
Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
Vol. 515, American Feminism: New Issues for a Mature Movement
(May, 1991), pp. 104-113
Krolkke, C., & Anne Scott Srensen. (2006). Three waves of
feminism: From suffragettes to grrls. In Gender communication

Name: Kornelija Gudzeviciute

Module: Contemporary Theories
Student ID: 5824283
theories & analyses: From silence to performance. (pp. 1-25).
Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Available:
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