Carlo Emil T.

Rivera
4-EBE

Gendered Media
 Media advances representations of gendered and racial identities
 Media have progressive and regressive tendencies
 Media content can be challenged and changed

Media Saturation of Cultural Life

 People today are the most media-saturated and engaged in history
 TV only one form of mass media
◦ Films, newspapers, etc.
◦ Social media to connect with others

Gendered Themes in Media

 Media programming reflects three themes related to gender
◦ Underrepresentation of women and minorities
◦ Portrayals of men and women
◦ Images of relationships between men and women

Underrepresentation of Women & Minorities

 Males outnumber females in mass media
◦ In reality, women outnumber men
 Minorities less visible than women
◦ Appear in supporting roles
◦ Shown in white cultures – their racial values obscured
 Black characters scarce
◦ Subordinate, athletic, exotic
  Asians and Hispanics rare
◦ Males - villains or criminals
◦ Women - emotional and sexualized

Images of Relationships between Men & Women

 Most of the time, media reflect and reproduce conventional images of
male-female relationships

Women’s Dependence/ Men’s Independence

 Media portray women as domestic and dependent on men
 Media portray girls and women as dependent and boys and men as
independent
 Books aimed at adolescent females emphasize importance of being
pretty and popular
 Women and minorities cast in supporting roles in television shows for
children and adults
 Music videos portray females as strippers or prostitutes
 Males shown ignoring, exploiting, directing women
 Women sexualized and infantilized in video games

Women as Primary Caregivers/Men as Breadwinners

 Media portrayals of women give little attention to career activities
 Shown predominantly in roles as homemakers, mothers, wives
 Newspapers and TV news emphasize men’s independent activities
 Define news as stories about men
◦ Stories about men focus on work and achievements
 Fewer stories about women
◦ Emphasize roles as wives, mothers
 ◦ Women presented in terms of attractiveness or unattractiveness

Women as Victims & Sex Objects/Men as Aggressors

 Women portrayed as sex objects for men’s pleasure
 Images show desirable men as aggressive and dominant
 Images show desirable women as young, pretty, sexual, vulnerable
 Men seldom shown nude
 Women routinely shown nude
 Images common in music videos
 Portrayals encourage to see violence as sexy

Bias in News Coverage

 As gatekeepers, newspapers and news programs shape our
perceptions
 Media influence how we perceive movements about gender and
gender itself
 Media have portrayed women’s movements negatively
◦ In early days of radical feminism feminists portrayed as man-
hating, bra-burning extremists
 Bra-burning did not actually happen
 TV and radio programs negatively portray women identified as
feminists
◦ More likely to be demonized
 During Gulf War and war in Iraq, newspapers and magazines feature
pictures of children watching mother go to war

◦ Media imply good women don’t leave children and fathers are not able
to care for them