Women in the Media Essay

Women in the Media

            Since most of us can remember, women have been targeted and portrayed terribly throughout much of the world today. Sexual violence is a major issue that women face on a regular basis; they are often exposed as just sex objects to the world. In addition, women are described as “less then men” and are repeatedly told that they have to be a certain way. Specifically in the media, women are displayed terribly and are extremely sexualized.  Women are told that their bodies are all that should matter to them, and that the way they look is the most important thing they have. Women today are still paid less then men when looking at an overall percentage of yearly income. Lastly, women have been affected negatively through there own environment. Women are continuing to push rights and freedoms in their favor and are battling to be considered equal as their male counterparts. In today’s society us women need to continue the fight against female stereotypes and make a change for the good in the portrayal of women in news media.

            One major issue women face against in media coverage is sexual violence and “rape culture”. Rape culture is a term used when describing a culture in which rape and other sexual violence are common and in which widespread attitudes, norms, practices, and media condone or excuse sexualized violence (Lowen, 2012). Rape culture is becoming more and more popular, especially with our mass media consumption. Women and Men around the world see sex and gang rapes on television all the time. Women are being placed as “victims” of rape and sadly that is becoming a social norm. Further, men are seeing rape encounters on media outlets, and they learn to believe its ok. If men continue to be placed as predators and women as victims, nothing is going to change. The real question is “What is Rape Culture” and who creates it? We can even take a look at women in other countries. When we look at Middle Eastern countries, such as Iraq, we already know that women do not have many rights in that country. Women are completely and totally controlled by men.  Therefore, we can only assume that there is many unreported rapes within husband and wife relationships in that part of the world. Women in that country would not dare to out speak about there husband raping them because women don’t even have much of a say in that part of the world. Therefore, sexual violence would probably be very common in their country. This means they have a strong “rape culture”. I can even relate this to my own everyday life. I often watch television on my down time or when I have time to relax. Many news media that I have seen or heard of have sexual violence against women. Unfortunately it is becoming more and more popular to involve sexual violence in media outlets. This is what creates social norms and realities. Our television is condoning sexual violence towards women, and therefore men believe it is ok. This also leads to women blaming themselves and then the vicious circle continues. Media itself is creating a “rape culture” for us. It’s telling us that rape happens and so be it! Men are then looking at rape as “if you can’t beat em, join em”! Therefore, men and women around us feel as if they can’t stop rape they might as well let it happen. This shows how much media influences us and how it impacts young peoples lives everyday.

            Further, since the 1960’s feminists have argued, “It matters who makes it. When it comes to the mass media, “who makes it” continues to be men”. The international Women’s Media Foundation has reported that around the globe, only a third of journalists are women. Studies conducted by Canadian researchers Gertrude Robinson and Armande- Saint-Jean have found that merely 28% of newspaper editors are female and according to San Diego State University 18% of the directors, executive producers and editors are women. Women find it hard to jump into a media career due to the over population of men consuming it. Further, if we can get more women involved the more likely news media will change and not stereotype women in a wrong way. As women continue to struggle for equality in the media, research shows that the women who actually work in the industry make the biggest difference. Behind the scenes, they can have a definite impact on the ways women are portrayed on the screen and in print. Therefore, because of the overwhelming amount of male influence in the newsrooms, many wrong stereotypes of women are being displayed throughout media.

           

            Likewise, female professionals and athletes continue to be under-represented in news coverage and are often wrongly portrayed when they are included. While there has been a constant increase of the number of women professionals over the last 20 years, most mainstream press coverage rests to rely on men as experts in the fields of business, economics and politics. Women in the news are most likely to be featured in stories about accidents, natural disasters, or domestic violence than in stories about their professional abilities or expertise. This then displays women as weak creatures and a gender that is not as intelligent as their male counter parts. Women need to start getting airtime on news channels about their professional lives and brainpower. Women do not deserve to be shadowed as weak individuals and victims.

            These are all types of issues that women face on a daily basis in our world today. Women around the world can relate to one another’s problems and are willing to listen. Women are powerful creatures and have so much to offer to the world, if they can have the chance. We are tired of being put under by men and being treated like second class to our male counterparts. Women have just as much to prove as men do in this world. Just because men may be physically stronger does not mean they are fiercer then us in other ways. Sexual violence is something that men and women need to fight against together. The readings that were discussed throughout this paper have helped to define and relate these topics to real life stories. Rape culture and rape myths are theories and important topics that need to be examined in order to fix such problems. Women are tired of being victims of such crimes just because our society says we are. Media has got to change the appearance of women in them. Maybe if we stopped being sexualized through every media outlet (ex. Movies, commercials) we would not be such targets of rape. We are not anyone’s material or sex object for use. In addition, women are not meant to just live at a home and serve for a male. We are smart individuals that have the right to education and fair pay. Female sports deserve more airtime and women have proved that they should be taken seriously.  News media needs to stop placing women under topics such as , weak,

Economically speaking, women still have violence towards them. Collectively, we can push to make a change in women’s lives around the world. We need to change the definition of rape culture, we need to change how we are portrayed in the media, we need to change the definition of manhood, we need to change societal norms and we need to change how youth is educated on important topics. All of these things listed can be improved and will have to change in order to make a difference. In conclusion, it does not matter what country you are from, every single women in the world today faces an unspoken battle because of their gender.

By: Reagan Buckley 

REFERENCES

-        Barndt, D. (2002). Fruits of injustice: women in the post-nafta food system . (Master's thesis), Available from Reserves @ Brock. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE|A93083004&v=2.1&u=st46245&it=r&p=AONE&sw=

-      Bronson, E. (2009). If they don't tell us, it never happened: disclosure of experiences of intimate violence on a college campus Canadian Women Studies, Available from Reserves @ Brock. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE|A249685519&v=2.1&u=st46245&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w

-       Ikeda, N. (2009). "you be vigilant! don. Available from Reserves @ Brock. Retrieved from http://ereserves.library.brocku.ca/reserves/wise-1f90/

-      Kahlideen, N. (2002). Caribbean women in globalization and economic restructuring . 21, p.108. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?action=interpret&id=GALE|A93083010&v=2.1&u=st46245&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&authCount=1

-       Yee, J. (2009). Sustainable justice through knowledge transfer: sex education and youth . (Master's thesis), Available from Reserves @ Brock. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE|A249685511&v=2.1&u=st46245&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w

-       Michael A. Messner. 2012. “Still a Man’s World? Studying masculinities and sport” presented at Brock University, November 1^st , St.Catharines, Ontario 

Reflection Paper, The Life of a Reporter

Female Reporters in Combat

            After watching the film “Bearing Witness, Barbra Kopples documentary on female journalists working in combat zones” I began to have a completely new outlook and perspective for journalists around the world. The documentary followed the lives of five fearless journalists whom were primarily traveling to the Middle East in hopes to gather valuable information about post 9/11 wars.  These five courageous journalists put there lives in danger each and everyday in promise to search out information that would create news stories. These ladies interviewed, took photographs, and encountered many dangerous people throughout their journey.

            The lives of these journalists were put in severe danger everyday they were on the job. These journalists purposely searched for information that would put them in harms way so that the public would have information about what was going on during the war in Iraq and other places.  Many people would ask the question, are we willing to risk the lives of these journalists for new stories? Aren’t there lives worth more than the information they receive? Should they really risk it all in order to get stories to the audience? These are the types of questions that arise when talking about reporters working over seas in dangerous situations. On the other hand, without these reporters working over seas and gathering hands on information, how would the rest of the world be educated on what is happening? The reporters in this documentary had a passion for writing and travelling. With there passion came danger and they were willing to accept that. There satisfaction came from knowing they were helping educate the rest of the world on what was happening over seas. Further, you can also look at this problem/question from another perspective. Likewise, aren’t there many other jobs in this world that also put humans lives in danger? Cops, firefighters, soldiers, and even undercover agents have their lives put in jeopardy during their career as well. The similarity between these jobs is that they both put humans in danger in hopes to make the world a safer place. Cops help stop violence, while journalists help educate people to become more aware. Personally, I do believe that if the reporters are willing to do there job, then they should. There jobs do help educate the public and without them we would not be as aware. Obviously they should not be forced into dangerous places just to seek out information, but if they are willing to take some risks then I believe it greatly helps people around the globe become much more alert.

                        Moving forward, while watching this film my emotions were absolutely everywhere. I really did not have a clue how hard working these reporters were and how much passion they had for what they did. From an outsider’s perspective, it seems as if they live an extremely exhausting, intense, dangerous, strenuous, and mentally draining life. Many people would probably not sign up for the type of job that these reporters do. The next question I am tacking here is; are these reporters really happy doing what they do? Do they make the right decisions? Are they scared? First off, of course they are scared! The type of situations these reporters put themselves in is absolutely terrifying. There is no question in my mind that the journalists don’t feel somewhat frightened when in certain conditions. Nonetheless, I do strongly believe that the reporters have a passion for what they do and they are happy doing it. As we could see in the film, Marie Colvin kept returning to war even after she had been badly hurt and lost an eye. This proves that these journalists will stop for nothing when it comes to gathering important information that the world needs to know. In addition, reporter Janine Giovanni even went back to combat after having a child and becoming a mother. I strongly believe it takes certain types of people to have the ability to do this type of work. Clearly, these five strong-headed journalists had a desire to keep working and creating stories. If they were not happy doing their job, then they probably wouldn’t put themselves in this much danger!

            Although I do have deep respect and admiration towards these journalists who risk there lives educating people, I am not sure it would be the right job for me. Personally, it would be very hard for myself to risk my life and so much more just for a job. In addition, I would be too scared of not being able to return home to my family and loved ones. Further, reporters spend a lot of time away from home, which means they are away from their family for extended periods of time. This is another factor that would be very difficult for myself to cope with. As I mentioned above, it takes a certain type of person to be able to do this type of work. Reporter’s jobs are very demanding, dangerous and time consuming. It is definitely not a nine to five type of career.

            This leads me into my next question, is it possible to be a mother and a war correspondent? Well this is a tough one to answer and everyone perhaps has a different opinion towards the question. For myself, I do not think I could go into combat while I have a child back home. I would live in fear of not returning home and being able to mother my child. The thought of my child growing up without a mother would be enough for me not to go into war. I don’t think I would give up my job completely, but I definitely would not put myself in dangerous enough situations where I might not be able to return home. If possible, I would try to keep up my reporting from home and attempt to not travel as much.

            In conclusion, I highly recommend watching this documentary and opening your eyes to the world of journalism. This film was unquestionably an eye-opener for myself, as I had no idea what it really took to be a journalist over seas. The amount of respect I now have for reporters is quite unbelievable; they really do live a crazy life. Even though I may not want to participate in there type of work does not mean I do not support what they do. The amount of courage it must take to do this type of job is probably outrageous. We can now thank these journalists for helping educate people and ourselves about what happens around the world. Without them we would not know nearly as much about what goes on as we fortunately do. 

-Reagan Buckley 

Journal Entry Week 7

            

Fearless Females!

Today in class we watched a documentary called "Barbra Kopples, documentary on female journalists working in combat zones" which was an extremely exhilarating and intense experience. The documentary followed the lives of 5 fearless female journalists in combat, during the war that took place in Iraq after 9/11. The film went into great detail about what these journalists went through while trying to document stories for the public. They experienced terror, violence, near-death incidents and heartaches because of their job. Each and every journalist was putting their lives in danger in hopes to create a story and educate people on what was really going on in the Middle East. Watching this film put me personally in a dark place; without these Journalists risking there lives overseas we may not have known some of the terrible things that were going on during this war. They went out and found in-depth information, personal stories and terrifying truths about the war. Would we even know much about the war without journalists risking there lives for information during combat? This is the type of question that leaves people wondering. Maybe that is the key motive that pushes journalists to leave home pack up and put their personal lives aside. In conclusion, I think we ought to give credit to these courageous and heroic journalists who seek extremely important information out in hopes to inform people about what is really occurring around the world. 

-Reagan