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
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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=
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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
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Ikeda, N. (2009). "you be vigilant! don.
Available from Reserves @ Brock. Retrieved from http://ereserves.library.brocku.ca/reserves/wise-1f90/
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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
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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
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Michael A. Messner. 2012. “Still a Man’s World? Studying
masculinities and sport” presented at Brock University, November 1st
, St.Catharines, Ontario
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