Representation of Women in the Media

Representation of Women

Throughout the media, women are represented in different ways depending on age, race and roles. These representations tend to be portrayed and seen in a negative light.

When seeing women in adverts or on television they tend to be young as they are seen as the type of "eye candy" that the audience demographic would want to see. Usually in adverts that are advertising skincare and beauty products, they will hire a young Caucasian actress to be the main face of the product. They also tend to be skinny which helps to create the image that all women should be this size and anyone that does not fall into that category is out of shape. These stereotypes are often found to cause a low self-esteem in young girls who are unable to look like the types of girls that are advertised around them. 

A lot of time, young women are made to be sex objects or people who are over sexualised to be pleasing to men. They are seen wearing revealing clothing and in music videos and adverts can often be seen seductively looking at the camera as if they inviting someone in. They can also be seen as second-class citizens to men. Older women however are traditionally seen as married women and mothers who always rush around cleaning up after her family and doing housework. They are also seen as being past their prime and often deal with getting older. Another common theme, mostly in comedies, is their effort to try and reclaim their youth. This may be them seemingly going crazy and changing their personalities or going out with friends doing things that they used to do in their early 20's.

Women can also have stereotypes depending on race and features such as hair colour. Women with blonde hair are typically portrayed to be pretty and/or stupid whereas women with brown hair tend to be more sensible and more of a maternal figure. Race is also an element that can stereotype women. Sometimes this is explicit but other times this is more subtle. One example of this is, modern day black women from the south of the US are often portrayed as the crazy, loud and mostly for comic-relief character. They often have a lot of attitude and are usually comically violent. 

Nowadays, these social issues are being called out so many directors are trying to change this norm. There are more female action heroes in film and TV and female led music videos sometimes try to go away from these scantily dressed sex symbols. However when you do see these badass female icons they still do wear revealing clothing with parts of their bodies showing. If this does not happen then they will often wear skin-tight leather outfits that leave little to the imagination. They will often stand out because of this. They often avoid the average fistfight using their flexibility and gymnastic skills to defeat their foes. They will also be seen using different forms of weapons to do this as well. Usually the male character that may be with them will be visibly shocked that she is capable of this showing that it is seen as a rarity for a woman to be capable of such skills.

Overall in most forms of media, women are not seen as strong or powerful but are seen as objects or items for the men to crave as well as a domesticated figure whose role is to clean up after everyone. These negative portrayals can lead to a prejudiced view on what the normal woman should look and act.