Gender Representation in Media

Course Overview and Objectives

• This course provides a critical analysis of contemporary gender representations in media.
• The course explores the inherent contradictions and complexities of gender in the media.
• It focuses on how media constructs gender through various subjects and contexts.
• Primary learning outcomes include the identification and analysis of theoretical tools for examining media representations of gender.
• Students will interrogate key terminology in gender and media studies.
• Effective forms of political and cultural intervention to challenge gender constructions is explored.
• An understanding of how critiques of gender representation are often incorporated into media products, sometimes appearing in ironic guises is developed.

Key Theoretical Concepts: Understanding Gender

• Gender is defined as the socially constructed meaning of a person's physical sex.
• Femininity and masculinity are socially constructed norms regarding behavior and appearance.
• Gender meaning is formed through social interactions rather than being natural or innate.
• Gender meanings are dynamic and subject to change over time.

Sex vs. Gender

• Sex typically refers to biological characteristics.
• Most people are expected to perform a gender that aligns with their sex.
• Biological determinism dictates that biological differences determine gendered behavior.

Theoretical Approaches to Gender

• Sandra Bem, in 1974, created the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) to measure how feminine or masculine people consider themselves regardless of sex.
• Simone de Beauvoir famously stated in 1949: "One is not born, but rather becomes a woman.”
• Ann Oakley distinguished between sex and gender, defining sex as biological differences and gender as cultural classification in 1972.

Approaches to Gender

• The essentialist approach views gender differences as natural and unchangeable.
• The non-essentialist approach opens possibilities to reconsider gender meanings.
• The anti-essentialist critique conceptualizes gender as a social construct not reducible to biology.

Gender as a Dynamic Concept

• Gender should be viewed as fluid and continuously reconstructed.
• Intersectionality: Gender must be understood in relation to other social factors including class, age, sexuality, and ethnicity.
• Intersecting factors are also social constructs with meanings that change over time.

Media Studies Concepts

• Mass media aims to reach large audiences of anonymous recipients with similar information.
• This includes newspapers, magazines, television, music, video games, and film.

Key Developments in Media Studies

• Globalization: Economic factors include the rise of multinational corporations as well as increased migration and travel.
• The historical focus on Western media (US/UK) is considered cultural imperialism, where powerful nations impose their norms and values.
• Technology: Technological advances have transformed media production, content, and reception and blurred traditional boundaries between media forms

Critiques of Media Imperialism

• Media dispersion is not one-way traffic.
• Resistance to American domination comes from both nations and audiences.
• Audiences are not passive "sponges" absorbing media content.
• The concept of cultural imperialism itself has fluctuating meanings that need clarification.

Gender and Media Studies

Research Themes in Feminist Media Scholarship

• Work on stereotypes and social roles
• Ideology
• Pornography

Media Representation of Gender

• Media both reflects and shapes societal views on gender.
• Stereotypes in media often reinforce traditional gender roles.
• Contemporary media sometimes incorporates feminist critiques while simultaneously undermining them through irony.

Critical Analysis Topics

• "Blonde jokes" and gender-based humor
• Examination of whether gender stereotypes are harmful or reinforcing bias.

Celebrity Culture and Gender Politics

• Analysis of statements like Lady Gaga's "I'm not a feminist. I hail men, I love men..."
• Critical examination of how celebrities position themselves in relation to feminism and
• The double standards applied to male vs. female celebrities

Gendered Media Consumption

• Why certain video games and entertainment forms are marketed by gender
• Comparison of traditionally "feminine" media (e.g., The Sims) vs. "masculine" media (e.g., Assassin's Creed)
• Exploration of whether these differences reflect natural preferences or social conditioning

Post-Feminist Television

• Critical analysis of shows like Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives
• What makes certain shows "post-feminist television"
• Why certain genres are labeled as feminine or masculine despite mixed audiences

The Genderquake Concept

• Gender and media studies attempt to make sense of the current state of "flux and transformation"
• "The Genderquake" is the ongoing evolution and questioning of traditional gender concepts in both media and society.

Gender and Feminist Studies in Communication

• Feminist studies focus on achieving gender justice and examining how society organizes gender roles.
• Gender roles can create and sustain unfairness across cultures and time periods.
• Feminist communication research functions both as a political movement and as scholarly research intertwined with activist forms of feminism.
• Raising awareness of how gender affects individual life choices, personal development, and career success is the primary Aim

Historical Development

• Gender Studies emerged as a distinct academic field in the 1960s, spanning psychology, sociology, linguistics, and anthropology.
• A paradigm shift marked a transition from unquestioned assumptions about masculinity as the norm to critically examining masculinity itself.
• The second-wave feminist movement established feminist Communication Studies as a scholarly field in the 1970s.
• Early research, such as the Global Media Monitoring Project (1995-2005), showed minimal improvement in women's positions as media professionals.

Theoretical Frameworks

• Stuart Hall's Encoding/Decoding Model (1980): Challenged passive audience reception assumptions.
• Proposes polysemic interpretation dependent on social context.
• Emphasized that interpretation is influenced by ideological frameworks of media organizations that align with prevailing power structures.
• Feminist Approaches: Liberal, radical, socialist, postmodern, post-feminist, postcolonial, and global feminist theories apply.
• Intersectionality, coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw (1989), de-essentializes gender as it relates to class, age, disability, sexuality, and ethnicity.

Media Representation Analysis by Medium

Advertising

• Historically portrayed women negatively, belittled them, or represented them inaccurately.
• Early research found women primarily shown as obedient wives and mothers.
• Second-wave feminism influenced change, resulting in more diverse representations of women in positions of power and as independent individuals.

Magazines

• Betty Friedan's "The Feminine Mystique" (1963) pioneered the analysis of women's magazines.
• Friedan stated that magazines reinforced traditional gender differences and undermined women's "real" identities.
• "Lad magazines" emerged as a defensive assertion of masculinity against feminist challenges.

Film

• Feminist film research focused on pornography and sexual violence in movies.
• Horror films analyzed for gendered and sexual representations.

Television

• Historically limited women to domestic or sexual object roles.
• Production studies revealed women's underrepresentation in the industry with "glass ceiling" barriers.
• Stereotypical gender portrayals show men as dominant and women are seen as desirable, submissive, and domesticated.

Internet and New Media

Perspectives:

• Internet as a tool for feminist activism, organization, and networking.
• Internet as a misogynist sphere promoting harassment.
• Internet as a tool for women to combat globalization.

Contemporary Movements and Digital Activism

SheDecides

• Founded in response to the global gag rule reinstated under Trump.
• Aims to promote, provide, protect, and enhance fundamental rights of girls and women.
• Raised €400 million to support reproductive rights.

Gender Pay Gap

• Increased public awareness led to concrete actions, like the resignation of BBC News editor Carrie Gracie.
• Functions as a global phenomenon highlighting discrimination against women in the workforce.

#MeToo

• Initiated by Tarana Burke in 2006 to empower women through empathy.
• Focused especially on young and vulnerable women of color, serving as an agenda-setting tool for mainstream media.

Theoretical Perspectives on Gender

Essentialist Perspective

• Presents dichotomous understanding of sex as the biological determinant of gender.

Postmodern View

• Defends gender and sex as fluid, non-dichotomous social constructs.

Media's Role

• Actively produces and constructs gender, not merely reflects it.

Gender Inequalities - Comprehensive Study Notes

Introduction to Gender Inequalities

• This presentation examines the complex relationship between gender, media, and social structures in modern society.

Media, Gender, and Identity

• Media and communications are fundamental elements of modern life.
• Gender and sexuality remain core aspects of our identity formation Historical Context.
• What has been learned about media and gender from the 1960s-1980s may not be entirely relevant today, due to significant changes in both media landscapes and societal attitudes.

Evolution of Media Participation

• In the 1990s, the World Wide Web emerged as a platform for people to share personal stories and creative content.
• Around 2003, "Web 2.0" tools facilitated greater user participation and content creation.
• Media interaction now incorporates significant levels of interactivity.

Media Influences on Gender Perception

• Significant Media because it exposes to different perspectives and shows how the world works through various characters' lives.
• Influential media forms include domestic/romantic dramas, soap operas, and gender-targeted magazines (both women's and men's).

Gender Equality Status

• Legal equality exists in principle. Despite some exceptions significant practical inequalities persist.

"Democracy of Emotions" - Gender and Relationships

• Anthony Giddens' concept of "democratised" intimate relationships suggests modern partnerships on emotional communication between partners.
• Both women and men increasingly reject traditional gender-based expectations.

Persistent Workplace Inequalities

• Top positions in businesses and organizations are predominantly held by men, creating maledominated cultures.
• Traditional attitudes continue to impact opportunities at all organizational levels.

Masculinity in Modern Society

• Media frequently discusses challenges to modern masculinity, including confusion about male identity and family structures and the influence of feminism.
• Both men and women need to discover new, relevant roles in modern society.

Reimagining Masculinity

• Men can adopt new models of masculinity that prioritize love, family, and personal relationships over traditional emphasis on power, possessions, and success.
• Traditional male provider roles can harm men who cannot find employment.

Understanding Femininity

• Femininity is not necessarily viewed as embodying that of a "woman" but rather as a stereotype of women's historical roles.

Key Theoretical Concepts

Democracy of Emotions (Giddens, 1999)

• Relationships based on emotional communication rather than external obligations

Cultural Construction of Gender

• Gender identities are performed rather than innate

Macho Culture

• Organizational environments that favor traditionally masculine traits and behaviors
• Evolution from passive audience to active content creators.

Bodies and Objectification

1. Understanding Self-Objectification Core Definition

• Self-objectification occurs when an individual adopts an external observer's view of their own body.
• This shifts experiencing the body from a first-person perspective to that of a third person.

2. Objectification Theory and Body Surveillance - Key Concepts

• Body surveillance is the consistent monitoring and evaluation of external appearance against cultural standards

3. The Complex Process of Self-Objectification

• It is a complex process involving all three components: internalization of standards, adopting an observer's perspective, and continuous monitoring.

4. Media and Objectification

• Sexually Objectifying Media Content features media portrayals of ideal women as fashionable and curvy and presented in a manner viewed through the male gaze.
• Profile photos occupy a central place in online profiles, emphasizing appearance.

5. Body Surveillance in Contemporary Culture

Psychological Impact

• Objectified body consciousness: Seeing oneself as something others can judge or comment on

Social Comparison

• People conform to societal ideals of desirable body types and measure themselves against these standards

6. Gendered Aspects of Objectification

Men's Experiences

• Men's body image concerns mainly relate to their desire for muscularity.

7. Cultural Phenomena and Examples

"Manga Waist Challenge"

• Illustrates extreme body ideals in popular culture.

8. Conclusion: The Cycle of Objectification

• Objectification stems from cultural messages that value appearance over function.
• This internalization leads to continuous self-monitoring and surveillance.

Power and Gender in the Media Industry: Glass Ceiling Effect

Introduction and Key Concepts

• Looks at gender's relationship with media beyond counting men and women employed in certain fields

What is the Glass Ceiling

• A term for vertical gender segregation observed in media production.
• Federal definition: An invisible, but impenetrable barrier between women and the executive suite regardless of their accomplishments and merits.

4 Criteria for Differentiating Glass Ceiling from Other Factors

1. A gender contrast not accounted for by other job-related traits.
2. A gender or racial contrast at higher levels compared to lower levels.
3. A gender or racial disparity in the likelihood of progressing to higher levels.
4. A gender or racial disparity that intensifies during a career.

Core Issues in the Media Industry

Political economy perspective

• Wealthy, white, heterosexual male media owners prefer their interests reflected.

"Old-boys'-network"

• An informal system where men, often connected through shared experiences like student fraternities and private schools, exchange favors and connections

New Media and Gender Dynamics

Internet and new media

• There is potential for greater gender and ethnic equality compared to traditional media.

Top managerial positions

• Women can reach managerial positions in soft genres more easily than In hard genres.

Virginia Woolf and "A Room of One's Own" (1929)

• Patriarchy excludes female writers from the literary realm.
• Women need space (and some money) to write often, working in lower-ranking professions.

Male Values in Production and Audiences

• The industry benefits from linking gender with consumption by creating gender-specific content for male and female audiences.

MAJOR SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON GENDER AND MEDIA

FUNCTIONALIST PERSPECTIVE: Core Concepts

• Functionalists maintain that gender differentiation has contributed to overall social stability.
• Talcott Parsons (1955) argued division of labor is required for families to function effectively.

CONFLICT PERSPECTIVE

• The functionalist approach masks the underlying power relations between men and women.

Marxist Analysis

• Males control most of society's wealth, prestige, and power as the bourgeoisie.

FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE Historical Context

• Engels argued that women's subjugation coincided with the rise of private property during industrialization.

INTERACTIONIST PERSPECTIVE Core Concepts

• People "do gender" by reinforcing traditionally masculine and feminine actions.

Please review the sources provided in the document for deeper insight when studying.