Assess the view that women Essay Example for Free

Assess the view that women Essay In order to fully assess the view that women are stereotyped and symbolically annihilated in the media, the two terms; Stereotype and symbolic annihilation must be defined. A stereotype is a negative name given to a group of individuals and which is always an ideological name so that it supports an already existing idea. For example, as the sociologist Meehan found, women are often represented as matriarchs or witches in TV dramas and soaps. Stereotyping is also seen as an ordering process that brings order to potential chaos by the means of relating groups of people so we can understand them. Symbolic annihilation is the way in which a certain group of people are featured less or are totally erased from the media. Within the media, women have been symbolically annihilated if they are not slim, beautiful or fashionable for instance. Instead, all women shown in the media are slim, attractive and seemingly very image conscious. The 3 main types of media in which women have been stereotyped and symbolically annihilated are; TV, magazines and Video games. Research carried out by the sociologist D. M Meehan into the way women are portrayed in television, revealed that women are categorised into 10 different character types. These character types are; The imp, The goodwife, The harpy, The bitch, The victim, the decoy, The siren, The courtesan, The witch and The matriarch. Obviously the imp is a rebellious tomboy character, the Goodwife is a domestic, attractive, home centred character, the bitch is a sneak and a cheat and the courtesan is close to being a prostitute. Even though these findings were released in 1983, they are still relevant today because there are some characters in modern soap operas who still fit into the 10 character types. For example, Pauline from Eastenders is an example of a good housewife, as is Monica in friends. Also, Janine from Eastenders is an example of the courtesan and Steph from neighbours is an example of the imp. Others findings of Meehans study are that women are portrayed as either good or evil, and never a combination, that good women are portrayed as submissive, sensitive and domesticated and that bad women are often portrayed as being rebellious, independent and selfish. Another main finding of Meehans study was that female occupations were limited to a few, primarily housewife, receptionist and whore and that women are portrayed as lacking any sexual appetite. However, studies such as Meehans can be criticized for being dated, because most of the TV programs researched were from the 1960s and 1970s, but because these TV shows are still being shown on satellite channels it means that the study is still relevant. Another type of media in which women are stereotyped and symbolically annihilated is magazines. Almost all women who are shown in magazines are; slim, attractive, fashionable, white and have perfect skin etc. However, when you look more closely at these magazines, you also find that almost all women are portrayed as being in fairly poor jobs and are portrayed as sex objects. The sociologist Ferguson said that womens magazines deal with material that is considered too trivial for general media and that these magazines tell women what to do and how to think about themselves, their men and their colleagues. In adverts within magazines, twice as many women appeared with children than men and women are rarely shown outdoors, instead in the house being depicted as a housewife. Since the 1980s, there has been increased awareness of eating disorders among young people, especially girls, and statistics indicate that the frequency of eating disorders is increasing. The main reason behind this are magazines aimed at teenage girls, which are too preoccupied with romance and reinforcing a dominant ideology of femininity. These magazines show pictures of slim, attractive, beautiful young women, and this causes the readers to strive to achieve unrealistic body sizes girls as young as 11 and 12 are worried about their weight and body size. The sociologist Bruch said that illness is related to the enormous emphasis fashion places on being slim. Movies and magazines carry this message, but the most persistent message is portrayed through TV. The message says that one cannot be loved or respected if you are not slender. Also, the sociologist Coward said that advertising encourages women to view their body as a project, similar to DIY, which can be worked upon and improved. Therefore, some women are symbolically annihilated from this type of media, because only women who are slim, attractive and fashionable appear in them, but you hardly ever see any other type of woman. However, a criticism by the sociologist Hermes points out that people derive pleasure from these magazines and from interviews she found that people found them relaxing and educative. One other type of media that stereotypes and symbolically annihilates women is video games. The sociologist Provenzo pointed out that video games show a very stereotypical view of both males and females. The games are very macho and women are often depicted in poses of ritual subordination. In most video games, women are acted upon rather than being initiators of action and in the game Double Dragon for example, Billy has to rescue Marian, his kidnapped girlfriend. The cover for this game depicts Billy supporting Marian, her dress in shreds and her tank top ripped. Another aspect of video games is that women are not even named very often, instead being referred to as someones girlfriend or the princess. Video games are often very Macho in orientation, depicting boxing, car racing and so on, and the roles of both males and females in such scenarios are very limited. Finally, both male and female characters within such video games are always portrayed and depicted as young and being physically ideal. Therefore there is an aspect of symbolic annihilation in video games too, because only a certain type of character is portrayed as you rarely see a fat, old man for instance. After looking at these 3 media types, I can say the women are indeed stereotyped and symbolically annihilated within them. All of the 3 medias show in ideal image of women; slim, attractive and fashionable, but this raises a question does the media create the people in society or do the people in society create what goes into the media? I think that it is the people who create what goes into the media, because things that get printed or shown are things that people in society want to see. In conclusion, you can also look at the feminist view of the media to try to see if women are stereotyped and symbolically annihilated. Liberal feminists believe that journalists have learnt to portray women in a particular way, usually classless and family based. Radical feminists see men as the enemy. Men hold dominant positions in the media and they consciously manipulate the content for their own benefit, and to the detriment of women Finally, socialist feminists blame the capitalist structure for the disadvantaged position of women in society and that the role of the media is to sustain the capitalist system and the role of women within it.