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Essay On Gender Representation In Mass Media

2285 Words10 Pages

The representation of gender in mass communications has been a hugely debated topic for years and will continue to be one for many more years to come. The media plays a big role in how they want to portray a gender to the public. They create certain stereotypes through the role of a gender in order to attract a large audience and interest to sell a product, brand or image. Media is so important in today’s society, people spend hours and hours each day watching TV, browsing the Internet and reading magazines. There are so many images of men and women in the media today that it certainly has an impact on the viewer’s thoughts and sense of identity. I’m going to solely focus on how femininity is represented in contemporary advertising.

Types of Stereotypes in the mass media

Commonly in the mass media, such as movies, TV shows and advertising women are generally portrayed with certain stereotypes. Women are often stereotypically shown as playing dependent roles to men, lesser beings to men and as sexual objects. According to research carried out by Steve Craig, in commercial advertisements women can be portrayed in several different variants. The first one is a housewife who is obsessed with the steam on a tablecloth; the next is another housewife whose main concerns in life are due to her …show more content…

Beautiful, skinny size 6 celebrities such as Keira Knightley are a prime example of this. The article headings are vitally important too. Beauty and sex tips seem to be the popular sellers. Liz Jones, the former editor of the Marie Claire said 'Nowadays, when the average time spent choosing a magazine and lifting it off the shelf is about three seconds, the covers make or break a magazine. You need lots of cover lines [– the phrases like 'Great sex today!' promoting articles in the magazine], and they all have to be compelling' (Jones,

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