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Explain What It Means To Be A Woman In The Media

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Explain What It Means To Be A Woman In The Media
Amelia Pencilo
Dr. Claire Senior
LIBS-3002-01
28 November 2013
What It Means To Be a Man and a Woman in the Media
The gender roles for men and women are constantly being implemented throughout the years in various forms of media; men are the dominant figure and women are subordinate to men. With that reason, there are many female figures that have been forced to hide their real identity in order to appeal to the general public. For example, Virginia Woolf wrote about her struggles in her speech, Professions for Women, and to abolish the unrealistic ideology of the Angel in the House; a poem about the ideal Victorian women. Although the speech was several years ago, the specific gender role is still embedded in the present. Accordingly, …show more content…
Groups such as “SlutWalks” are using the convenience of the social media to communicate with a larger audience. Though, in spite of their efforts, there are criticisms and negative opinions on the group, “But they also received a lot of harassment and threatening and bullying and horrible rape threats” (SOCIAL MEDIA 15). Furthermore, the effort to enact the goal of equality in both genders in these current times is reminiscent of the struggles in the previous feminist groups; one particular example is the book of Betty Friedan called The Feminine Mystique, which was published in 1963. Friedan is accredited in igniting the second-wave feminism and really revealed the unhappiness of women who were expected to be happy. The media projected that women were happy doing housework all day and taking care of children. The Feminine Mystique highlights the bleak reality in which she explains:
Over and over again, stories in women 's magazines insist that women can know fulfillment only at the moment of giving birth to a child. They deny the years when she can no longer look forward to giving birth, even if she repeats the act over and over again. In the feminine mystique, there is no other way for a woman to dream of creation or of the future. There is no other way she can even dream about herself, except as her children 's mother, her …show more content…
SOCIAL MEDIA AS A FEMINIST TOOL. Herizons, Inc. (2012): 14-16. Web. 26 Nov. 2013.
Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique. New York: Norton, 2001. Print
Filmandmedia12. Gender Roles in Disney Films. Wikispaces. (2013). Web. 25 Nov.2013
Gross, Liza. INVISIBLE IN THE MEDIA. UN Chronicle. (2010): 27-32. Web. 26 Nov. 2013.
Mendelson, Scott. How Hollywood Markets to Women by Reinforcing Gender Stereotypes. Forbes. (2013). Web. 26 Nov. 2013.
Patmore, Coventry. The Angel in the House. Project Gutenberg. 1 May 2003. 41. Web. 15 March 2012. [ISBN: N/A. Total pages: 106]
Wood, T. Julia. Gendered Media: The Influence of Media on Views of Gender. Gendered Lives: Communication, Gender, and Culture Chapter 9. (1994): 31-39. Print. 25 Nov. 2013.
Woolf, Virginia. “Professions for Women.” The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women: The Tradition in English. 5th ed. Ed. A. Eastman et al. New York: Norton, 1992. 329-36. Print. [ISBN: 0-393-95391-2. Total pages: 2454]
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