How Women Are Affected And Misrepresented In The Media

How Women are Affected and Misrepresented in the Media
Is the media responsible for degrading women? For many people, the answer is yes but of course you have many people that disagree. The representation of women in the media has always been exploitative. It has, throughout the years, reduced women to being nothing more than objects to be won, prizes to be shown off, and playthings to be abused. Some people may feel as though the media distributes innocent commercials for business purposes, but isn’t realizing how these advertisements are affecting women on a daily basis. The media does not understand that all of these advertisements, movies, and music videos, affect how women view themselves, how women are viewed to the audience, and even
how women are being turned into sex icons. Therefore, censoring majority of advertisements and music lyrics may cause many women to be looked at differently in the society, in a positive outlook; and may also reduce the risk of women having self-esteem issues.
The media plays on people’s sub-conscious mind, using advertisements to make women feel as though they aren’t good enough. Targeting women’s self-esteem. Are we not pretty enough as is? Should we be happy with what we look like? These are ways that the media plays with our mind. Women nowadays lack confidence mainly because, they do not resemble the beautiful model on TV or in the latest magazine. The media has formed a way to target women that feel as though they aren’t “good enough” to boost sales in their business. For instance, magazines continually have articles telling women that they can lose weight in 10 days but at the same time, they will run a recipe for some fatting desert. Magazines will show you how to diet but at the same time, they tell you to try a double chocolate fudge mud pie. The advertisement market is very tricky and they are becoming more and more subversive and sneaky in how they get their messages across. Regardless of what one woman’s problem may be, the media will be make money whether you try the new diet pill or buy the new desert.
My grandmother used to tell me that back in her younger days, women were portrayed in a loving way and they were commended on their intelligence rather than their looks. But now, when women are portrayed in advertisement, they are sexualized. The look of a woman is now the main focus. An example is the advertisement for Levi Jeans. The ad (advertisement) portrays a young woman backed in the corner of an elevator; she is wearing a shirt that does not even cover her midsection. She looks like she is wearing a pair of jean shorts but you cannot tell because of the camera angle. The caption says “Push my buttons. I’m looking for a man who can totally floor me, who won’t stop till the top.” Now, remember this infomercial is for jeans, but when watching it, there is nothing telling you that, it’s an advertisement for jeans.
Violence has also become a big part in the advertisement of women. Bitch skateboards have a commercial with a silhouette of a man holding a gun to the silhouette of a woman with the word “bitch” across the top. Who is it that, that buys skateboards? Mostly young males; and males have more aggressive traits than females do. So what does this tell young men about treatment of women? It does not seem like advertisements such as these are going to help with the portrayal of women in a positive aspect.
In Kate Moss’s modeling career, she was frequently used by Calvin Klein because he chooses to portray his clothing by models that are skin and bones. Jean Kilbourne, an author recognized for her work on the image of women in advertising, uses an example of Kate Moss’s Calvin Klein advertisement where she is laying naked on a couch. She has hollow cheeks; her butt is in the air; in the top right corner the word, OBSESSION for men is written. There is no indication what this commercial may be for, but you would assume it was a pornographic advertisement. When women are represented in this manner, it not only diminishes the image of women, but it also goes back to the first point about how women are viewed sexually rather than respectfully. It seems as though the media is starting to turn women into sex icons, because “sex sells” in the industry.
The music industry might just be worst in the media.
Music now does not refer to women’s beauty and intelligence, or how good of a mother or a wife they are, but how big their breasts or butt is or what goes down in the bedroom. These perceptions misrepresent women in music videos and portray them as sex symbols or material objects which suggest they are powerless and submissive. Pussycat Dolls song, “Buttons” is another example of how women are degrading themselves as sex objects. The line “Baby can’t you see? How these clothes are fitting me? And the heat coming from this beat, I’m about to blow!” (Pussycat Dolls). This is signifying to guys that, they should look on the outside appearance of women, not the inside. Studies show that the media’s portrayal of women is affecting the self- esteem of younger girls in today’s society. As one survey concludes, "at age thirteen, 53% of American girls are unhappy with their bodies." According to the Academic Search Premier, this number increases to 78% by the time young girls reach seventeen with the help of the media’s negative depiction of
females.
Some people may say that people are reading too much into the advertisements and that they are designed to be catchy.
But I think the current generation needs to be educated to critically think outside the box. As it stands now, teenagers are growing up and watching these types of advertisements and are just mimicking what they see. This may cause teens to think that it is acceptable to put a gun to a woman’s head, or that a woman in an elevator is an easy target, or that the way you pick a girl out, is by the size of her breasts or butt. Something has to be done to change the way women are viewed in the media, how women aren’t so confident on how they look, and the way women are being used as sexual objects. This could possibly be done by, censoring the advertisements and music lyrics that are released and also by educating the public about what this new eras’ actions are doing to our
culture.

Work Cited
Sanchez, Karizza. "The Most Controversial Calvin Klein Ads." Complex. Complex Media Inc., 7 Sept. 2013. Web. 29 Oct. 2014.
Yorn, Sammi. "The Way Girls See Themselves." Hellogiggles.com. Hello Giggles LLC., 25 June 2013. Web. 29 Oct. 2014.
Mohamend, Nafisa. "Pussycat Dolls Representation." How Women Are Represented In The Media. Automattic. Web. 29 Oct. 2014.
Dobson, Eric. "How Media Plays With Your Mind." Prezi.com. Connected Initiative LLC. 29 Jan. 2014. Web. 29 Oct. 2014.