The contributor Leigh Shoemaker examines feminist male identification which results from the fact that “second wave feminism had taught me that, as a girl, I could do anything I wanted to do, but the backlash let me know that this was possible only as long as I wasn’t a girl — as long as I wasn’t soft and feminine and weak” (115). In addition, Jennifer Reed discusses the identification with characters in media in order to create feminist identities using the example of Roseanne. Moreover, Carolyn Sorisio addresses the need to include feminist history in contemporary culture in order to appeal to a wider feminist community. In conclusion, the contributors to this section defined the influence of media on the creation of feminist identities and feminist…
Jean Kilbourne and bell hooks agree in their writings that the media often distorts what we perceive as reality in one way or another. Film, television, and advertising shape our ideals and what we believe should be true. Kilbourne focuses on the distortion of gender, particularly the distortion of the female gender in society in the excerpt from her book included in From Inquiry to Academic Writing, whereas hooks analyzes the misrepresentation of the impoverished and homeless in the excerpt from her book. Despite their differing foci, both authors would likely agree that the TV show Dance Moms is a prime example of the underlying themes of gender and class distortions that the media commonly portrays.…
“Miss Representation” is a documentary film written, directed, and produced in 2011 by Jennier Siebel Newsom, a filmmaker, an actress, and an advocate for women. The film focuses on how the American women have been wrongly portrayed by the media; hence, it results in the gender inequality, the lack of female in politics, and women’s misperception about their identity. The targeted audience of this film is all American people, who are convinced to change their mind about stereotypes of women. Jennier effectively convinces the audience that the mainstream media has mainly contributed to the under-representation of women through the use of statements claimed by highly educated, experienced cast members, emotional appeals to its target audience,…
While it may seem innocent to some, many cite the Tom Leykis show as one of the many reasons why feminism is so culturally important for society. Feminism is a consciousness-raising movement to get people to understand that gender is an organizing principle of life. The underlying belief of feminism is that women and men should be accorded equal opportunities and respect. Hence, sex,…
First, the late nineteen sixties happened to be an enormous turning point for feminism in the television sitcom. American sitcoms began to transform a fraction during this era. The way the American females were portrayed on television was one of these transformations. Not to mention, nearly all sitcoms up to this point the women actors were characterized the same, which was the American homemaker, “more commonly known in modern days as the housewife.” In addition, the husband was in control and in charge on the sitcom. In the book, “Signs Of Life In The USA” a story that is titled, “Gender Role Behaviors and Attitudes” written by Aaron Devor, states that “These two clusters of attributes are most commonly seen as mirror images of one another with masculinity usually characterized by dominance and aggression, and femininity by…
I never knew who Mary Tyler Moore was until she died this past January. As the world continued to grieve over Moore and other such celebrities who tragically passed away in the last twelve months, I found myself surreptitiously Googling her to get some context for all the accolades people gave in memoriam. I had never heard of her solo show, or how groundbreaking it was for feminism, but when my Entertainment Weekly magazine came in the mail, I got a further glimpse into television history. As Dan Snierson observes in his article “Mary Tyler Moore, 1936 – 2017”, that beyond any other role Moore played, “it was her seven-season turn (1970 – 1977) as spunky TV producer Mary Richards on CBS’ The Mary Tyler Moore Show that Moore burned brightest,…
The role of women in American society changed from the traditional homemaker to modern-day breadwinners owing to the outcomes of various events that occurred from the end of the Civil War in 1865. However, this paper will analyze and discuss the various events such as suffrage, the professional barrier held by the male counterparts, and societal discrimination. In addition, the enactment of State laws that illegalized wife battery, equal payment, in addition to the decision by the Supreme Court to allow Belva Lockwood to be the first women to testify before it in 1879. These events formed the basis of the significant events that shaped the make-up of the modern women since 1985.…
Throughout the many years of history, women have always had some kind of influence over man. Whether it be coercing him, tricking him, or demanding of him, they changed the actions of men. Sometimes it has been completely unintentional; sometimes intentional. Sometimes it has been covertly; sometimes overtly. Sometimes it has been the mothers of great men making decisions about their upbringing; sometimes it has been the choices made by female leaders or leaders wives. The United States in no different; women have been influencing, directly or indirectly, the decision and actions of the men in America starting from the choice to fund Christopher Columbus’s misguided exploration.…
Females were deemed insignificant to males for far too long and they grew tired of the unjust laws and felt they deserved unalienable rights; such as the right to vote. The mistreatment of women in the US traces back to colonial America where the term “housewife” was uprooted. A women’s occupation was reserved to caring for her family and the house. Since this time, things cultivated and women desired to make an impression on the world.…
* No it is not neutral or stable. Health is measured on certain medical statistics, but the type of questions asked or the type of people analyzed vary based on sex, . Health standards vary according to climate, age, height, class, diet, gender, race, and bodily configurations. All of these influence health as a concept. The body is never in a state of perfect optimum health. Have a cold? Not enough sleep? Tripped on the way to class and have a bruise? The body is always in an ever-fluctuating state. Health also depends on what people feel about themselves. “What’s important is that I feel healthy.”…
In many television shows, the role of a character can cause the character to be portrayed a stereotypical way that promotes gender roles and what is expected from someone based off of gender. The television series The Real Housewives is based off of rich, beautiful women who put their everyday lives on television. Being a reality show, these women show the world how luxurious and easy it is to be a housewife. Parties, friends, family and drama, these women live a life that every working woman wishes they could have. The image these housewives portray, make the role of a housewife look like a piece of cake. Their life is a party and everything is handed to them by their hard working husbands. However, in the television…
Today’s statistics shows women and young girls in the media areas of television, has more attention placed upon them, and it’s not always in a positive way. In the documentary film Miss Representation the portrayal changes the way the public and some men would view women. These magnitude effects of the role of women have had for many years. Some organizations and commercial ads display women and girls with the idea that their beauty lies in beauty products and tanning machines along with cosmetic products. Researchers have proven concerns that many support the idea of the detrimental harm that this attention brings to our society. Are women of today’s generation being exploited as nothing more than sex objects? Records show that the United States is still very below in average for women holding how power governmental positions. Miss Representation movie is no longer just a movie film, but has become a complete campaign to instill the empowerment for women and young girls. The campaign will add challenges to people who have made attempts on transforming our culture for the advancement of all kind. All through the campaign, you will become educated in one form are another. From Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin running for the first Women president of the United States it shows that our society still has a long way to go. We have not yet made it to the point of women having equal rights as men do.…
When it comes to the workplace and the differences between manager and their employee may be a little tense or frustrating at times. There are several factors that can make a relationship between manager and employee strained One of those can be the new world of technology. Communicating Younger people grow up in High tech environment cell phones, beepers and email. For example if a younger person wanted to get a message to a fellow employee they would send them a email or text opposed to a much older person who would probably call them on their extension or ask the person next to their office to reach them. A much younger person managing or mentoring someone older than them can also be difficult at times. An older person taking orders from someone the same age as a child can be a tough pill to swallow and both manager and employee may find it difficult to work with each other.…
Throughout media, women are hardly ever portrayed as the main focus or character in a television show, advertisement, cartoon or novel. Although media producers would avoid admitting to portraying women in such a way, Katha Pollitt in the “Smurfette Principle” clearly agrees and states; “I came across not a single network cartoon or puppet show starring a female” (545). Through the examples of various children’s television shows, Pollitt argues that women are minor to men and that even children are catching onto the media’s feminist ways. Pollitt then discusses what she calls the “smurfette principle” which is when a certain male character or group of men will be accented by a single woman character. Not only is Pollitt the only critic that agrees that women are hardly ever portrayed as the main focus or character, but scholar Carmen D. Siering takes a position on this topic as well. In Carmen D. Siering’s “Taking a Bite out of Twilight,” Siering uses an informative tone to discuss the feminist issue that evolves in the popular young adult novel Twilight. As Siering introduces the characters in her article…
Due to the thriving political resentment of the twentieth century, Americans forced a major shift in societal norms in the United States through rallies and intense rebellion. After the Civil Rights movement became a huge success for African American equality, similar minorities began the uphill battle to earning their inequality as well. Namely, the Feminist movement developed as housewives across the nation fought for the same basic rights awarded to men, now of all races: “The women’s movement in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries had focused on gaining the right to vote. The feminist movement of the sixties and seventies was much more comprehensive in its goals, seeking equal rights in virtually every area of life” (Shi and…