JAMIA MILLIA ISLAMIA

NEW DELHI - 110025

Department Of Political science

Course: Bachelors in Political science( Hons) semester -5

Paper: MEDIA AND POLITICAL ISSUES

Paper code: BPSX 51

‘ASSIGNMENT’
ON
Book review
Submitted to: DR. NAVED JAMAL
Submitted by: FIZA
Student id: 202103297
BOOK REVIEW – “THE ROUTLEDGE COMPANION TO
MEDIA AND GENDER”
Cyntha carter, Linda steiner and Lisa mclaughlin[ Eds] , The Routledge
Companion to Media and Gender, London and New York : Routledge , 2015 688
pp. , $45.44 (paperback).

The Routledge Companion to Media and Gender, which provides a thorough

grasp of linkages between gender and the media, is based on the most recent
international research examining many aspects of the most important
discussions at these intersections. The book's major goal is to serve as a vital
resource for academics and graduate students as they look into current issues
and deeply held tensions in gender and sexuality studies as well as media and
communication study.
The comprehensive 688-pages book is split into 59 chapters which are
grouped under five different categories.
Part I, "Her/Histories," that concentrates on gender representations and
images in media, delivers a conceptual and methodological overview of the
area and shares insights from the development of feminist studies.
Part II, "Media Industries, Labor, and Policy," explores policymaking along
with labor issues, sex segregation and unequal opportunities for employment
in the media industries, the commodification of gendered spectators,
intrusions of privacy, and censorship.
Part III, "Images and Representations Across Texts and Genres," examines a
wide range of media and gender-related research through looking at media
texts and media forms from multiple conceptual vantage points.
Part IV, "Media Audiences, Users, and Prosumers," focuses on how media
consumption and production are changing in the context of Web 2.0.
The book's final section, Part V, "Gendered Media Futures and the Future of
Gender," provides a detailed analysis of forthcoming trends and issues in the
area of media and gender.

PART 1- HER/ HISTORIES

The first four chapters concentrate on recurring stereotyped frames where
women are silenced (chapter 1) and victimized (chapter 2) through media
discourses, with a particular emphasis on the histories of major subjects
pertinent to media and gender research. This has the effect of
underrepresenting women in society in terms of power dynamics between
the sexes. The male gaze continues to play a vital role in making males the
major protagonists, whether in traditional groundworks or modern field
studies.
However, the audience labor is read through media texts in the final four
chapters of part I, demonstrating fresh approaches for an improved
understanding of gendered labor in a constantly evolving society. The
intersectional method is changing the face of feminist audience studies as a
result of neoliberal globalization and technological advancement. Chapter 6
is crucial because it discusses how and why the idea of intersectionality may
be applied as a framework for understanding media, its effects, and
audiences.

PART 2- MEDIA INDUSTRIES , LABOR,

AND POLICY
The chapters in section II concentrate on the underrepresentation of
women in the music and cultural industries as well as in the media
industries, particularly media conglomerates. The chapters also discuss the
gendered division of labor in terms of male dominance in ICTs, disparity in
pay, and underrepresentation of women in higher-level positions, implying
that the online world has not yet delivered on its promises. Despite the fact
that the Internet offers both sexes a larger public arena, the digital world
often seems to mimic the actual one.
The political economics of the media industries is crucial in creating a
consumerist society because it supports gender stereotypes from childhood
to maturity. These are just a few of the platforms where such essentialist
notions are created, including the video game industry (chapter 15), men's
magazines (chapter 18), children's media (chapter 16), and the
pornographic industry (chapter 19).
In the final three chapters of part II, it goes over how feminist movements
and digital policies have functioned as a counterweight to government
authority in China (chapter 22) and Europe (chapter 21).
 PART 3 – IMAGES AND REPRESENTATION
ACROSS TEXTS AND GENRES
With a strong emphasis on class, Part III centers on important processes like
the commercialization of sex and the sexualization of culture. This section
looks at the portrayal of conspicuous consumption and the highly sexualized
representations of middle class women in South Africa in Society, a
miniseries on South African femininities (chapter 25), as well as
contemporary articulations of class in the British miniseries The Only Way Is
Essex (TOWIE) and South Africa in Society.
Along with the popularity and celebrity culture that social media reinforces,
gender representation in media is developed. Social media can be seen as
creating new areas outside of standard gender constructs by enabling cross-
border movement. In addition to being broadcast on television, Chaz Bono's
gender change became widely known thanks to social media (chapter 27).
Other subjects covered in this section include the underrepresentation of
female politicians in press coverage (chapter 26) and Hollywood's attitude
toward the aging of female actors.
The Companion's final four chapters address sexualized racism in non-
Western settings. The issue of the mediated subjugation of Third World
women is examined, with a focus on Muslim women and Indian women in
New India, whose subjectivity is reified and reduced to the veil, a garment
worn by Muslim women as a necessity of their faith. While Chapter 34
discusses how the "war on terror" and Islamophobia affected popular
culture depictions of sexualized racism, Chapter 33 examines the
exploitation of Third World women's bodies and labor through beauty
regimes in India for the consumption of First World women. Another crucial
example at the junction of gender and race is the use of offensive language
and gender-based insults in male-dominated sports(chapter 36).
PART 4 – MEDIA AUDIENCES , USERS AND
PROSUMERS
This part’s main focus is convergence culture and the changing structure of
the audience and consumption of media. While prosumers seem to have
more agency in the contemporary moment and are partly able to influence
media production processes, the moral dynamics of this participatory
culture are still conservative. Chapter 37, for instance, examines the
mediation of teen pregnancy as the center of a national moral panic. Like
Brazilian telenovelas that blur gender boundaries and build an imaginary
bourgeois model of living (chapter 38), the way newspapers package news
to women means excluding them from real life and pushing them to live in
an imaginary bubble, as consumers (chapter 39).

The remaining chapters focus on other significant topics, such as

pornography that appeals to heterosexual men (chapter 43), queer fandom
from its predigital origins to its current status (chapter 41), male consumers
and sport exploitation (chapter 42), and representation of women in video
games. This section is notable for its emphasis on non-Western settings and
its examination of young Hindi moviegoers who hold sexist notions about
women in high regard. Although women are pushed to self-reflection and
the goal of individualization with societal change and transition within their
daily experiences by media consumption in Asia, according to chapter 46,
this is not always the case. . This is also clear from women's daily radio
listening habits in Africa, which may be seen as a mediated form of the
public sphere that encourages women to participate in society (chapter 47).
In chapters addressing cyberfeminism as a useful instrument in the fight for
women's rights, significant subjects such as the evolving role of camera
phone practices as a new site of empowerment in South Korea (chapter 51)
and how Arab women redefine activism via social media (chapter 52) are
discussed.
 PART 5 – GENDERED MEDIA FUTURES
AND THE FUTURE OF GENDER
The book's conclusion contains an intersectional analysis, non-Western
ethnic postcolonial theorizing, and predictions for the future of feminist
research. The representation of Latinas in TV and movies, where the
woman's body is seen as a sexual essence that overlaps with her race and
gender, is examined in Chapter 53. In Chapter 58, the analysis of identity
development of Moroccan Dutch adolescents using social media platforms
is discussed, along with the limitations and issues they encounter. A post-
postfeminist method is also suggested for the ongoing disputes over post
feminism in chapter 55 of this final portion, which also addresses the
debates over post feminism and sexism.

CRITICAL REFLECTIONS AND FURTHER

RESEARCH

The Companion is a reliable and useful book that offers the reader the most
recent research from a variety of theoretical/methodological perspectives
and geographical locations. The fundamental goal of becoming a crucial
reference to the central ideas and ongoing discussions in gender and media
studies is achieved via the selection of the articles of eminent scholars
together with a few case studies.

With its up-to-date content, global variety, and intersectional perspective,

the book has the potential to stand out among its competitors, The Gender
and Media Reader (Kearney, 2011) and Gender, Race, and Class in Media
(Dines & Humez, 2014). We witness traditional gender segregation
throughout the chapters, much like in the other two novels listed, in a
variety of fields like politics and media in addition to the music, video game,
and film sectors. The ideal woman is still primarily White, alluring to men,
and engaged with romantic pursuits.
However , The majority of the book is still devoted to Western contexts,
underrepresenting regions like the Middle East despite its intersectional
focus. There is just 20% of the book devoted to non-Western geographical
regions. In this otherwise well-thought-out volume, for instance, research
on the experiences and narratives of women who wear "the veil" within a
mediatized world would have made a significant contribution. The book's
many chapters make clear that more media work has recently been
feminized.
The question of why men and women absorb the established gender norms
and consent to these stereotypical activities in the media sector must
nevertheless still be addressed. In that regard, additional research on the
causes of this mindset should be conducted .
Additionally, blogs and vlogs are becoming significant components of
prosumer culture and media production. Radio, television, newspapers,
periodicals, and video games are mostly examined in the book. For instance,
blogs seem to be left out. More research on blogs and gender in relation to
consumption, politics, identity, and empowerment is required in light of the
importance of blogs within the framework of the Arab Spring.
In order to comprehend gendered practices around the world, gender
depiction in comics and cartoons would be a crucial research topic. Finally,
research on gay culture and masculinity would be essential additions,
possibly as part of a follow-up that we as readers are hoping for..

Reference
Dines G., & Humez J. M. (2014). Gender, race, and class in media: A critical
reader (4th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications.