Sociology

Media 15
 Repres
entations of
mass media the body in
: Gender, se
xuality &
Disability (2
/2)
  Theoretical Perspectives on Media
Representations of Femininity and Masculinity
• Feminists Massive contribution on Media
representation of males and females although their
ideas have varied emphasis.

① Liberal Feminism

• Concerned abt Media Representations why?

because they believe along side Family and Edu,
Mass Media plays an imp part in the social
construction of gender roles and how children learn
to be masculine or Feminine.
• Females Domestic Goddesses & Sex Objects this
type of representation is problematic as it lowers the
aspirations and self esteem of women especially
adolescent girls.

• Media representations are are slow to change in

response to women’s achievements in society reason
for this “cultural lag” is that ideas and attitudes
change more slowly than economic and social
conditions.

• Media still ignored women this has reduced to

some extent as compared to the past e.g. now they
are a number of female journalists, editors and
broadcasters BUT still Media has a long way to go
• Women’s progress in Media professions has
slowed Majority of media owners and
Conglomerate executives are still men.

② Socialist and Marxist Feminism

• Roots of stereotypical images of men and women in

the media are economic they are a by product of
the need of Media Conglomerates to make profit in
Capitalist societies.

• Male Dominated Media wants to attract max

audience emphasizes on traditional roles of men
and women in soap operas, sitcoms etc
• Alternative image of Women encouraged by
Feminism such as the Assertive and Strong Headed
Career women don’t fit into the existing categorization
of media which is why such women are usually
ignored, devalued or criticized.

• Advertising Shapes content of women

magazines Media profits from advertising
revenue more than from sales Magazines promote
and encourage false needs to attract max advertising
revenue  Cosmetics, Diet, Fashion.

• Ideals presented by these industries are very difficult

to achieve which is why they grow and gain profits
• Diet Industry $100 billion a year in the USA

• Marxists Retaining youth and resisting ageing is

another way in which media encourages women to
invest in the beauty market

• Women are exploited by the media as

mother/housewives & sex objects along with
increasing anxieties abt weight and age which
exploits then as consumers of body related products.

③ Radical Feminism

• Feel strongly that Media reproduces Patriarchy

• Patriarchal Societies Men dominate women because
they have more power and control which they don’t feel
like sharing or giving up

• Male Dominated Media transmits traditional images to

keep women oppressed into a narrow range of roles

• Media tricks women into believing in the “Beauty Myth”

they should adjust their looks and appearance according to
the Male Gaze and how men prefer their weight, size or
shape to be

• Media encourages to fulfill these goals ^ as it will lead to

personal happiness women are in false consciousness
which is why they are unable to make most of the opp’s
available to them
• Men’s Magazines that celebrate and encourage
Retributive Masculinity are examples of a social
backlash directed against the gains made by women
because of the Feminization of the economy and so
it attempts to compensate for a “crisis in
masculinity” as men’s economic and social
position decline

• No coincidence in the fact at the same time when

women are achieving so much and moving towards
equality, these magazines portray them to
subordinate positions as sex objects
  Post Modernism
• Gaunlett Focuses on the relationship b/w Mass Media
and identity

• Mass Media now challenges the traditional definitions of

gender and trying to bring abt a change by offering a
diversity of masculine and feminine identities.

• Traditional role of women as housewife or low status

worker is now being replaced by feisty, successful and
Girl Power icons

• Traditional role of men as being tough and emotionally

silent is now being replaced by men facing problems
and being in touch with their emotions
• Media is now providing alternative images and ideas
which produces a greater diversity of gender
identities.

• Media provides a greater degree of choice as they

provide the tools for the social construction of
identity.

• However, Modern Media has a contradictory nature 

“like many toolkits, it contains some good utensils and
some useless ones”

• Media Role Models along with parents, friends and

teachers serve as navigation points as they assist us to
make decisions abt their life
• Gauntlett Rejects the view that power relationship b/w the media
and it’s audience is complex

• Both Traditional and new media producers and consumers follow

both traditional and new ideas abt gender

• However, as compared to the past, now we aren’t presented by

singular, straight forward media msgs which suggests one one ideal
type of masculinity or femininity

• Audience now borrows bit and pieces from the media and construct
their own identities.

• Media should be considered as a resourse (despite its flaws) that

people use to form their identities

• These varied identities formed by consuming media msgs will in

turn influence the media
  Pluralism
• Critiques of Mass Media Representations found in
Modern Media underestimates women’s ability to
see through gender stereotyping and manipulation

• Feminists are guilty of stereotyping women as

impressionable and being easily influenced

• No real evidence that females take notice of media

content or that it affects their attitudes or behaviors

• Media simply reflects social attitudes and tastes

which is basically public demand
• Media meets the needs of both men and women
and if women were actually this unhappy with how
they were being represented, they wouldn’t buy
media products like Women Magazines

• BUT we don’t know for a fact the extent to which

Media is actually creating those needs in the first
place
  Representations of Sexuality
 Young People’s Media and Representations of
Sexuality

• Batchelor et al Mass media has an imp role in

shaping knowledge and attitudes of young people
regarding sexuality.

• Content analysis of magazines and TV programs

consumed by young people to examine how sexuality
is represented some aspects of sexuality like
consent, sexual health info etc were positively
represented e.g. the girl’s right to say no, was given
prominence in TV
• There are also some limitations in media coverage of
young people’s sexuality :

i. Most media texts assumed that all young people

over 16 were sexually active

ii. Contraception and managing “how far to go

sexually” were represented as female
responsibilities focus on female responsibility
for contraception was emphasized in references to
pregnancy and letters to problem pages centered
on girls worried abt getting/being pregnant etc
iii. No examples of how young people might raise
concerns such as safer sex e.g. to avoid sexually
transmitted infections

iv. Differences in how males and females in media

texts felt, talked abt and acted in relation to sex.
E.g. female characters are shown to talk abt sex
with their friends whereas male characters boasted
abt their sexual prowess Girls were more
interested in feelings and emotions and whereas
boys were more interested in physical pleasures.

v. Lack of positive images of lesbian & gay teenagers

and a failure to represent sexual diversity
  Representations of Homosexuality
• Media representations of sexuality in the UK are
mainly heterosexual

• Gerbner et al Media participates in the “symbolic

annihilation” of gays and lesbians by negatively
stereotyping them or by rarely portraying them
realistically or by not showing them at all.

• Craig When Homosexual characters in the media

are portrayed, they are usually stereotyped as having
particular amusing or negative psychological and
social characteristics
i. Camp one of the most widely used
representations in entertainment media the camp
character or comedian they are shown as figures
of fun which is why they aren’t a threat to
heterosexual males however, camp persona
reinforces negative views of gay sexuality by being
somewhere in b/w males and females.

ii. Macho Also a negative media stereotype

popularized by the pop group The Village people
It relies on exaggerating masculinity  this media
representation is regarded as threatening by men
because it corrupts the traditional ideas of
masculinity
iii. Deviant stereotyped by the media as deviant or evil they
are shown as feeling guilty abt their sexuality and Hollywood
films portray gay people as dangerous and psychopathic.

iv. Gay in the News News media still ignores the lives and
experiences of gay and lesbians media reinforces
discrimination against them offensive and homophobic
content is often printed many political parties who assume
that they are inferior to heterosexuals don’t support any gay
and lesbian rights.

v. Coverage of AIDSUK news coverage of AIDS in 1980’s

stereotyped Gays as carriers of gay plague which revealed
society’s dislike of the gay community People started
believing that homosexual AIDS sufferers had their own
immoral and unnatural behavior to blame for their
condition or death
• Batchelor et al when gays are represented in the
Media, they are shown as a source of anxiety or
embarrassment or seen as a target for teasing and
bullying but in mainstream young people’s media,
lesbianism was completely invisible.

• Cowan & Valentine Study of BBC’s portrayal of Gay

and Lesbian people lives of Gay people are mostly
highlighted in negative ways Gay life was over
represented in entertainment programs such as
game shows, comedy shows etc they were usually
the subjects of jokes they weren’t presented as
normal and ordinary people having stable
relationships or family life
• Conclusion of this study BBC is failing to represent
gay and lesbian people in ways that would help
heterosexuals understand gay and lesbian lives and
help reduce bigotry, homophobia and prejudice.

• Gauntlett Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual people are still

under represented in mainstream media but things are
slowly changing now.

• TV drama is offering people the chance to “get to know”

positive lesbian and gay characters in TV shows stc

• Critics Homosexuals are now being positively

represented to some extent but there’s still a long way
to go before achieving social and political equality
  Representations of Disability
• There are 2 ways of viewing disability:

1. Disabled people are disabled by their physical and/or mental

impairments they need constant care from medical
Practitioners and their families which makes them dependent
on the able bodied

2. Many Disabled sociologists suggest that disabled are actually

disabled by society because social institutions, facilities and
services are primarily designed and administered with the
able bodied in mind Disabled have to adjust in an
environment which isn’t suitable to their needs they are
also disabled by stereotypes and attitudes which result in
discrimination that reinforces the fact that disabled people
should be dependent on the able bodied and/or that they
should be segregated from the whole society.
• Barnes (Disabled Sociologist) Mass Media is
partly responsible for perpetuating these
stereotypes and prejudices

• Hevey Disabled people have always been presented

as socially flawed abled bodied people

• Barnes a number of repetitive stereotypes of the

Disabled appear in the media :

 Pitiable and pathetic

 Sinister and evil
 Super cripples e.g. as having special powers like blind
people are often viewed as visionaries
 Incapable of participating fully in community life
 Not as ordinary or normal

• Haller and Zhang survey of people with

disabilities news media regarded disabled people as
doing a poor job in terms of covering disability
issues in a balanced way media coverage was
usually negative they were portrayed as
handicapped or ill and made people believe that
accommodating them is very costly for both
business and society.
  The Effect of Telethons
• Roper media representations of Telethons (Charity
shows) can create problems for the disabled they usually
focus on “cute” children which isn't representative all
disabled people.

• They imply that charities rather than the Govt is

responsible to provide funds and services to the
disabled they encourage the public to give disabled
people money instead of understanding what they are
actually going through

• Karpf We need charities in our society but telethons

portray disabled as dependent on people to donate them
money they only entertain people rather than
encouraging them to empathize
 Representations of people with mental disabilities
• Barnes & Mercer Newspapers sensationalize the connection
b/w intellectual impairment and the potential for criminality,
esp violence

• Tabloid Press Mentally ill people need to be separated from

normal people in society

• Phillo (GUMG) TV and Press reporting of people with mental

disabilities often focus on violent incidents despite the fact that
only some people with mental disabilities are actually violent.

• GUMG Public usually has fear and anxieties when they are
close to someone who is experiencing mental health problems
because the media has convinced them that mental illnesses
like schizophrenia equates violent behavior
  Conclusions
• Wood there are many reasons for the negative
portrayal of the disabled in the media :

1. Dominance of the medical model of disability which

presents disabled people’s inability to interact in
everyday life as a direct result of their physical or mental
impairment.
2. Media professionals are responsible for negatively
stereotyping disabled people
3. Disabled people are underrepresented in employment
within the media

• Generally for many able bodied people, their experience

of the disabled is through media representations.