Transcript Lesson 1: Sociological Constructs and Theories

Lesson: Gender,
Popular Culture and
the Media
Introduction to Women’s Studies
Robert Wonser
Gender and the Media

According to the reflection hypothesis
the media only give the public what it
expects, wants, or demands.
In other words, the media content
mirrors the behaviors and
relationships, and values and norms
most prevalent in society.
Is the
media’s
reflection
more like
thisPopular
or this?
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Culture and
the Media
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
However, far from passively reflecting
culture, the media actively shape and
create culture.
the nightly news – how much news can
fit into 22 minutes?  they set the agenda
for public opinion. “The way the media
choose themes, structure the dialogue, and
control the debate—a process which
involves crucial omissions—is a major
aspect of their influence.”
 Ex:
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the Media
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The Role of the Media
In addition to their role as definers of the
important, the media are also the chief
sources of information for most people, as
well as the focus of their leisure activity.
 Evidence indicates many media
consumers (esp. heavy TV viewers) tend
to uncritically accept media content as
fact.

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Symbolic Annihilation
Although there’s always intervening
variables (e.g. kinds of shows, and
behavior of real-life role models), the
media do influence our worldview,
including personal aspirations and
expectations for achievements, as well as
our perceptions of others.
 Symbolic annihilation refers to the
media’s traditional ignoring, trivializing or
condemning of women.

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The Male Gaze
The Male Gaze is the idea that women are
portrayed in art, in advertising, and on
screen from a man’s point of view, as
objects to be looked at.
 Fetishism of commodities
takes on a whole
new meaning

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the Media
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The Smurfette Principle

The tendency for works of fiction to have
exactly one female amongst an ensemble
of male characters, in spite of the fact that
roughly one half of the population is
female.
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Speaking of Smurfette…
What do all
of these
Smurfs
have in
common
except
one?
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the Media
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Should this be surprising
when…
The word
‘bacon’ is used
more often
than sexism
and sexist?
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the Media
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Manic Pixie Dream Girl


The Manic Pixie Dream Girl (MPDG) is a stock character
type in films. Film critic Nathan Rabin, who coined the term
after seeing Kirsten Dunst in Elizabethtown (2005),
describes the MPDG as "that bubbly, shallow cinematic
creature that exists solely in the fevered imaginations of
sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young
men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and
adventures."
MPDGs are said to help their men without pursuing their
own happiness, and such characters never grow up, thus
their men never grow up.
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MPDG
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the Media
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The Bechdel Test

Passes the test if:
2
or more women in it who
have names
 they have to talk to each
other
 about something besides
a man
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Prominent Messages in TV

Women are less important than men.


Characters played by women tend to be younger and
less mature than male characters and therefore less
authoritative.


Fewer women than men on prime-time TV (39% of all major
characters)
65% of female prime-time characters are in their twenties and
thirites12% are in their forties and 22% of male primetime
characters are in their forties.
Young female characters are typically thin and physically
attractive.

In general males are given more leeway in their appearance.
46% of women on TV compared with just 16% of men are thin or
very thin.
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Leading Men
Age, But
Their Love
Interests
Don’t
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
Notice
any
pattern?
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Gender Messages on TV



There have been important changes in the
portrayal of men and women in recent years.
Female: more likely (than before) to work
outside the home, be strong and independent
women who rely on themselves to solve
problems. Shown interacting with other
characters in an honest and direct way.
males: more likely to be shown as ideal
husbands and do their share of housework.
Even though they’re less likely to be shown
doing it vs women (1-3% compared to 20-27%).
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Portrayals of Women


Gender stereotypes still persist: Preoccupied
with romantic relationships, shown on the job
or not, defined by marital status or
occupation, using romantic charm or force to
get what they want.
Since the 1970s: the incorporation of
women’s rights and gender equality themes,
often presented from what could be
considered a feminist perspective.
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Women in TV and Family Films

A study, lead by sociologist Stacy L. Smith,
analyzed 11,927 speaking roles on primetime television programs aired in spring 2012,
children's TV shows aired in 2011 and family
films (rated G, PG, or PG-13) released
between 2006 and 2011. Smith's team
looked at female characters' occupations,
attire, body size and whether they spoke or
not.
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The Results?

The team's data showed that on primetime television, 44.3 percent of females
were gainfully employed -- compared with
54.5 percent of males.
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Women in TV and Family Films


Women across the board were more likely to
be shown wearing sexy attire or exposing
some skin, and body size trends were
apparent: "Across both prime time and family
films, teenaged females are the most likely to
be depicted thin,“
The ratio of men to women in STEM fields
was 14.25 to 1 in family films and 5.4 to 1 on
prime time TV.
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
Perhaps most telling are the percentages
of speaking female characters in each
media form: only 28.3 percent of
characters in family films, 30.8 percent of
characters in children's shows, and 38.9
percent of characters on prime time
television were women.
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What About Behind the
Scenes?

Women comprised just 15 percent of all
directors, executive producers, producers,
writers, cinematographers and editors
working on the top 250 domestic grossing
films in 2007. A shocking 21 percent of films
released in 2007 employed NO women in any
of these roles. Zero films failed to employ a
man in at least one of these roles.
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Behind the Scenes

Women made up 26 percent of the
creators, executive producers, producers,
writers, directors, editors and directors of
photography during the 2007-08 television
primetime season.
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Why are
these
statistics as
they are?
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What Girls and Boys See in
Children’s Media



In television for kids, male characters appear
at about twice the rate of female characters.
Animated programs in particular are more
likely to portray male characters.
Females are almost four times as likely to be
presented in sexy attire and twice as likely to
be shown with a diminutive waist.
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Children’s Media



In a study of G-rated films from 1990-2005,
only 28 percent of the speaking characters
(both live and animated) were female.
More than four out of five of the narrators
were male.
Eighty-five percent of the characters were
white.
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Prominent Messages in
Advertising: Body Clowning
Goffman: The ritualization of subordination
in which women are portrayed in clowning
and costume-like characters.
 “the use of entire body as a playful
gesticulative device, a sort of body
clowning” is commonly used in
advertisements to indicate lack of
seriousness struck by a childlike pose (p.
50).

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Clowning Then…
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Clowning Now…
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

Charcot used the clowning to delegitimate socalled hysterical women, and Goffman saw
such representations for what they are, a way
to portray women as inferior, emotionally
childlike, unserious.
Over 100 years later, images of clowning
women are still used to reinforce gender
discrimination and position females as
inferior.
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Women Laughing Alone with
Salad

Because, why not?
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Photoshop
The beauty
secret used
by all the top
models?
Fotoshop, by
Adobe.
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the Media
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And What about Advertising?
The ad on the left was
the original ad.
Complaints were
made. The response?
The ad on the right.
Not quite sure they
get it…
Video about this ad
Killing Us Softly 4 trailer
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