Through my personal experience, feminism is the fight for equality amongst genders, but the media has made it increasingly difficult for that goal to be reached. Mass media promotes sexist representations of women and continuously objectifys them. This idea has become quite clear through the dissection of roles most women are cast as in movies, shows, etc. Do their characters have depth? Or are they just there to “sit still and look pretty”. The “feminism” reading also sheds light on the blatant sexism in advertisements for women. Typically, women are featured in ads selling kitchen or bathroom supplies. This ides stems from the underlying belief that “women belong in the kitchen” or that they would be most interested in products pertaining the home. These stereotypes are consistently shown across all types of media. However, women are not willing to stand for this anymore. Acts like this have pushed the fight for equality/the feminist movement to pick up speed and continue on until permanent progress is made.
5 thoughts on “Mimi Bainbridge “Feminism” Post”
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I agree with your points on the portrayal of women in movies, shows, and advertisements. Often times women presented in movies or tv shows are simply there for the male eye and to look pretty. Many of the roles women play can lack substance which harms how people think of women and how they are supposed to look and act. As for advertisements, by only casting women for cooking or bathroom supplies commercials, people become used to the idea that that is how the gender roles are supposed to be. With the rise of feminism and people wanting to make a change, hopefully these stereotypes of women that media has created can be fixed.
I completely agree with your point. It is clear that women and men have been portrayed much differently in the media. This is a major issue because the media promotes sexism, teaching society that it is okay for men to be viewed as the stronger sex. Roles dedicated to women in the past have lacked certain qualities; qualities belonging to a leader or hero. This is not just an issue for society’s view on women but women’s view on themselves. If a woman sees that she is never portrayed as strong and powerful, then she will never believe that she is or ever can be. The media must change their representation of women in order for female consumers of media to feel confident and proud.
When the media promotes sexism, implicit and conscious biases are near impossible to shake. Because the media has such an enormous impact on the way that we view the world, having female stereotypes constantly portrayed through various media platforms does nothing to promote positive change. I definitely agree with your example of “women in the kitchen,” something that is so often reflected in the media. I feel like this is often exemplified in commercials, especially for cleaning products and even for a lot of different foods. I have always been surprised by commercials for food like chips or pizza bites, where companies almost exclusively promote their product with a commercial showing a woman making snacks for her husband and his friends or for her kids. Additionally with cleaning products, it’s rarely a man that’s shown using the product to clean up mess around the house, which goes hand in hand with the food example. Both of these examples perpetuate the female stereotype of the typical woman of the house. Although there’s nothing wrong with cleaning the house or making snacks for your family, it becomes an issue when there is a total lack of balance regarding who is depicted in these roles.
I agree. I too feel that media’s portrayal of women is hindering the feminist movement from gaining true traction. The idea of feminism is a developed enough concept that should take into action everywhere, yet we still face individuals who still don’t see problems with gender gaps. While some of it this may be due to cultural background, media definitely plays a big role in presenting equality, and the lack there of, amongst genders. While feminism is a real thing, media’s counting action of publishing gender stereotypes, hinders this movement from becoming our true and full reality. Media needs to normalize equal rights to help further the fight for gender equality.
I’d love to see you provide specific examples from ads or other media portrayals that demonstrate this statement: “Mass media promotes sexist representations of women and continuously objectifies them.” Using specific examples from specific media portrayals would help us better understand exactly what you mean.