The View of Women and Girls in the Media

Introduction - The View of Women and Girls in the Media The view of women and girls in the media has been an issue for decades now. Even though nowadays things got better than they were 30 years ago, women are still highly underrepresented in the media and their portrayals and stereotypes are still a big concern. These problems could seem minor to some; however, all these things have huge impact and consequences on women and girls from a very young age because media form and influence directly women’s mindset, view of things, way of thinking, their behavior, attitudes, and of course, their self-esteem. They might not even realize it, but this stereotyping and underrepresentation can contribute to harmful disrespect and violence towards women, or to unequal gender differentiating of occupations, personalities, or even harming attitudes towards life expectations and goals (Rodriguez, 2021). The aim of this blog is to inform others about this issue and try to explain its importance. Furth...

Disappearance of Women and Girls First current event that I would like to bring attention to is the case of Debanhi Escobar, a Mexican 18-year-old girl that disappeared on April 9 in Monterrey and was found 13 days later in an abandoned underground water tank on the grounds of a motel in northern Mexico. The case of Debanhi has started numerous protests and outrage due to a phenomenon that has been lately scaringly common all over Mexico – the disappearance of women and girls (Lopez, 2022).  26-year-old Yolanda Martínez went missing on March 31 and according to her brother, authorities visited their home two! weeks after (Lopez, 2022).  Three days after the disappearance of Ms. Martínez, 27-year-old María Fernanda Conteraz went missing. Through a family contact, her father obtained data showing the location of her phone the last time it was switched on. He searched the location and passed the information to the state prosecutor’s office. It took the authorities three days to c...

Treatment of Female Employees Second current event that I would like to talk about is the treatment of female employees in National Football League because there have been reports that the workplace culture there is “overtly hostile to women” (Belson & Rosman, 2022).  Six state attorneys general said that they have concerns about allegations of workplace harassment of women and minorities in the N.F.L. In a letter sent by chief legal officers more than 30 former employees describe experiencing a demoralizing culture (Belson & Rosman, 2022).  There are many claims of widespread sexual harassment happening in the N.F.L. “The allegations included female staff members saying they had been forced to watch a video showing the former running back Ray Rice knocking unconscious his then-fiancée; being asked to publicly declare if they had been victims of domestic violence; and being marginalized or pushed out of their jobs if they questioned the N.F.L.’s handling of sexual hara...

Media and Women Image: A Feminist Discourse This article discusses how the presented women image in the media affects women and their well-being. Female body has already been used to sell almost every possible product we can think of and these portrayals of women nowadays in the media show an unrealistic and dangerous standard that has powerful influence on the way women view themselves (Sarkar, 2014).  Mass media put it clearly – if a woman looks thin and young, she is perceived as attractive and this fact has been reinforced for decades because globally images, ads, etc. of “this kind of women” make the most money in the media industry. This standard has become so normal that for most women and girls it is unavoidable and almost chronic to constantly compare themselves between their size and the “ideal” body (Sarkar, 2014).  Magazines and advertisements are made in a way to help women “look better” by providing information and products that are supposed to make them look goo...

Media-Induced Sexual Harassment: The Routes from Sexually Objectifying Media to Sexual Harassment This study discusses the sexualizing women in the media (emphasizing physical beauty and sexual readiness as well as reducing them to decorative and sexual objects) as a contribution to encouraging sexual harassment or sexual violence within a society (Galdi & Guizzo, 2020).  Portraying women as sexual attractive objects in the media conduce to creating a societal environment that enables and reinforces the existence of sexual harassment, increases victims’ tolerance for harassing behaviors and potentially discourages bystanders from intervening. The sexual objectification also dehumanizes women in a certain way, making them a “prey” for men (Galdi & Guizzo, 2020).   It is proven that sexual harassment may depend on a level of exposure to media that portrays sexualized women. Simply, if a man sees on a regular basis that a woman can be a mere sexual object, he may the...

For Further Research Objectification and Exploitation of Girls and Women by the Mass Media and Social Media https://www.rightsofequality.com/objectification-and-exploitation-of-girls-and-women-by-the-mass-media-and-the-social-media/    Behind this link you can find an article that discusses the impacts of objectification and sexualization of women in different occupations, impacts among young girls, how it contributes to violence against women and how it can change the attitude of boys towards girls in a relationship, or how women started to objectify themselves without even knowing it due to such normalization of viewing women as objects.   Here’s How Instagram Harms Young Women According To Research https://www.forbes.com/sites/kimelsesser/2021/10/05/heres-how-instagram-harms-young-women-according-to-research/?sh=5f9110a4255a    I would like you to read this article because it is related to effects of Instagram on girls, a social media platform that is pa...