in relation to the media. Pluralists argue that the media is a means for
voicing and responding to women?s needs and interests. They state that
advertisements now act as a way of increasing the audiences awareness of
women?s issues. This would go against my hypothesis however it does raise
interesting issues in that pluralists would say that these advertisements are
beneficial for women in society. The pluralist view of the media is a popular
image where the media provides unrestricted public airing. However the public
demand and so perhaps the media is simply responding to the demand, so the
media are a reflection of what the public are doing. It is a very complicated
debate in terms of the media being issued the blame for the social effects that
are happening when in fact it may be a viscous circle. Relating to my
hypothesis it completely disregards it, and alternative reasons for he the
social issues would need to be looked at.A valid psychological study that I will use in my primary
research is that of ?Fallon and Rozin? 1985. It looks at body images, I will
conduct the study and then find a relationship between it and the media. Body
images of male and female undergraduates were shown a figure of their own sex
and asked to indicate, a) the figure that looked most like their current shape,
b) the figure that looked most like their ideal body shape and c) the figure
that they thought was most attractive to the opposite sex. Fallon and Rozin
found that although men?s abc options would all point to the same figure.
Women?s choices pointed to all different body shapes. Showing that women are
not comfortable with their body image and I believe there is a direct
correlation to that and the media.Erving Goffman 1979 studied advertising campaigns of the
1970?s, he found that the representation of women in advertisements had a very
big part to play in the expectations that women, ?should refrain from vying
with men in matters mechanical, financial, political and so forth?. This,
directly relating to my hypothesis in the stereotypes of women is often
blatantly sexist, making women feel inadequate and causing negative social
effects. Basically if women are made to feel that there are certain things they
can?t do simply because of their genetic make up then women will have a very
hard time being equal in society, the media simply perpetuates this. Many research studies especially the more recent ones have
been looking at the representation of women and what the effects of these are.
The general findings are discovered through looking at women?s magazines.
Although they seem to revolve around women?s interests they reinforce glamorous
enhanced images of women whilst still portraying a? women with a role whether it be a traditional housewife role or a
career, setting almost impossible standards for any ?regular? women to compete.
By doing this women strive to be and act and look a certain way, a way which is
portrayed by these media images to be achievable and when the standard is not
achievable the women feel like they have failed, causing a strong negative
social effect.One of the main theories used by sociologists to investigate
the media and it?s effects, is the hypodermic syringe model also known as the
effects model. ?The effects model was derived from the rise of behaviourism in
psychology in the early years of this century which sees all human action as
modelled on the condition of reflex so that ones personality consisted of
nothing more than responses to stimuli in its environment?. Sociology New Directions
pg 373. This model suggests an injection of products, images, stereotypes and
attitudes is injected into society through individuals and that an effect of
this injection is absolutely certain. The Payne Fund, a body set up in New York
in 1928 looked at the relationship between film watching and the attitudes of
juvenile crime, they used the effects model as their base for research because
it demonstrated the relationship well. Showing and provoking that by the
injection of films in to juveniles, as a direct effects of this there was a
link with crime. Paul Lazarsfeld recognises that there are other factors are
involved, such as friends and social groups.Within my research, this model is applicable by looking at
the injection of the media images of women and the direct effect possibly being
eating disorders unsatisfaction with themselves etc. However one of the
problems with this model is the total disregard it shows for peoples conscious
efforts to make decisions of their own, giving a very narrow view of the
audience. Within my hypothesis I have allowed for this by choosing a
particularly vulnerable group in society whoa re more susceptible to media
images-young women. But in fairness it should be noted that or everyone in
society has the same level of susceptibility Jean Baudrillard, a post modernist believed that the media
massively effects society, he believed that the mass media increasingly defines
what the world in which we live actually is. Supporting my hypothesis in simply
the fact that he recognises the huge effect the media is capable of having.Golding p78) says, ?The media are central in the provision
of ideas and images which people use to interpret and understand a great deal
of their everyday experience?. This shows also how critical the portrayal in
the media is in causing effects, when the media begins to represent out of the
ordinary situations as everyday they then change the whole nature of our living
and the way we think and what we believe is normal and everyday.For Marxists, the media is a fundamental instrument of
control, owned by the dominant class, who control what is portrayed within it.
So perhaps it is another case where the powerful gain even more power by
causing these negative effects through the media. Meaning that the young women
on the end of these images have no choice but to follow them as they are being
controlled to do so. Marxists also take the view that the media is among those
institutions which reproduce social domination and control under the base of the
bourgeois capitalist society. From my research I can conclude that the majority of studies
that I have looked at accept that women?s self worth, opinions and place in
society are partly moulded by their portrayal in the media. This will of course
play a massive part in the subordination of women which is a negative social
effect, supporting my hypothesis. There are no longer outright sexist
advertisements but the simple fact that women are represented in a totally
different image to men shows that sexism exists and causes negative social
effects. My next step is to conduct some primary research of my own to discover
if the media does effects peoples self worth, and exactly what the negative
social effects are. Questionnaire Deconstruction Title: The Media Portrayal
of Women1)How old are you? A self explanatory question. Used for grouping data into
ages so that in my evaluation I can analyse differences between ages and see at
what age the media starts to effect and if we realise it is effecting us at
later stages. The most likely question to follow would be, ?are you male or
female? but my studies concentrate solely on female attitudes. However if I
were to extend my research this would certainly be a topic to look into. I do
appreciate and take into consideration however that male attitudes do play a
large part in the attitudes of females and that they are a contributory factor
as well as the media to negative social effects about body image.2)Which media are you most likely to read/listen to? I have chosen three options; a)television as many images are
portrayed on television through advertising, TV programmes, the news etc. These
images are particularly powerful because they are moving images which can give
them the realistic edge over other media. B) Magazines, teenage girl?s
absorb? lot of information from
magazines, images of older girls are often featured in these magazines and
regular information on how to look like them or for example how to create ?that
perfect Jennifer Anniston look?. Due to magazines being such a source of
interest and information to young girls I believe it is important to look at
the messages they are portraying. C)Radio, radio is a very important source of
information but I wanted to discover how many teenage girls listen to the
radio. The radio has a large advantage in that it plays music which is a
massive interest to youth. The radio is also a very interesting media as it has
no visual aids but can it still create images?3)Do you think that the media attempts to portray a
?perfect image of a women?? I think that it is important to discover if teenage girls
are aware that the media image is a pretence or if they believe that when they
grow up that is what they should aspire to look like. The word attempt in this
question is very important as I am not suggesting that the is the perfect image
but simply that an attempt is being made. It will also show if in the eyes of
teenagers they do consider these media images to be perfect.4)Would you like to like the women in these images? This question is important in identifying the difference
between simply seeing an image and actually taking it and storing it in their
minds as an image that they would like to look like. And perhaps an image that
they think they should look like.5)Do you think that celebrities have too much attention on
them through the media? The main focus of the media is celebrities.. This question
will invite respondents to say yes they think the media is intrusive upon
celebrities and it does cause negative effects or No the media focuses the
right amount of attention on celebrities and this does not pose a problem to me
or to society as a whole. 6)Have you ever known anyone to suffer from an eating
disorder? Statistics show that eating disorders are becoming
increasingly common. It will be interesting and beneficial to compare the
answers against the statistics and between the different age groups. It will
also show whether teenage girls are always aware that their friends are
suffering from eating disorders by comparing the answers to statistics. Or
perhaps if they are even aware of what an eating disorder is.7)Do you think that these images contribute to eating
disorders? The question is probing whether teenage girls actually
believe that there is a link between media images and disorders. Or indeed
whether the worry of eating disorders is another media hype. If they answer yes
then it will demonstrate that the media is leading to negative social effects.8)Do you think that these images contribute to low self
esteem? This question is similar to question 8 but far less extreme
because although they themselves would not go to the extremities of eating
disorders so that is difficult to understand they may recall bad feelings about
their body and their looks in comparison to celebrities and these images. 9)Do you think that males are subjected to similar images
and pressures through the media? This is a widely debated question as the increase for those
who suffer from male eating disorders is rising but it will be interesting to
look at how women feel that media pressures are distributed.10) Do you have any further comments about the portrayal
of women in the media? Valid comments are useful for a deeper understanding of the
subject. They will also help me with the evaluation because if the same
comments crop up consistently then it will show me that there should have been
a designated question for that issue.Comments From Questionnaire Question 10 in my questionnaire asked if their were any further
comments about the portrayal of women in the media these were the results of
that question. I found that many thought that the pressure on men is not as
much as that on women but that it definitely exists however it is not based on
such a physical sense and is not portrayed highly through the media. There
pressure on men lies more on their personality, it is important to be funny, to
have a good car, to be good at sport etc. Another strong comment that came out
was that too much attention is paid to celebrities bodies and not enough to
their personalities and this is what causes negative social effects. They are
successful and they have good bodies that is all we see of them, therefore in
order for us to be successful we must have nice bodies.There was a definite vibe through the comments that the
media?s portrayal of women needs to change, they need to start representing
?real women?. Women?s true achievements are not focused on enough either.
Apparently women?s sport is not highly covered and when it is it concentrates
on people such as Anna Kornakova, who is glamorous but a far less talented
tennis player than say Venus Williams. Some believe that almost as if the pressure begins to ease
off women it is focusing on men. These comments are very valid because they give me a deeper
understanding of the way people actually feel, reinforcing that the problems
with images of women is not just another media hype, which in itself would be
very controversial. ContentIn the context section I looked at Erving Goffmans study of
Gender and Advertising and his coding categories, in order to prove that his
research is still evident today I carried out my own research by finding
advertisements which fit into his categories.?
I was a selection of magazines from Sunday supplement magazines. I chose
this because these magazines do not have such a specific target audience as
specialised women?s magazines, so I am not limiting my findings.Relative Size (Appendix _ _) This Advertisement for ?Dannimac? shows men leading the way,
sheltering and protecting women from the weather. This advert is not explicitly
sexist but it does have connotations of sexism and agrees with Goffmans theory
of relative size.The Feminine Touch (Appendix_ _) This advertisement for Orange E-Mail services supports
Goffman?s theory that women?s hands are often pictured in advertisements. The
Orange logo is in the centre of the woman?s hand, showing that she is nurturing
it and protecting it, exactly as Goffman suggested. Function Ranking (Appendix _ _) Goffman discussed advertisements that belittle women by
showing them being instructed by men. In my Context I made the observation that
since Goffmans study this has actually turned full circle and an advert will
generate a lot more interest if the roles are reversed. Obviously the reason
for there being more interest is because the roles within society are still not
totally reversed. However the advert pictured here certainly does reverse the
roles. These men are pictured in a skip, typically a mans job with a washing
machine in front of them, this suggests that the woman has instructed them to
do the washing, explaining the blank and confused look on their faces.The Family (Appendix _ _) This advertisement shows the mother and baby, a very stereotypical
image displayed throughout the media. The woman is looking perfect and the baby
looking happy. This is the kind of advert that I believe generates negative
social effects because of the image that when you have a baby you should be
able to still look your best and keep baby content. Goffman?s study 100%
supports that this advertisement exists and that the effects of it are only
negative to society.? It is a
stereotypical image which does not exist, yet the media portray it as the norm
putting women under tremendous pressure.The Ritual of Subordination (Appendix _ _) This advertisement, reinforces Goffmans claim that adverts
exploit women?s sexuality to sell a product. The amount of skin and the
lingerie shown in this advertisement certainly show hat sex sells. The product
is a muscle toning product, so it could be argued that it is necessary to show
the midriff of the woman. Licensed Withdrawal (Appendix _ _) Goffman talked about how women are often pictured as being
disconnected from a situation and become excited about menial things, in turn
making them and their lives seem very insignificant on a larger scale. This
advertisement shows the woman with a dreamy expression on her face, there is
nothing real or powerful about this image, it simply reinforces the
insignificance of a woman in the medias eyes.These categories outlined by Goffman are still relevant
today and these recent advertisements only go towards proving this. These