Group+Research+Assingment

CCT205: Digital Innovation and Cultural Transformation Prof: Rhon Teruelle Syed Yousuf Hasan 996313804

__**Representation of Women in Media**__

 One of the effects of media specially through the medium of television and the internet is that young girls and women at large have been put under enormous pressure to conform standards of beauty and sexuality as set by corporations through advertisements and directors through movies. Moreover this has caused women to be so insecure of their body image that it has led to anxiety and depression but in certain cases has even caused death due to anorexia.

Furthermore this paper will also show that the media has fuelled the objectification of women and this has led them to their mistreatment by trivializing them and their opinions, as well as men harassing them and in extreme cases the occurrence of even rape and murder.

 In today's generation that we live in we have been bombarded with the media as showing images of having to have a certain type of body, face etc. The promoting of a particular type of appearance is affecting people to imitate it not knowing it does not exist in the real world. For instance we see some advertisements on billboard or various media outlets we see that the pictures are photo shopped to make them perfect. “ In recent years, advertisers and magazine editors have been widely criticized for taking digital photo retouching to an extreme. Impossibly thin, tall, and wrinkle- and blemish-free models are routinely splashed onto billboards, advertisements, and magazine covers (Henry).”. People are being misled by photo shops and are being dissatisfied with their bodies and appearance when having to look at it. There have been certain actions taken by some governments like the United Kingdom.“Concern for public health and for the general issue of truth in advertising has also led the United Kingdom to consider legislation that would require digitally altered photos to be labelled. Perhaps not surprisingly, advertisers and publishers have resisted any such legislation (Henry).”

 It is essential for people to know what actually is real and come out of their illusion as to what is being shown as a particular type of perfect beauty or appearance. If we look into almost all teen magazine the term hot and sexy is used in pretty much all the covers of such magazine and also emphasizing with the points of makeovers. Such promotion to young girls who are at such a tender age is making them feel insecure about themselves and inducting them in the world to chase a beauty which does not exist.

 The power of the media to portray a certain thing is as powerful as how certain music artist are shown and idolize by their fans. In a study of fifth graders, ten-year-old girls and boys told researchers they were dissatisfied with their own bodies after watching a music video by Britney Spears or a clip from the TV show "Friends" (Mundell, 2002, p. 1)

 Children at such a lower age are bombarded with such things through different forms of media and get heavily influence. The music artist have a certain type of power how people start following them. They want to imitate them as much as possible. The music videos of some artist are shown in such a pornographic way as it depicts to the children that this is the way to explore their sexuality rather having to have their own ways.

 The power of large corporations is immense and by using a tool which is advertisement plays a huge role in our society.Advertising is a key aspect of the mass media and is a multi-billion dollar business. Reports conclude that advertising supports more than sixty percent of magazine and newspaper production and almost one hundred percent of the electronic media (Kilbourne, 1999, p. 34). “Over $40 billion a year in ad revenue is generated for television and radio and over $30 billion for magazines and newspapers” (Kilbourne, 1999, p. 35).

 Advertisements like Axe body wash, magazines or bar like Hooters show the sexuality of women in a very negative way and objectify them as objects. Certain women depict themselves as stuff shown in the adverts which leads to participating in their own exploitation. The television images from the past have changed significantly as now mostly sexuality is shown as we see in the movies as well but by the media its labelled as female empowerment. For instance in recent times “Barbie” has started selling a Lingerie Barbie to is customers which are young girls.(Generation M)

 Advertisements have had huge influenced in the media and at times effecting the society in dramatic terms like an eating disorder. In the fashion industry the models have to be have certain body structure and size. Young girls are being heavily influenced as they try to emulate the top models. This has led to serious consequences not just to the young girls but a model name Ana Corolina Reston who worked for the Ford modelling agency had died in 2006 at the age of 21 from anorexia (Generation M). TV shows like America's Top Model promote such girls as this is what is required to be a model as portrayed by the media. Millions of users watching programs like these are falling into a trap and great danger as it could lead to many negative health problems. Around 75percent of college women consider themselves overweight even though most are within a normal weight range and 45 percent actually underweight(Generation M). Some would argue this wont only be in the case of women but men as well but around 95 percent people with eating disorders are women(Generation M) This shows how the media is such an influencing factor and should be a great cause of concern. A recent increase on about diet food has been all over the place where young people are moving to have non fat yogurt or even die coke making them extremely conscious even if they are normal and fine in terms of their body. Fashion magazines also have cause huge problems as people who are prone to read them are more conscious. For instance A study on the exposure to the mass media and weight concerns among girls between Grades 5 and 12 found the following: “Of the girls surveyed, 69% reported that magazine pictures influence their idea of the perfect body shape, and 47% reported wanting to lose weight because of magazine pictures. Girls who were frequent readers of fashion magazines were two to three times more likely than infrequent readers.” (Stress and Body Image)

 Such an influence of magazine to children lead to eating disorders as they try to emulate who they idolize which in turn could lead to a disaster and death from anorexia. Below are some statistics to mortality rate in relation to anorexia. “ **<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">MORTALITY RATES **
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">A study by the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders reported that 5 – 10% of anorexics die within 10 years after contracting the disease; 18-20% of anorexics will be dead after 20 years and only 30 – 40% ever fully recover
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">The mortality rate associated with anorexia nervosa is 12 times higher than the death rate of ALL causes of death for females 15 – 24 years old.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">20% of people suffering from anorexia will prematurely die from complications related to their eating disorder, including suicide and heart problems.” (Eating Disorder Statistics)

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"> The seriousness of such a disease should be taken into account with seriousness and has to be address with more sincerity as it is taking many lives of individuals who are being affected by the media and how they represent certain ideas.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"> There are double standards as to how women at times are disrespected in the society for instance in Eminem songs abusing and swearing at women and using the word bitch openly without any repercussions. He would not use the word nigga as it is racism. This clearly shows how deep sexism still exist. It tells us how petafile and racism are condemned in society and taken very seriously but what about sexism? Another example would the video games. Rock Star Games “Grand Theft Auto” depicts exposure of brutality of women. They are shown how they are objects and what can be done in the game and also the language used as towards them. There are certainly double standards in misogyny in women. Such songs and games influence people and lead to sexual harassment, assault on women and further leading to rape and murder.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"> As we have seen the issues in the representation of women in society through the media its very important to understand how we can make a difference and solve such issues. A brief communication strategy below will tell us how we can make a change.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">The communication strategy: <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"> Message: The main aim is to make people aware of the negative effects that are being caused in the society as to how the media is representing women. In America alone Domestic violence stands to around 5.3million which results to 1300 dead and in some cases rape which account to 200,000 of cases recorded annually which- 44% of these rape victims are under 18 and 1 out of every 6 women in America will be victim of sexual assault.(The Valley Advocate) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"> Statistics like these and degrading women in the society through songs and games all should be banned and be focused on improving the condition. The message of anorexia being taught at a mass level and having courses in high school and universities backed by the government to educate the community and people all around should be implemented with more effect. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">The target audience will be broad but mostly the youth as they are facing such problems and are future of our society. Also focusing on people who own media corporations and powerful people in power in the government who can amend their ways and make a significant difference. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">The media usage will be diverse and used in many different forms.. For the youth it will be mostly social media outlets as this can spread and have viral marketing all across the world like Face book, Twitter and YouTube. People can share their experiences how they recovered from harassment or diseases on the Face book page and uploading videos. Arranging protest all around the major cities with the backing of the government to get the media attention and to implement a change. As their are ground rules set in the United Nations regarding this issue it should be advertised and known to the people all around the world. “Violence against women is not a women's issue, but on that concerns us all especially men. Indeed, men must work to confront what should be described as men's violence against women. When it comes to violence against women, there are no grounds for tolerance and no tolerable excuses.”(United Nations)

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<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Bibliography

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">"Generation M Preview." //Media Education Foundation//. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Feb. 2012. <www.mediaed.org/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=234&template=PDGCommTemplates/HTN/Item_Preview.html >.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Kee, Eric, and Henry Farid. "A perceptual Metric for photo retouching." //PNAS: Proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the United States of America//. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Feb. 2012. < http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2011/11/21/1110747108.full.pdf >.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Mundell, E. (2002). Sitcoms, videos make even fifth-graders feel fat. //Reuters Health//

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Kilbourne, J. (1999). Can’t buy my love. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">"Stress and Body Image." //Manitoba Government//. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Feb. 2012. <www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/cur/physhlth/frame_found_gr11/rm/module_c_lesson_2.pdf >.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">"Eating Disorder Statistics." //South Carolina Department of mental health//. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Feb. 2012. <www.state.sc.us/dmh/anorexia/statistics.htm >.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"> "BU Questions Hockey Culture After Players Charged with Rape and Sexual Assault." //The Valley Advocate: Free Sport//. Web. 01 Mar. 2012. <http://www.valleyadvocate.com/blogs/home.cfm?uid=97>. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">"‘WHEN IT COMES TO VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN, THERE ARE NO GROUNDS FOR TOLERANCE’, SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL IN MESSAGE FOR INTERNATIONAL DAY." //Welcome to the United Nations: It's Your World//. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2012. <http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/