How Are Women Portrayed in the Media free essay sample

How are women portrayed in the New Zealand media? -Consider Bonds advert -Jane Jetson info, Source 19 -NZ Stats/ examples †What is generic is replaceable. With youth and beauty, then the working woman is visible, but insecure, made to feel her qualities are not unique. But, without them, she is invisible-she falls literally ‘out of the picture’†-Beauty Myth Not only women but all people are constantly pigeonholed into categories within the media, people are categorized and prejudiced against (16). The idea of categorizing people has been conditioned into the public mind so that ideas such as ‘all blondes are ditzy’ or ‘all red heads are not only angry but a whole different species’ exist. Divisions are everywhere and it is this same division that is a technique used by corporations to sell their products through the media. Every individual western female has been categorized into a select few genres within modern media, there is the ‘Superwoman†¦mother, wife and career driven’ (8), ‘the femme fatale†¦sex kitten, [and] the nasty corporate climber’ (6). We will write a custom essay sample on How Are Women Portrayed in the Media? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page All of these things dictate how a woman behaves or more how a woman is supposed to behave according to the media’s standard. The media places emphasis on age and beauty, â€Å"ads portraying women†¦only [show] body parts† (7) this puts across the idea that women are meat or objects to be looked at not individual people. Women are portrayed in sexualized ways for male attention they are mere objects (7). Females in television are supposed to be young and pretty to be aloud on screen, when compared with males the standard is different. Older male presenters are praised for their maturity however this is not the case with older women. Females in television are expected to be either young or still look as if they are young; age, which is a part of life, is portrayed as a demon. The media portrays that youth is the only form of beauty (18). This is something imprinted on females from a young age, while a boy receives the standard ‘G. I Joe’ or ‘Action Man’ a girl is given the tall blonde idealised ‘Barbie’ as a role model. She is ‘perfect’ in every way but in no way caters to the different female forms let alone races or personalities and has a body figure that is proved impossible to achieve (19). The New Zealand media like many western countries in the world, has adopted the idea that to be an intelligent woman, females have to be masculine or unattractive, and the opposite of this that beautiful woman are unintelligent and only get their jobs because of their looks (18). A program such as New Zealand screened ‘Ugly Betty’ is a direct evidence of this ideal, Betty is the heroine however she is persistently demeaned about her appearance, she receives merit for her work but is not fully appreciated because of her appearance. The program chooses not to use a less fortunate looking person but takes an attractive woman, gives her glasses and braces and deems her ugly, this follows the media’s conception that only standard beautiful women are allowed on screen. A real life portrayal of this is ex New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clarke. Clarke was praised for her work as Prime Minister and was well known for her mismatched appearance, when the time came for the 2008 elections she was then overtly air brushed in campaign images that were placed throughout the country, this national role model was pushed by the media’s standard for the ideal instead of reality (18). This idea is apparent in New Zealand adverts such as those made by ‘Burger King’ and ‘Primo chocolate milk’. These two adverts show bikini clad women. The Burger King advert has three women bouncing on the back of a single horse together while the Primo advert has another three women riding moon hoppers which they proceed to fall off, the ad then states that they could ‘get more bounce’ if only they drank the forenamed drink. This is the unnecessary sexualisation of women and these two adverts are only used to highlight the women’s breasts, this is in no way for women’s pleasure but simply for men’s (7).