Thursday, October 23, 2008

Facing the Media



Media-awareness.ca is an informative website which targets teachers, parents, and a young audience in being aware of the media. The website attempts to teach young people to use the tools and resources. The website offers lessons, a membership, a blog, educational games, and news in order to become an interactive way of learning the information the website offers. A section of this website focuses on the representation of women in the media. The articles dealing with women in the media show the reality and the effects the media imposes on young girls and women who are the audience. Media-awareness uncovers the truth behind the representations and the motives of women.



An article in this website titled “Media Coverage of Women and Women’s Issue” discusses the underrepresentation of women in the media and how women are portrayed in stereotypical roles. Some of these stereotypical roles include women being only housewife’s, only sexual items, and submissive towards society especially men. The article suggests that women in news usually cover stories that need compassion and sympathy such as accidents, natural disasters, and domestic violence. Women also tend to receive less air time or input less quotes compared to men in the news and other media coverage. Women in sports are also misrepresented in the media. Their last names are usually used to identify them and their beauty at some points becomes more important than their actual skills. For example Anna Kournikova received more attention for being beautiful than for her games and contributions to tennis. Another important point the article the makes is that women need to be beautiful in order to be better accepted by the audience. The article uses Greta Van Susteren as an example. In order to appear in FOX she had to do a surgical procedure in her face, cut her hair and use make up. This implies that beauty comes before brains.



The website includes other articles such as “Beauty and Body Image in the Media”, “Media and Girls”, “Sex and Relationships in the Media”, and other articles that are relevant and informative. They induce the readers to question the media and what they are exposed to. After reading the articles the audience becomes more critical about themselves, especially women, and what they let themselves believe or judge. This and many other websites are attempting to question the dominant and powerful media that has many hypnotized.

"“Media Coverage of Women and Women’s Issue”." Media Awareness Network. 2008. 23 Oct. 2008 .

Sunday, October 19, 2008

The Needle in The Media



Since the perfect body has been expected and promoted by the media. Than there is no surprise when the media promotes and demonstrates the means in order to receive this ideal body. Some of these means can be workout, healthy eating, dieting, and the most popular right now are cosmetic and plastic surgery shows. These shows not only target teenagers and young women but to all ages and female and male. Ranging from Fox to E! these shows have captivated the larger audience in converting ordinary women into goddesses or in making certain touches in order to become perfect. These shows include Dr. 90210, The Swan, Extreme Makeover, and Nip/Tuck. Reality shows like Keeping up with the Kardashians, The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency and many other shows allocate time for a cosmetic or plastic surgery clip or episode. In these shows cosmetic and plastic surgery is portrayed as an easy and fast way to achieve the beautiful look that society expects. The procedures are seen as an easy task to overcome and that there are no health implications. When the celebrities show the audience their own personal experience with cosmetic or plastic surgery the audience feels closer to the “celebrity look”. Even though this easy remedy to the ugly duckling is becoming more popular especially in the media there are shows that try to break this down. In the movie In a Cinderella Story the evil step-mother is portrayed as having cosmetic surgery in her face and throughout the movie her character demonstrates the implications of such procedures. However even though many poke fun at cosmetic or plastic surgery it is becoming more common in our society. According to The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, 11.7 million cosmetic and nonsurgical procedures were performed in 2007 compared to only 2,099,173 in 1997. This trend continues to grow and the media’s input pushes this trend to a higher level without acknowledging its consequences.



"11.7 Cosmetic Procedures in 2007”. The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. 25 Feb. 2008. 19 Oct. 2008 .