Quotations and Research

Media, Gender & Identity
by David Gauntlett

This extract is from the first edition (2002). There is now a fully revised second edition (2008)

www.theory.org.uk

"Within limits, the mass media is a force for change. The traditional view of a woman as a housewife or low status worker has been kick boxed out of the picture by the frosty, successful 'girl power' icons"

"Meanwhile the masculine ideals of absolute toughness, stubborn self reliance and emotional silence have been shaken by a new emphasis on mens emotions, need for advice and the problems of masculinity." 

These quotes highlight how the way media is perceived and studied now compared to when media first began in terms of behaviour towards gender has changed significantly. Almost reversed, with a modern society comes a modern perceptive of what is the norm for men and women to act and how to feel. This can provide the basis for a wide range of new character and personality types in the media, as it is now the norm to add extra depth to a man or a woman in terms of what they can achieve or how they feel.

"Modern media has little time or respect for tradition. The whole idea of traditions comes to seem quite strange. Why would we want to do the same as previous generations?"

"...modern media is encouraging the overthrow of traditions which kept the people within the limiting compartments." 

Again expressing how the media has moved on with time, and anyone who expects women or men to stay in the stereotyped boxes they were put in years ago within the media would most likely not be subject to a good reaction.

"Surveys have found that people born in the first half of the century are less tolerant of homosexuality, and less sympathetic to unmarried couples living together, than their younger counterparts"

This explains the need to have a target audience for a media piece.

"…older people are unlikely to be consumers of magazines like Cosmopolitan, More or FHM, and are not a key audience for todays pop music sensations"

This also suggests that what is deemed as mainstream and popular at any time in the media is most likely to be something targeted at the younger generations - this is because the media is constantly evolving and keeping up with whats fresh and new, as younger people do. Those still in the older generation mindset as mentioned above are unlikely to be tolerant of the views that have changed so much today.

Another strong use of gender identification in media is to provide younger audiences with role models. Males may look up to successful good looking men in magazines or heroes in film - females may look up to the typical housewife in food magazines or the in fact the heroins in films. Even though the way women and men are viewed in the world has changed it doesn't mean that gender stereotypes don't still exist.

"role models serve as navigation points as individuals steer their own personal routes through life."

The effects of modernised society and culture in terms of attitudes towards gender could be argued to have mostly a positive effect on women, however has seemed to spark a new self consciousness among men and where they fit in. This can also be called the 'Masculinity Crisis' in which some men feel they need more guidance as to where they belong in todays society.

"Masculinity is often said to be 'in crisis'; as women become increasingly assertive and successful, apparently triumphing in all roles, men are said to be anxious and confused about what their role is today. In the analysis of mens magazines (chapter eight) we found a lot of signs that the magazines were about men finding a place for themselves in the modern world" 

Some people may even argue that the roles of men and women have not just developed but have in fact reversed, women in the early 20th century were gender socialised into making sure that their husband was cared for physically emotionally and mentally however with mens new found emotional vulnerability and women's empowered need for independence it can be argued the roles are swapped.

"a lot of publications were perpetually concerned with how to treat women, have a good relationship, and live an enjoyable life. Rather than being a return to essentialism - i.e the idea of a traditional 'real' man, as biology and destiny intended - i (David Gauntlett) argued that mens magazines have an almost obsessive relationship with the socially constructed nature of manhood"

Looking more into the development of the 'girl power' or women's expressive freedom i notice it begins at a young age (prepubescent) in magazines such as Teen Vogue and media such as Disney (shows for older viewers) and typical pop culture music, girls are taught sometimes even subliminally to be independent and love who you are individually.

MediaKnowAll, Gender and Media Representation

http://www.mediaknowall.com/as_alevel/alevkeyconcepts/alevelkeycon.php?pageID=gender

"Representations of women across all media tend to highlight the following:
- beauty (within narrow conventions)
- size/physique (again, within narrow conventions)
- sexuality (as expressed by the above)
- emotional (as opposed to intellectual) dealings
- relationships (as opposed to independence/freedom)"

This shows us that the media can almost be dangerous in terms of reinforcing these stereotypes of what a woman should look/be like in order to achieve this false sense of 'perfection'

"Women are often represented as being part of a context (family, friends, colleagues) and working/thinking as part of a team. In drama, they tend to take the role of helper or object, passive rather than active."

This quote supports a similar quote from David Gauntlett addressing the idea that women are seen as secondary to men, there simply to help and provide for males. However this quote suggests that this discrimination still exists in todays society which is very likely to be true.

"Discussions of women's representation in the media tend to revolve around the focus on physical beauty to the near-exclusion of other values, the lack of powerful female role models, and the extremely artificial nature of such portrayals, which bear little or no relation to the reality experience by women across the planet."Again this article is suggesting that the way women are portrayed today is still the same as it was forty years ago, this article doesn't seem to recognise the 'girl power' movement that David Gauntlett argues has come about - however, i think there is sufficient evidence that women are still oppressed to this role in todays society.

"Male characters are often represented as isolated, as not needing to rely on others (the lone hero). If they capitulate to being part of a family, it is often part of the resolution of a narrative, rather than an integral factor in the initial equilibrium."

This quote highlights the idea that men are almost emotionally desensitised from having emotional feeling or dependance on others especially females.

"Gender is perhaps the basic category we use for sorting human beings, and it is a key issue when discussing representation. Essential elements of our own identity, and the identities we assume other people to have, come from concepts of gender - what does it mean to be a boy or a girl? Many objects, not just humans, are represented by the media as being particularly masculine or feminine - particularly in advertising - and we grow up with an awareness of what constitutes 'appropriate' characteristics"

We are socialised into gender stereotypes from birth, even the iconic use of the colour blue for a baby boy and the colour pink for a baby girl form a stereotype that pink is for girls and blue is for boys that will carry on throughout the child's life.

"The issue is, that although these different role models may at first glance appear to be very varied, do they actually represent enough of a range of men/women? Are we simply given variations on a stereotype that become sub-stereotypes in themselves?"

Representing Gender, Chapter 5 

"one might simplify this by saying: men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. This determines not only most relations between men and women but also the relation of women to themselves" 

"Of course, using the millennium as a dividing point is over-simplistic. However within the first decade of the twenty-first century, the numbers of female action heroes increased significantly"

With developing social norms comes a developed media. Although in some cases female action heroes are still not depicted as strong and independent as men action heroes, the fact that a female is the saviour of the day at all is a massive step from the old stereotypes of the woman being the 'damsel in distress' 

"The difficulty any non-mainstream text has, when adapted by Hollywood, is the changes deemed necessary to give the text a mass appeal."

What we will often find in terms of audiences is they respond the best to the stereotypical gender socialised ideologies of what a male and female does in life. Although men and women may like to deny it, the idea of a woman being the damsel in distress and the man saving her has for years been an appealing narrative storyline to both genders.

"The extent to which you feel that the post-feminist era is one that is characterised by actual equality between the genders, or is an equality defined by patriarchy, is obviously dependant on your reading of the world."

For example some feminists may feel that women have already achieved enough equality and can now be recognised as single and independent in the media. However many feminists still believe that the oppression towards women still exists but is more subliminal than it was before. It all depends on what the audiences opinion on feminism is and what they would find to be discriminative or not.