Media and gender
Gender plays a role in mass media and is represented within media platforms. These platforms are not limited to film, radio, television, advertisement, social media, and video games. Initiatives and resources exist to promote gender equality and reinforce women's empowerment in the media industry and representations. For example, UNESCO, in cooperation with the International Federation of Journalists, elaborated the Gender-sensitive Indicators for Media contributing to gender equality and women's empowerment in all forms of media.[1]
History[edit]
Feminist writers, largely gaining prominence in the 1967s during second wave feminism, began examining the relationship between media and the perpetuation of misogyny and sexism,[2] criticizing the Western canon for providing and promoting an exclusively white male world view.[3] Notable feminists include Betty Friedan, Andrea Dworkin, bell hooks, and Stuart Hall.
These feminists typically perceived gender as a social construct, which is not only reflected in artistic work but also perpetuated by it.[4] Until fairly recently, feminists have mainly directed their studies to gender representations in literature. Recently, a new wave of academic studies focused on gender representations in modern society and culture (such as in the film, advertisement, and cultural industries).[5]
Gender disparity in media careers[edit]
Numbers of women in media professions such as journalism are growing: as of 2018 in the United States, 41.7% of the newsroom employees were women;[6] the proportion of women journalists in online-only news organizations even reached 47.8%. However, the media is and has been statistically dominated by men, who hold the vast majority of power positions.[7] Few women have been in leading positions; they made up only 28.3% of the television news directors and 30.5% of the managing editors.[8] Today, many news organizations are striving for gender parity on their employees.[9] A large number of international institutions and nonprofit organizations are advocating for gender equality in the media workplace. For instance, in 2018, UNESCO supported 42 media institutions and 16 universities to implement policies and strategies on gender equality. In addition, coherent with the strategy to empower women and girls through policy implementation, 31 institutions, community radio stations, and national broadcasters adopted policies on gender equality in media.
The Bechdel test, coined by cartoonist Alison Bechdel and originally created to evaluate popular fiction's representation of women and subsequently adapted to employment in the media professions, shows that a number of women are employed but do not benefit from an equal voice. For example, women in radio are typically hired to cover topics such as weather and culture.
In the video game industry, about half of the gamers are women; their presence, though, is still limited in the production of games. Those who tried to publicly challenge this situation, such as A. Sarkeesian, have been subjected to harassment.[10] There is concern in cinema about the low number of female directors and the difficulties of older actresses to find roles.[11][12] Women in film also earn 2.5 times less in annual income when compared to men in the same jobs.[13]
A survey conducted by Stacy Smith of the University of Southern California shows that only 7% of directors, 13% of writers, and 20% of producers in film and television are women.[14] According to The Writers Guild, an estimated 17% of screenplays over the last decade were written by women.[15] However, increasing numbers of women work in the media as journalists or directors. Therefore, they deal with topics tightly related to women's needs and tend to provide a positive role for women.[16] The rise in female labor force participation can be due to a number of factors: Anti-discrimination laws, growing international emphasis on women's rights, greater accessibility to education and job opportunities, a breakdown of conventional gender roles, reduced economic reliance on men, and affordable housing.[17] No longer only consumers of media but also contributors to media, they get more involved in decision-making and agenda of activities. This empowerment of women gives them abilities to promote balance in gender representations and avoid stereotypes. Media becomes a suitable ground for expressions and claims.[18] For instance, the project "Enhancing a gender responsive film sector in the Maghreb-Mashreq region"—funded by the European Union under the Med Film Program—has demonstrated that women empowerment in their career enhances the image of women in the audiovisual landscape.[19]
Social Media and Mental Health[edit]
In today's society, mental health issues have become directly intertwined with the use of social media. As technology continues to advance, the more access we have to different social media platforms. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and X (formerly Twitter) are all forms of social media that allow for the user to share their lives and opinions while connecting with other users. While there are many studies that show advantages and disadvantages to social media, the statistics that link mental health issues to social media are vast.[101]
According to "GWI 2021; We Are Social 2021", In 2021, 4.3 billion people—more than half of the world population—had a social media account, and the average user spent around two and a half hours per day on social media platforms. [102] The rise in mental health issues is heavily linked to the increase in social media usage since the early/mid-2000s. The World Health Organization reports that in 2019, 970 million people globally were living with a mental disorder, with anxiety and depression the most common.[103]
There are many factors of social media that negatively contribute to a person's mental health and well-being. Users often compare their appearances, and lives to others on social media. This leads to feelings of jealousy, envy, and low self-esteem. Many users also experience cyberbullying. Social media gives users the opportunity to "hide" behind their screens, making it easier to harass and bully. Another common issue that has been studied is the amount of time consumed on technology, especially social media. [104] Regarding US statistics, California State University reports an estimated 10% or 33.19 million Americans are addicted to social media. This addiction can impact productivity, relationships and sleep, which ultimately impacts the person's mental health.
Studies have also revealed a notable gender disparity in the impacts of social media on mental well-being. Females tend to experience these mental health issues more than males. [105] The majority of social media influencers in today's society are females and the majority of their following are young girls. The pressure that is put on both the influencers and the followers to fit a certain standard and persona results in feelings of anxiety and low self-esteem. Studies have shown that women are more likely to engage in social comparisons on social media, leading to feelings of inadequacy when measuring themselves against unattainable beauty standards perpetuated by images posted online. This can result in issues with body image and potentially eating disorders. Cyber bullying and harassment related to a woman's body is often seen on social media influencer posts.
The relationship between social media and mental health is a complex topic that continues to be studied.
Responses and movements for change[edit]
Feminist response[edit]
In the 1970s, TV critics, academics, and women started to point out the way TV shows portrayed female characters.[44] TV Guide magazine called out the industry for "refusing to rise above characterizations of women as pretty, skinny, dopey, hapless housewives or housewife wannabes", and a poll conducted by Redbook magazine in 1972 showed that "75 per cent of 120,000 women agreed that 'the media degrades women by portraying them as mindless dolls'".[44] In that sense, The Mary Tyler Moore Show was a television breakthrough because it introduced the first female character whose central relationships were not her husband or boyfriend or her family, but her friends and coworkers. The main character was a sort of stand-in for the "new American female" who put her job before romance and preferred to be alone than with the wrong men, but still had to do stereotypically female office work (like typing and getting coffee) and didn't speak up to her boss and other male coworkers.[44]
Germaine Greer, Australian-born author of The Female Eunuch[126] (1970), offered a systematic deconstruction of ideas such as womanhood and femininity, arguing that women are forced to assume submissive roles in society to fulfill male fantasies of what being a woman entails. Greer wrote that women were perceived as mere consumers benefiting from the purchasing power of their husband. Women become targets for marketing, she said, and their image is used in advertising to sell products. American socialist writer and feminist, Sharon Smith wrote on the first issue of Women and Film that women's roles in film "almost always [revolve] around her physical attraction and the mating games she plays with the male characters" in contrast to men's roles, which according to the author are more varied.[127] In 1973 Marjorie Rosen, an important contributor to feminist film theory, argued that "the Cinema Woman is a Popcorn Venus, a delectable but insubstantial hybrid of cultural distortions".[128] In 1978 Gaye Tuchman wrote of the concept of symbolic annihilation,[129] blaming the media for imposing a negative vision of active women and making an apologia for housewives.
From media representations, feminists paved the way for debates and discussions about gender within the social and political spheres. In 1986, the British MP Clare Short proposed a bill to ban newspapers from printing Page 3 photographs of topless models.[130][131]