1. Communicating Gender Diversity: A Critical approach
2. Chapter 11: MEDIA Paige Rentel 7/23/13
3. Media: Modern forms of media include: Prints, paintings,
television, movies, radio, newspapers, comics, novels, magazines,
internet, CDs, and podcasts Media is discussed in the plural
4. All media communicates understandings of gender gender
inuences all forms of mediated communication Media can contain
contrasting views Culture industries- pop cultures mirrors
industrial factory process creating goods for standardized
consumption (p.236)
5. Mitchell Stephens- Rise of the image, fall of the word
Examines recent shift from words to visuals Prime example:
Television By the late 1880s 98% of U.S homes has at least one TV
Video revolution: is third major communications revolution (rst
two: writing and print) Westerfelhaus & Brookey note that our
society is being shaped by powerful familiarizing inuences on TV,
movies, magazines, and music videos Media scholars argue that just
as religion and science once outlined behavior, mass entertainment
has taken the position and now shows people how to behave and
act
6. Media Economics: there are economics to production and
programing economical process and institutional patterns govern
media messages Commercial TV is an economic medium (Budd et al.,
1990, P. 172) Television programmings ideological role is not
incidental to its status as a commodity but, rather, is thoroughly
implicated in it (Dow, 1996, p. xix) Class matters- popular shows
depict rich families and modern couture Media as a Social
Institution
7. Media & Power US is a consumer culture, so understnading
media is one way to understand how power (element of media as
institution) manifests itself (p.238) Media experts power over how
people do gender Media forms infuence social norms concerning
gender,race, nationality, class and more They provide visuals and
examples for what is feminine and what is masculine Media power
over gender: Ex: female beauty beauty norms change over time
-driving force of cahnge is media representation of beauty one must
remain aware, develop consciousness, and be able to criticize what
messages they are watching
8. Media & Hegemony Media, as an institution of civil
society, shape the cognitive structures through which people
perceive and evaluate social reality (Dow, 1996) Media hegemony is
not all-powerful. It needs to be maintained, repeated, reinforced
and modied in order to respond to, and overcome, forms that oppose
it. Thus, hegemony, rather than assuming an all powerful, closed
text, presumes the possibility of resistance and opposition (Dow,
1996, p.14). Media abides by tradition gender/sex norms and
expectations with few exceptions Most shows follow an unwritten
rule of standards of attractiveness rule is usually only broken to
signify a bad character Media gives people the impression they have
control over what they view and how they view it (what their
options are of what they are watching) in actuality, they are more
or less being controlled John Fiske (1987) argues the other end of
the spectrum which is that each individual creates their own
meaning rather than by media providers Best explanation: power lies
between both extremes because although media messages are
persuasive, people can resists these messages Peoples level of
thoughtfulness and creativity is inuenced by their educatio, one
should: examine how powerful or effective oppositional responses
are compared to the power of hegemonic messages, try to discern
what role media play in facilitating oppositional readings explore
what we as textbooks authors, and you as students, can do to
facilitate critical abilities.
9. Media Polyvalence & Oppositional Readings Media texts
cannot be all things to all people because some things are open for
interpretation Celeste Condit (1989) argues that instead of
polysemy (multitude of meanings) researchers should use polyvalence
(or multitude of valuations): Polyvalence occurs when audience
members share understandings of the denotations of a text but
disagree about the valuation of these denotations to such a degree
that they produce notably different interpretations (p. 106).
Mediated messages do not occur in vacuum but in a particular place,
at a particular time, to particular audiences (P.241) Rhetorical
approach reminds us that audiences are not free to make meanings at
will from mass mediated texts because the ability of audiences to
shape their own readings . . . is constrained by a variety of
factors in any given rhetorical situation including access to
oppositional codes . . . the repertoire of available texts and the
historical context (Condit, 1989, pp. 103-104) Audiences must
develop a gendered lens if they are to create oppositional readings
Even though people are able to view media in different ways, they
tend to produce similar thoughts about identity and gender
identity
10. Interlocking Institutions Media is not only an institution
but it effects the way other institutions are represented and
constructed Television participates in interpreting social change
and managing cultural beliefs (Dow, 1996, p. xv) EX: Media shapes
and informs peoples understanding of family, family values, and
family behavior Media interacts with gender as they provide
mechanisms through which representations of work, family,
education, and religion are communicated (P.241) representation is
not necessarily straightforward because media messages are diverse,
diffuse, and contradictory (P.241)
11. Media messages create an unrealistic view of beauty and
attractiveness
12. One of the worlds most successful models, Andrej Pejic, is
a man. However, despite his success and wealth not many people have
heard of him. He doesnt get anywhere near the media attention that
less successful female models get
13. Its not about sex difference Men are also being targeted
and pushed to achieve unachievable perfection Media doesnt solely
affect the perception that females should strive to reach an
idealistic beauty.....
14. Differences Among Women Differences in reception to media
messages exist across races and within sexes, even though images my
be understood as unattainable (making them less powerful) they
still have an inuence on the way people perceive each other
Photoshopped images give women an unattainable example of a
beautiful body Women held to beauty standards, but the standard is
different among women Sexualizing women's body is a common ad
theme
15. Similarities between men and women Both men and women have
issues with their body Women tend to overestimate the degree of
thinness found attractive to men because magazines target thinness
towards women Men tend to overestimate the degree of muscularity
attractive to women the ideal male body marketed to men is more
muscular than the ideal male body marketed to women (Frederick,
Fessler, & Haselton, 2005, p. 81). Five characteristics of a
U.S. hegemonic masculinity (a masculinity we would argue is
actually a U.S. White hegemonic masculinity) 1) it denes power in
terms of physical force and control, 2) it is dened through
occupational achievement, 3) it is represented in terms of familial
patriarchy where the man is the breadwinner, 4) it is symbolized
with the frontiersman and outdoorsman, and 5) it is heterosexually
dened.
16. Media Construct (& constrain) Gender Media content
& media Effects: Bulk of research of media has focused on
centent of media media content analysis attempts to quantify what
is in mediated products (P.243) some examples of content analysis
count ratio of men to women on tv, violent shows, and more
17. Men, Women, and Violence in the Media women and minorities
(especially women of color) are underrepresented in U.S media Women
are shown as sex objects An increasing concern is being placed on
childrens television as an average of 7.86 violence incidents occur
per hour (there are 4.71 instances per hour found in adult-
targeted prime time programming) Health communication researcher
Alexandra Hendriks (2002) has called for a broadening of media
effects research to study the effects of media on body image. Media
effects and content studies share similarities: They believe that
media is best understood through a study of its representations,
and hence tend to ignore (to varying degrees) the process of
production and the role of the audience. They tend to treat the
audience as passive and universal. They believe that one can
distinguish between good and bad representations.
18. Media do influence peoples beliefs and behaviors. Media
representations of violence are one of the ways in which gendered
violence is normalized in U.S. culture; media images of hegemonic
masculinity present violence as the answer to problems, if someone
kills a mans family, his solution is to kill them even more
violently (P.245)
19. Media Depictions of Rape Rape representations not only
provide insight into how women are gendered and raced as deserving
or undeserving victims, but also into how men are gendered and
raced as perpetrators or savior When deciding whether to reproduce
vivid narratives of rape, one should consider how those whose
stories are told would want their stories told. Particularly when
discussing sexual violence occurring abroad, we need to be mindful
of how rhetorical acts of witnessing may function as new forms of
international tourism and appropriation and not world traveling
(Hesford, 2004, p. 121).
20. Media as Always Liberatory and Constraining Studies were
done on women that read romance novels: ndings: many women read
romance novels to liberate themselves and seek a sensitive partner
but all they read was a women being saved by a male (Mitchell,
1996, P.54) Madonna provides a classic example. Madonna is best
understood as a site of contradiction where her gender play
simultaneously challenges and reinforces gender roles (Hallstein,
1996, p. 123). examples in this section were mainly masculine to
remind readers that its not just about females and femininity but
males and masculinity as well
21. Gender is constructed and thus always a flux Todays
magazines for men are all about the social construction of
masculinity (Gauntlett, 2002, p. 170) Cosmo was playing Playboy at
its own game, seeing sexual pleasure as important, and suggesting
that women were entitled to it. Cosmos assertion of womens rights
to enjoy sex, and to talk about it, was quite radical, and this new
discourse brought other changes men, for example, were no longer
treated with reverence, but could be seen as inadequate, or the
butt of jokes (Gauntlett, 2002, p. 53)
22. Conclusions: Hollywood is condemned for failing to live up
to traditional family values, most dominant media images reinforce
the gender binary of heteronormatitvity Danger lies within people
watching movies uncritically Although creative uses of media are
important, an institutional approach to media also makes clear they
may be insufcient. 1st: media are ephemeral, making them a fragile
basis for lasting social change (Dow, 2001, p. 137) 2nd: changes in
representation do not necessarily translate into changes in policy
(Budd, et al., 1990)