Women in Media

Stereotypes still exist when media is marketed to the entire world. Women are still misrepresented in popular culture. If we look at popular media from all over the world, most of the times we will see unrealistic portrayals of the female sexuality. The world of media has actually continued to stereotype women. It’s like the only way they sell the product they have to offer. Close up images of scantily clothed women is what we see in most of our popular culture media items. The cameras seem to have a knack for focusing on women’s breasts and rear ends.

Women are most likely included in performances by men as sex objects and are solely for the purpose of 'eye candy'. We see women in such scenarios much more often than we would see men. We see women dancing in the background and we have to notice that they are almost always in minimal clothing. We also see male-artists with more than one woman by his side throughout these performances. The female presence in these performances is to make the performance more appealing to a large audience, which almost entirely consists of males. It is rare to find media which portrays women more decently than they are in popular culture. We see many women artist in popular culture but the only artists that gain popularity are those who come out with brilliant music videos. These music videos often involve feature the artist in outfits that are supposed to be ‘sexy’ and revealing. Well, ‘sexy’ is the tag that most of these artists end up gaining. Christian Aguilera’s song ‘Dirrty’ has lyrics such as “Sweating till my clothes come off” and “dancing, getting just a little naughty” and more with many scenes of her surrounded by men. She dances away as the men touch her in the music video. This is definitely not the right message that should be sent to teenagers. It definitely creates wrong images in their heads, where they assume that being open about this kind of culture is the best way to spend their valuable years.

Video games such as ‘Grand Theft Auto: Vice City’ and ‘Duke Nukem’ show highly sexualized images of women. The women have unrealistically large breasts. The main character of the game gets to do whatever he wants. He can order them to strip and then kill them. He can pick up prostitutes from the most random places. These games attracted a lot of men. The games have scenes of women in tight and minimal clothing who offer sex in exchange for money and they also fulfill the fantasies of the main character that supposedly possesses a lot of power. Women in many games of these kinds are often represented as subordinate, weak and dependent on men. Men on the other had are either protectors or victimizers of women. Many aspects of games like these simply portray women as sex objects. Games like these create wrong impressions in the minds of those who play them. Most of the gaming audience consists of teenagers and those in their twenties.

Popular culture has women used for the purpose of advertisement. They feature in videos and pictures and other media to attract people towards a particular product. The advertisements make them look like they are just dolls. They are put there for a purpose and are supposed to deliver. The picture shows how lifeless they seem to be. The exoticism of women is another downfall of popular culture. We see women in so many advertisements where they are actually not needed. The entire point of having them there is to sell a product by means of objectifying them. The advertisement for ‘Skyy Vodka’ clearly shows how women are perceived more as sex objects. The ‘Nordic Ice’ is another cocktail mixture which uses the Nordic women (women from Northern Europe) to market their product. Both these advertisements clearly present exotic images of women, no matter where they are from.

We see how women are victims of exoticism in media. They are depicted as something they are not. Many of the women in this kind of media are made to look better on the pictures and videos so that the music, video games and products can sell. Women are almost always depicted negatively in popular culture media. Men are never put in this kind of scenario. The posture of the bodies, focus of the camera and positioning of the figures is always adjusted so that men are presented to be superior. This is definitely not the message that should be sent out to the youth of today.

Rockwilder, Christina Aguilera, Balewa Muhammed, Redman, and Jasper Cameron. "Dirrty." Rec. 16 Sept. 2002. Single. Rockwilder, Christina Aguilera, 2002. YouTube. 16 Sept. 2002. Web. 12 Oct. 2011. .

Duke Nukem Forever: Official Babes Trailer. YouTube. 8 Apr. 2011. Web. 13 Oct. 2011.

Photograph. Gender Ads.com. Dr. Scott A. Lukas. Web. 14 Oct. 2011.
< http://www.ltcconline.net/lukas/gender/exotics/general/pics/exoticsgen3.jpg >.

Photograph. Gender Ads.com. Dr. Scott A. Lukas. Web. 14 Oct. 2011.
< http://www.ltcconline.net/lukas/gender/menincontrol/pics/mencontrol6.jpg>.

Photograph. Gender Ads.com. Dr. Scott A. Lukas. Web. 14 Oct. 2011.
< http://www.ltcconline.net/lukas/gender/dolls/pics/dolls2.jpg>.