Recommendation for other blogs

I would like to leave some more recommendations for other blogs which are also related to media issues. Have a look and fun J

http://love-in-media.blogspot.com/

This blog was created by Lucie Bergerova and I really enjoyed reading her blog. I generally like her view on this issue because it is similar to my opinion. Her blog is full of interesting information, posting related to the love and romance in mass media, facts and description about how media influence our point of view on love and romance.

http://www.sseongmedia.blogspot.com/

This blog was done by Seonghee and I found it is very interesting and useful because most of us are using social networks. In spite of the fact that I am not a “technology person” after reading her postings I have learned many useful things and information about protection and privacy of social networking. 

http://juliechildrenmedia.wordpress.com/

Next blog was written by Julie Mahlerova, I recommend to all of you to visit her blog because it is interesting and full of useful information and fact about Digital technology and children. The fact is that our younger generation is becoming more and more addicted to those technological advances which is really sad and for them very harmful. Most of us want to have at least one child in the future and it good to know how to protect them.

http://mediaandtravel.wordpress.com/

Fourth blog which I recommend to all of you to visit was created by Kristyna Matejova. I like traveling and tourism so I found her blog very informative and interesting. You could find there a lot of facts about how is tourism presented in media and main purpose is for making money. You could find there the fact that most of tourist destinations which are presented in nice way and after arriving tourists could be very disappointed. It could happen to every one of us and we should be careful because we are paying for our holiday with the aim to enjoy it.

http://play-it-hard.blogspot.com/¨

Last blog which I was interested in was created by Lilly. I found it is informative because I do not have many experiences with playing violent games and frankly, I am not a game fan then much information which are presented in this blog surprised me a lot.

Her blog contains much interesting information base on facts and it contains not only negative impact of playing violent games but also positive aspects as well. If you want to know them; let’s check her blog. 

Introduction

Media stereotypes are surrounded everywhere nowadays, people could see them in all kinds of media particularly in advertising, news and entertainment industries which has wide spread among an audience. In society today stereotypes are shown especially on women. Girls and women are forced to look well, have nice bodies, neat hair, nails and having some kind of sex appeal. Stereotypes perform is similar to a system of representing that serve audiences fast understanding about human itself which is connected with race, gender, social role or sexual orientation and etc.

As media obtains a higher ability to control people or influence the way people act and think and form the world’s perception itself, a single person contends resolutely with finding his/her true and unique identity and self-understanding even more difficult. I chose this topic because creating the idea about the self, racial, gender and social level based on stereotyping is problematic issue which seems to be broadly eternalized but not broadly questioned.     

Academic essay

Men and women are not as different as people; despite of this fact there are still common personalities and characters which are connected with each gender itself. People tend to agree to take the stereotypes and roles which are connected with each gender because they help to recognize differences between each group and also they makes human to feel satisfy.

On the other hand, these believes about gender roles are so established in human mind that they are so difficult to change and people do not questioned them (media-awareness). In addition, most people do not consciously notice them but they are still part of our belief system because people are surrounded and attacked by messages about what it means to be men and women today (media-awareness). 

In society today stereotypes are shown especially on women. Females are bombarded with various commercials especially focus on women such as pills for losing weight and etc. The force to be thin, sexy and attractive enough is stronger each day because of these types of ads (inforefuge). Therefore, health clubs and fitness centers are crowded by those women who also setting diets to combine with fitness exercises according to the media’s standards. In all kinds of media, women and girls are more likely to be presented at home, doing domestic works such as cooking and cleaning. Furthermore, they are likely to be shown as sexual objects for men’s pleasure and as weak creatures who are victims of sexual harassment, murder and beating (etfo).

It is need to be confessed that it is difficult to avoid the situation of not being influenced by these messages because television commercials and ads in magazines are full of half-naked female body to sell for example perfumes, cosmetic products or underwear (brennacoleman.suite101). Female negative stereotypes in media lead to consider women as less valuable and drive them to the sexual object and passive human beings. According to research done by Children Now, 38% of female characters are wearing clothing which slightly disclose some part of their bodies and 23% are exposing cleavage (brennacoleman.suite101). Furthermore, Disney movies such as Beauty and The Beast or Aladdin show unrealistic life scenes where women are depend on men because of power and survival. Media stereotyping makes society’s girls to be less confident and have lower self-esteem (brennacoleman.suite101).

Generally, young children cannot understand the difference between fantasy and reality, to know the irony meaning, recognize persuasive intent and ignore stereotypes in the media. Due to media messages the potential growth of a child could be slowed down (etfo). Moreover, media are not the transparent technologies, in media events and issues such as television, movies, video games and other is represented reality. Creators of those messages have the opportunity to emphasize and show them and also they possess the importance and value of a these information and ideas which are often in connection with commercial view (etfo). According to research more television children watch, more likely they keep sexist beliefs and ideas about male and female roles which have been established and stereotyped for a long time. Research also shows that media, especially advertising has a great impact on gender stereotypes in our culture and children are one of many targets.

In advertising, for example girls are shown as creatures that are preoccupied by the way how they look, concerned with being popular and are less aggressive and competitive than boys. They are portrayed playing with dolls and being interested in jewellery and make up. Boys are involved to sport games, war games and technology; they are seeking for power, speed and physical action. Moreover, children are harmed by these media messages about gender because these ideas and mental pictures shape little girls’ and boys’ belief about who they should be and what they can reach in the future (etfo). On the other hand, there is also the positive side of media stereotypes which are found in television, movies and advertisements. Advertising provide many useful information about products which we use, therefore, they are part of our culture and they could not suddenly disappear. If advertising and the media reflect the changes which encourage averting stereotypical gender portrayals it could be a great tool to break stereotyping and discriminating among cultures. Next good news is that parents and teachers could still have the bigger impact on child’s development than the media. Real life modeling, solving conflict and activities which show social values have bigger influence (etfo).

In conclusion, media stereotypes have a great impact to our culture especially to younger generation. Young children cannot understand the difference between fantasy and reality, know the irony meaning, recognize persuasive intent and ignore stereotypes in the media. Stereotyped gender roles are portrayed in all kind of media such as movies, television or magazines and etc. The great pressure drives especially girls and women to be more occupied by their appearance to attract men. This cause that females become sexual objects for men’s pleasure; which lead to be objects of sexual harassment as well. To reduce the influence of negative female stereotypes in media will help not only girls but whole society, then it is important to show children positive role models and let young girls know how gorgeous they are and they always will be (brennacoleman.suite101).   


Sources: 
"Exposing Gender Stereotypes | Lesson." Exposing Gender Stereotypes | Lesson. Web. 06 May 2012.

<http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/educational/lessons/secondary/gender_portrayal/exposing_gender.cfm>.

"Gender Roles and the Media." â€“ InfoRefuge.com. Web. 06 May 2012.

<http://www.inforefuge.com/gender-roles-media>.

Coleman, Brenna. "Media Portrayal of Women." Suite101.com. 15 Jan. 2010. Web. 06 May 2012.

<http://brennacoleman.suite101.com/media-portrayal-of-women-a189870>.

Brasted, Monica. "Care Bears vs. Transformers: Gender Stereotypes in Advertisements | The Socjournal." The Socjournal. 17 Feb. 2010. Web. 06 May 2012.

<http://www.sociology.org/media-studies/care-bears-vs-transformers-gender-stereotypes-in-advertisements>.

Graydon, Shari. "Gender Issues In The Media."

<Http://www.etfo.ca/Resources/ForTeachers/Documents/Gender%20Issues%20in%20The%20Media.aspx. Web. 6 May 2012.>

Luff, Lane. "Gender Roles and Media Influence." Suite101.com. 24 Sept. 2009. Web. 06 May 2012.

<http://lane-luft.suite101.com/gender-in-perspective-a152346>.

Three recommended web pages

These three web pages are related to my topic which is about Media stereotyping-girls and women. Each of them discusses different area where females are stereotyped and it also provides various examples. First web page presents “Gender Stereotypes Impact Women in workplace.” In this article you have the opportunity to read about how women stereotyping among workplace slowly decrease and also how media portrait women. This article also presents data about average women’s salary in comparison with men’s and it also discuss that the stereotyping of women as sexual object can lead to sexual harassment. This article I found interesting because it shows us facts based on data and research and it is written in the short form that everybody could easily and quickly understand what the author want to say.

Let’s read this web page: http://www.careerthoughtleaders.com/blog/gender-stereotypes-impact-women-in-the-workplace/

Second article “The ten worst Stereotypes about powerful women” is also interesting article made by Forbes magazine. It discusses ten stereotyped characters of powerful women. This article also presents some names of really successful women. I recommend reading this article because I found it is funny and you also have the opportunity to see pictures and videos of the most successful women in the world assembled by Forbes magazine.

Let’s read this web page: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2011/10/24/worst-stereotypes-powerful-women-christine-lagarde-hillary-clinton/

Third article discuss “Business women and female stereotypes.” I like this article and recommend all girls and women to read it because it clearly communicates numbers of female stereotypes which we women have to deal with. It also provides some tips which help women to overcome many of female stereotypes in business. After reading this article I fell encouraged and more confident and hope you too.

Let’s read this web page: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/letstalkwithdrwendy/blog/2008/02/09/being-a-successful-business-woman-in-a-world-filled-with-female-stereotypes

Educational Article- Sex and relationship in media

 “Sex and relationship in media” article posted on “media-awareness.ca” website presents the pressure which is move toward women through ads, television, movies and etc. New media shows that women need to be sexually attractive and sexually active as well. According to the article, The National Eating Disorders Association gives the information that one out of four commercials in TV presents “attractive message” to tell audience what is attractive and what is not. There is common that people could see women who are little bit clothed or their naked bodies in advertising. In addition, women’s bodies are sexualized to gain audience’s attention.

Therefore, women start to be sexual object and their provocative bodies and sexuality are connected with those products which are advertised. According to research in this article, Laurie Abraham, executive editor of Elle magazine, warns that the huge trouble with magazines for women is that “how much we lie about sex.” Those “lies” present the idea that female sexuality is for men’s pleasure. Furthermore, both women’s and men’s magazines consist of the vision that “women primary concern themselves with attracting and sexually satisfying men.”

According to this article, a lot of researchers claim that over-presentation of thin female bodies in mass media drives to the decision that not being fat means being physically attractive and sexually desirable. Moreover, this is not occurring just in magazines or ads, these female characters are also placed in various movies and television as well. 

On the other hand, almost everything has bad side as well. The media also represents women as innocent and vulnerable and this is often connected with being a possible victim of violence. According to this article, sex in the media is mainly criticized because it could influence children to have a lot of different sexual partners and makes people to discover their own unique and authentic sexuality in more difficult way.

Let's check this link that is related to this theme: http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/women_and_girls/women_sex.cfm

Educational Article- Gender Stereotype and parenting

It is just all about cultures, women are mostly considered as not strong and having the less ability to understand and learn well than man. They prefer to spend their time at home by cooking, cleaning and looking after children. On the other hand women are also mostly considered as more generous and calmer and softer than men. Moreover, women are seen as solicitous creatures who try their best to make their husbands happy and taking care about children and whole family.

Like female, also man is a gender which is stereotyped among cultures. Men are considered as stronger and having more ability to understand and learn well than women. In addition, men are a main person in family who works to provide the money that the family needs to live on. Men expect their wives to follow their rules which include keeping households well, cooking and cleaning.

According to Gender Stereotypes and Parenting article on education.com website, as parents, both wife and husband have important role in educating their children. Through communication with them both parents formally present stereotype thinking at home.  Parents have a significant power to have an effect on children’s career development through family relationship, behavior, beliefs and opportunity which they provide. Dr. Kathleen Moritz Rudasill and Dr. Carolyn M. Callahan claim that due to strong, close and lasting relationship between parents and their children, it is easier to transmit parents’ values, beliefs and interest which are in connection with children’s career choices an success. Moreover, children’s career goals and values are almost same like parents’ ones. Dr. Rudasill and Dr. Callahan state that mothers could be more influential than fathers or teachers at school. Those who have a strong bond with their mothers have higher self-concept and tend to put more value on school. Also Fathers play a significant role in educating children as well. According to Dr. Rudasill and Dr. Callahan, parents tend to help their children with school homework in gender-stereotypic ways; for example, father may help with math homework and mother with language arts homework. In addition, parents are likely to put their children to the thinking that boys are good at math and science and girls are good at language and arts.  

According to Study at the University of Virginia which is placed in this article, it was found that boys and girls have equal high perception of their abilities in all academic areas except for humanities where girls have slightly higher score than boys.  However, parents still see that their sons are better in math and science and their daughters are better in the humanities. Then it could be expected that children view would have similar pattern. Therefore, it would be very difficult to encourage girls to believe that they may obtain in traditionally male areas such as math, science or physics and also encourage boys that they could be good in arts, languages, music or dance which are female domains.

As parents, it is significantly important to know that ideas of male and female characteristics and quality should be put on both genders. According to research, children who have both female and male view on careers are more likely to choose jobs which they like rather than based on stereotypes of what kind of jobs are for females and males. Therefore, if parents want to bring happiness for their children and want to have successful and satisfied kids, they should cultivate open lines of communication with them and also have in mind that children should have the opportunity to choose their own future life and career.

Let's check the link that is related to this story: http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Parenting_Gender/

Women, sports, media and stereotypes

The media affects the mental picture of both women and men a lot. Sport is much dominated topic issue in the media and men’s participation there is rather bigger than women’s. Beliefs that have been established for a long time among public perception state that men are more active, trained and skilled in sports than women. If this is true, girls and women fail to use an opportunity to enjoy variety of positive benefits which is connected with sports activities such as higher self-esteem, better body and mental picture and lower position in anxiety and depression. In addition, sports have been generally defined and stated by masculine models according to biological differences between men and women. Gender stereotypes are likely keep in existence of gender roles related to sports images, which describes that women fit only to certain kinds of sports but the others are just for men.

The real example is boxing; according to latest news International Olympic Committee decided to add women’s boxing to the list of Olympic sports for the London Games in 2012. After first men’s boxing fight in the Olympics games that occurred more than a century before, now women will finally get the opportunity to being in this position as well. Three women’s boxing events will become involved in Olympic Games at London this year. These current events are divided into three categories: women’s Fly, women’s Middle and women’s Light. This boxing competition runs from July until August 2012.

In spite of the fact that boxing is highly regulated sport, but it helps to many women enjoy keeping fit with ability to control a mental activity which also can gain self-esteem, feel good about a body condition and decrease the level of depression. Therefore, stereotypes’ perception about gender roles related to sports images should not be asserted among population and most sports should not be taken as sports just for men or women. Most of them should be taken as competitive sports in which individual can gain personal best, achieve pride and being involved in global sport such as the Olympic games.

Let's read this web page that is related to this theme: http://www.london2012.com/news/articles/olympic-boxing-almost-here.html

Sources: 
http://www.mujerydeporte.org/documentos/docs/sms_summary_report.pdf
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympic_games/world_olympic_dreams/8834938.stm

Women in advertising

Advertising generally has been a main object which is the most attacked and searched in details. Focusing in sex role placed in many kinds of ads, it is derived from a close relationship between advertising, goods consumers and women as consumers as well. Generally women in most ads are shown as attractive, sexy and young to attract men audience. They are commonly represented as sexual objects in advertisement.

There are many ads where people have the opportunity to see sexy girls and their thin bodies and those ads are especially connected with fashion. One of the most favorite advertising campaigns, which also has long-standing interval based on the idea of selling sex and sexuality, is unrivaled Victoria’s Secret Company. This company focusing on selling women’s underwear based on romance, love and primarily sexuality. Beautiful and sexy models of Victoria’s secret are placed not only to bedroom scenes but they are shooting in cities as well. Prague, the capital of Czech Republic is the next place where models of Victoria’s secret shoot new campaign. Enthusiasts of this underwear brand have the opportunity to see sexy models walking along Charles’s bridge; dressed in attracting underwear with their well know angel’s wings carrying on their back. Next favorite scene was shooting on the square front of Prague castle.

Victoria’s Secret Company claims that sexuality which is shown by its products is based on a beautiful woman. In fact, target audience both men and women are heavily influenced by those ads. Women desire to be as sexy as those models and men want to see their wives and girlfriends look like those models. After seeing those ads a woman can say: “I want this lingerie as a Valentine’s present” or “the model looks amazing, I want to look like her.”

Therefore, the main thing which advertisers do is to cluster people around with the idea of perfect female attractiveness and beauty so these aspects stick in our minds and we learn how important it is. What do ads tell us about women today? Advertising tell us who we are in present time a who we should be in the future. Moreover, it tells us that the most important about women is attractiveness and beautiful appearance. For those reasons people should give a lot of attention to do not damage self-esteem, self-understanding and self-unique identity while watching those types of ads.

Let's watch the web page that is related to this theme: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/30/victorias-secret-angels-prague_n_1066075.html

Sources:

Woodward, Kath. "Women And Negative Stereotypes: An End Before A Start By Divya Bhargava." Women And Negative Stereotypes: An End Before A Start By Divya Bhargava. 28 July 2010. Web. 06 May 2012.

<http://www.countercurrents.org/bhargava060709.htm>.

http://www.llp.armstrong.edu/reese/courses/4700/hornberger/Adfinal.html