as media: introduction to the representation of women
TRANSCRIPT
TODAY5 minutes
• The aim of todays lesson is to explore the representation
of women in mainstream media, and how this hhas
changed over time.
• By the end of the lesson you will:
• have textually analysed different types of mainstream media.
• be familiar with theorists relating to the representation of women.
• Have discussed how representations differ depending on text type
and target audience.
What different types of representation are there?
Are representations always clear-cut?
Do audiences all respond to representations in the same way?
STARTER: MIND MAP
Representation of
Women
• Individually mind map some things you associate with the
representation of women in mainstream media.
• Images/Where they appear/Products/Associations
5 minutes
What is Representation?
“The process by which the media present
the ‘real world”
(Rayner)
RE - PRESENT
The housewife or mother
• Traditional ideological female roles such as the
housewife or the mother are reinforced in mainstream
media
• Media companies owned by men
• Women represented as inferior to men
• Men are seen as the dominant and superior gender
• Men are ‘experts’ in ads.
• Women support the men, never a voice of their own.
10 minutes
Fairy Liquid
• Who is the target audience for this
advertisement?
• Why are women depicted in this way?
• How might different audiences respond to
it?
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4rXDK
U_m-w
Sexual Objectification
• Alluring to attract sections of the audience
• Defining women as sex objects has become the leading
representation in the media
15 minutes
Laura Mulvey (1992)
• Male gaze
• ‘To-be-looked-at-ness’
• Men are bearers of ‘the look’
• “In their traditional exhibitionist role women are
simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their
appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so
that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness”
(Mulvey, 1992: 27)
Elizabeth Spelman (1982)
• Women as body
• Objectified
• Women there to be looked at & lusted over by men
• “woman has been portrayed as essentially a bodily being,
and this image has been used to deny her full status as
a human being wherever and whenever mental activity as
over against bodily activity has been thought to be the
most human activity of all” (Spelman 1982: 123)
Blurred Lines
• How might different audiences respond to these
representations?
• What effect do you think these representations have on
our ideology?
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyDUC1LUXSU
Feminism and Post-feminism
• Subversion/parody of the stereotype
• Women are sexualised because they choose to.
• More recently, femininity has also become associated with
stronger, more independent and confident women.
• Have roles/jobs traditionally associated with men
• Downplay the domestic goddess
• Idea that women can ‘have it all’ – family AND career
• Women become active characters
10 minutes
Sheilas Wheels
• Who is the target audience for this advertisement?
• Does it play on any established stereotypes of women?
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrKaQRIXPNw
Oven Pride
• Who is the target audience for this advertisement?
• Does it play on any established stereotypes of women?
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ1ZRjw425o
WRITING TASK
• Using your textual analysis notes on one of the texts
we’ve discussed, answer the following questions:
1. How are women represented in your image?
2. Why do you think women are depicted in this way?
3. Is the representation typical?
4. How might different audiences respond to the
representation depicted in the image?
Please write on a new piece of paper as you will be
handing this in!
10 minutes