Sex and Sexes in the Media

I guess in my last post I was focusing more on sex in general in the media, not really on how women are portrayed - but you can't really talk about one without the other. There is no question that women are objectified in the media, I think that is a fact. But as a woman, I don't feel discriminated against in my day to day life (except for the occasional cat-calling, which I don't worry about because those men are losers). I think women have some advantages over men and men have some advantages over women. For the most part I feel equal in this society and capable of doing anything I want to do (although the facts about salary are disturbing...) I realize we've come a long way and it wasn't always like this and in some cultures women have no rights at all. I also realize we have a way to go until things are completely equal.

When talking about sexes in the media I think we need to address men as well. I think there is a lot of pressure on men - to not show emotion, to be macho, to have big muscles (I feel like a lot of men are more obsessed with working out than women). Granted the problem isn't as big as the portrayal of women, but the images of men in advertising are either of complete goofballs or of sexy men of steel.



I do wish the media's focus on perfection in women would change. I believe it leads to problems, especially in young women, with self image and self esteem. There are a few campaigns that are fighting it, like Dove's Real Beauty campaign but they are few and far between.

I know that the media influences our way of thinking, but I also think that models (men and women) are not real life and I don't expect people in real life to look like the people on tv/ads. I also don't think models are going away anytime soon - face it, pretty people in the media attract attention and they're fun to look at. With all of that said, I think the way "pretty" people are shown could change. I hadn't thought much about the postures and subtleties of the way women are portrayed before Amy talked about it in class, but portraying women in a strong way in the media would be a subtle change that would start to shift people's perceptions. (The woman in this ad looks like she's about to be gang raped? An example that's not so subtle...)



I think that advertisers will continue to objectify women, it's been going on for centuries. But we as designers (and as the most important people in the world, as Ed would say) do have a lot of responsibility with the images we portray in the media. I guess it's something we just need to be aware of and make conscious decisions about.