Portrayal Betrayal: Women in the Media

Portrayal Betrayal: Women in the Media

I didnt think the medias portrayal of women really affected me. I reasoned that if I knew their schemes and made the choice not be affected, Id be okay. But its not a choice. The images and implications of women that are used in the media surround us. The average person consumes thousands of advertisements ever day.

My inspiration came from the eye-opening movie Killing Us Softly in which Jean Kilbourne, the narrator, explores some of the ways the media is killing women, or at least their image. For two days after watching this movie, I became painfully aware that every piece of advertising I saw was evidence of her point. Consumption of this portrayal is not a choice.

This short video that I created, hardly even scratches the surface of a problem that, in a lot of ways, is a bigger and deeper than all of us. The hope, however, is not to put the concept on trial, but to open someone elses eyes: to make someone elses stomach twinge every time they see a billboard, read a magazine or watch a commercial on T.V. If my video reaches even one person, it will have been worth the work.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• women
• media
• commercials
• discrimination
• ads
• advertising
• advertisements
• sexism
• killing
• us
• softly
• portrayal
• betrayal
• gender
• inequality
• equality

[san39san]

this video is great.

i'm actually doing a presentation on gender equality, relating a book about this issue to modern day. i was wondering if i could use a segment of your clip

reply back, thanks.

[Mymoxiee]

This is just brilliant, and sums up the whole thing great. Good job :)

[vincent15641]

@michael1791 You are right. Women choose to dress to kill men's ability to be in control of their lusts. Compare women's choices in advertising with the revelations in the video called "What Women Want is Worshp".

[TrueBlueCanuck]

oh poor women,always had the easy life

[JesusManson323]

Men will always like women who are pretty. You can whine all you want but at the end of the day you are the only one who cares. Better to focus on making your appearance and attitude more attractive to men. We don't like dreary looking and annoying women. REALITY.

[BettiePie]

I took an "intro to advertising" class once that taught me a lot about the power of images. I also took an "intro to sociology" class once that taught me about the influence of the media on gender identity formation. I also happened to read (last year) Naomi Wolf's book, "The Beauty Myth", which taught me that a lot of products (specifically, anti-aging lotions and diet pills) geared towards women are false and misleading.

In sum, I hope women educate themselves on how sexism functions. 

[michael1791]

This is a crock. The only people who portray women are themselves. It is the women who choose the way they are portrayed. So when you blame this on a sexist society, it shows that you think women can't choose for themselves, which is insulting. Maybe if a woman is portrayed as a slut on television, it's because she is comfortable with her sexuality. And maybe, that's her personal choice to do so.

[shatteringglass100]

DUH the chicks in ads are going to be hot. lol

[CeReAlgurl95]

This is a huge overexaggeration...

[otakubabe555]

This is really well done. My Wellness class (physed with stuff like this mixed in) did a project 2 years ago where we found different ads like this and made a booklet. There were all sorts of categories, like women as object and young girls being shown like this. We wrote a paragraph about why each picture was demeaning.

I really think I should find that teacher. I think my group let her keep our project to show later grades.

[MANOFROCK1702234]

listen to "basement jaxx-romeo" at 0:58,epic sensation