The exact
contours of an answer might exceed the space allotted here. Certainly, I think that one would
have to concede that the media representation of women has changed over time. One can see this
in the depiction of the leaders of the feminist movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In
her book, Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with the Mass Media,
Susan Douglas makes the argument that there was a distinct media bias in how leaders of the ERA
movement were depicted in the mass media. She contrasts the covers of news magazines that
depicted prominent figures such as Gloria Steinem and Kate Millett. The cover of
Newsweek magazine that depicted Gloria Steinem features reflection that
demonstrates an adulation with "The New Woman" embodied by Steinem. This depiction is
one in which there was more discussion of Steinem's "hair and legs" than "with
her ideas." The implication was that a woman who "looked like this" did not need
to be a feminist, and that "the new woman" still adhered to an external and
patriarchal notion of beauty. In contrast the cover to a Time magazine
article on modern feminism featured an artist's drawing of Kate Millett as a "grim, ball-
busting ninja from hell" who "did not wash her hair enough." In the analysis of
both media images, one sees how the representation of women changed in highlighting feminism,
but still doing so within the patriarchal focus in which women were still objectified as objects
of beauty. The content of their political and social ideas were secondary to a depiction that
would increase circulation of male- owned media avenues.
Over time, a case
can be made that the depiction of women has changed, but still features a clear patriarchal
bias. Women's depictions in the media are not proportional to the complexity of human
character. The media depicts different visions of women, but they are limiting in their scope.
Powerful depictions of women are narrow and one- dimensional, focusing on "ball
busting" strength that is meant to equate women's power with something undesirable. The
flipside to this is an oversexualized notion of women's identity, one in which girls as early as
six years old begin to see themselves in seuxalized depiction. While the media has depicted
more women, the depictions of women are static and reflective of a patriarchal niche that women
are supposed to fulfill. In this light, one can see that the media's depiction of women have
changed, but are still limiting to the full range ofintrinsic to being a human being. Recent
studies have indicated that "fewer than one in five experts interviewed by the media are
women, 46% of news stories reinforce gender-based stereotypes, and Only 6% of stories highlight
issues of gender equality or inequality." These help to emphasize how there still is a
ways to go in terms of seeing an accurate depiction of women in the media's representation of
women.
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