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Leslie Ugarte
WR 121
October 5, 2014
The unbalance of gender power in media
Women, who are displayed in the media, tend to find ways to become more
appealing and attractive to the audience. In some cases, becoming this image is also
helped by other sources. An advertisement by Dove, also known as the Evolution
Commercial, was able to prove how an ad can drastically change from the original frame
(YouTube). Such changes to become the ideal image show how women can be altered to
please others and have less power when it comes to media. One of many examples that
validate the control that media has over women, which might relate to the gender
inequality found in media production roles. Men have greater control of mainstream
media than women, which has lead to an unrealistic portrayal of women.
It could be argued that women may be portrayed in the media in a positive
manner. According to Kiersten Stanley, she does not pay mind to how the media
stereotypes women, but instead pursues their image as strong and independent like she
has always seen them (Sayyah). That personal statement is true to her opinion but it does
not act upon others. Stanleys statement also does not reflect on the mens role in
decisions of women portrayal because she is a woman herself. Even when men represent
women in leading and strong roles, they are controlled to present themselves in a way to
attract an audience, which can sometimes make women seem like a sexual object. Most
of the articles and websites based on this controversy focused on the negatives of the
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issue; arguments on the positive representation of women in media were very rare to
come up while searching.
The representation of women in the media and average women have become two
individual topics that can be compared to one another and have many differences.
Such standards of beauty are almost completely unattainable for most women; a
majority of the models displayed on television and in advertisements are well
below what is considered healthy body weight. Mass media's use of such
unrealistic models sends an implicit message that in order for a woman to be
considered beautiful, she must be unhealthy. The mindset that a person can never
be "too rich or too thin" is all too prevalent in society, and it makes it difficult for
females to achieve any level of contentment with their physical appearance
(Sedar).
Expectations created by models are simply unhealthy for average women to follow. They
create a misjudgment to what sizes are considered normal and generate a false statement
to women who are bigger sizes than the women in ads.
Unrealistic images are created of the ideal body for women because of how
often they are presented in the majority of media as a much smaller number in weight and
higher number in height. In her article Fashion Magazines Display Unrealistic Body
Image, Cassie Schmidt says, "The average woman in the US is 5-foot-4 and weighs 140
pounds. The average model, on the other hand, is 5-foot-11 and weighs 117 pounds"
(Schmidt 2009). Knowing the average sizes of both average women and average models,
comparisons can be easily made. Statistics from a plus size magazine include points
comparing average women to models shown in media. Twenty years ago the average
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fashion model weighed 8% less than the average woman. Today, she weighs 23% less.
Most runway models meet the Body Mass Index physical criteria for Anorexia. 50% of
women wear a size 14 or larger, but most standard clothing outlets cater to sizes 14 or
smaller (Roles). The relation between average models and average women is growing
farther apart, continuing to give negative hopes for women to feel confident in their own
bodies. The wide gap between physical appearance of women and women shown in
media should narrow to a more reasonable range.
Women presented in media appear as an unrealistic version compared to a
majority of women. An unrealistic ideal image can affect personal viewers who watch the
programs. We often think that being thin or slender brings health, happiness and
success. However this is not necessarily true. The media plays a role in this perception, as
it almost always ties success, acceptance and happiness with being thin and white
(Merrill). The media is providing false representation of the rest of the women
population. Another article describes other factors that rise up when modified
appearances of women appear in media,
The ideal image of beauty is more tyrannical than ever. Even little children are
increasingly sexualized in advertising and throughout the popular culture. Girls
get the message very early on that they must be hot and sexy in addition to being
flawlessly beautiful and impossibly thin. Womens bodies are still used to sell
everything from shampoo to chain saws, and are often dismembered into parts
breasts, legs, buttocks (Kilbourne)
Keeping that in mind, little girls and young teens are experiencing similar conflicts of
trying to impress others by looks or simply trying to look their best as well. Over and
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over, through media it has been proven that by using women as objects, they are able to
attract a larger audience, especially if they add a touch of seduction or make it a bit more
sexual.
To be able to understand the control over women in media, it is important to
observe the numbers of workers that take place in producing the media. Women are
almost four times as likely as males to be shown in sexy attire on television and movies,
according to the Geena Davis Institute. Maybe that's because only 7 percent of directors,
13 percent of writers and 20 percent of producers are women (Butler). The number of
female workers always seems to stay below male workers. The pie charts below from
Entertainment weekly represent the female and male workers; data collected by the San
Diego State University. It displays that about one-fourth of offset workers are women,
this includes the directors, producers, editors, writers, etc (Todd). Women are likely to
have less control over what is created on script without an equal workforce. The onset pie
chart is reasonable for that it is almost half, but it is onset roles that complete the actions
of what offset workers provide.

Similar to lead male roles, another factor to consider would be the top CEOs of
the major media corporations. The six major corporations that may have an affect on
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individuals who keep up with the media are: GE, News-Corp, Disney, Viacom, Time
Warner, and CBS (Lutz). All of which are corporations that have male CEOs. This adds
to the discussion that men have greater control over women in media. It brings up the
question of, why are male positions dominant over female positions in the production
industry? Is it that women are easier to work with and attract more viewers? Or men just
happen to somehow be better in that field? Either way, men are still taking lead in the
decisions in the portrayal of women in media.
When it comes to the media, men have had and are continuing to have a louder
voice to how women should be portrayed. Men have held high positions of media
production and female involvement has not been equivalent. Displaying women in such
forms can cause an influence on those affected by what they see on the media. It creates
distorted views of women that would be idealistic but unrealistic. If women want to have
more control or say in the future, then they must work their way up to higher production
roles in media, which just so happens to be a male dominant profession.









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Work Cited
Butler, Susan Bulkeley. "Changing the Portrayal of Women in the Media." The
Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 08 Feb. 2013.
Kilbourne, Jean. "Women's Bodies in Advertising." Our Bodies Ourselves. N.p., 13 Feb.
2012. Web.
Lutz, Ashley. "These 6 Corporations Control 90% Of The Media In America." Business
Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 14 June 2012. Web.
Merrill, Alex. "Body Image and the Media." Home. Canadian's Women Health Network,
n.d. Web.
Roles, Dustin. "Side-by-Side Comparison." Pajiba. Trade News, 15 Jan. 2012. Web.
Sayyah, Isabella. "Study Reveals Unbalanced Portrayal of Women in Media." Daily
Trojan. University of Southern California, n.d. Web.
Schmidt, Cassie. "Fashion Magazines Display Unrealistic Body Image." The Daily
Campus. The Independent News Source of the University of Connecticut, 24 Feb.
2010. Web.
Serdar, Kasey L. "Female Body Image and the Mass Media." Westminster College: A
Private Comprehensive Liberal Arts College in Salt Lake City, UT, Offering
Undergraduate and Graduate Degrees in Liberal Arts and Professional
Programs, including Business, Nursing, Education and Communication. N.p., n.d.
Web.
Todd, Carolyn. "Study: Yep, Women Still Lag behind Men in TV Industry." EW.com.
N.p., 16 Sept. 2014. Web.
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"YouTube - Dove - Evolution Commercial (higher Quality)." YouTube - Broadcast
Yourself. N.p., n.d. Web.