Pardon My French, I Can’t Possibly Be A FEMINIST:
An Examination of Feminism in Media
Do you believe women should stay home and take care of a family? Do you believe women should not have a right to vote, to drive, or even to manage a checking account? Do you believe that men are worthless unless they are strong and aggressive and great at business? If you’re like most people, and the majority of educated adults, you’re going to adamantly disagree with these beliefs. That is, if you’re like most people in modern America, you’re a feminist. It’s at this point where many people would harken to disagree with me, but that’s due largely in part to a massive decades long media campaign, one that paints feminism as radical and women as inferior. …show more content…
In the documentary, Miss Representation, we learn that women are twice as likely to be described with negative verbs in politics, for example, a media source would be stating that a women “complained” about the same information that a man “told”. (Miss Representation) The documentary then goes on to explain that women in the media are always about how they look, even if their job has nothing to do with their image. Miss Representation tells us that if you look at media coverage on a female politician and a male politician, you’ll find that the former’s coverage is focused on looks while the latter’s coverage is focused on their stance and ideas. (Miss …show more content…
It’s easy to shy away from the negative labels and connotations associated with feminism, and it’s normal to want to do so. People reject labels when it creates negative backlash for them (Zucker). S.J. Douglas said, “There is no doubt that the news media of the early seventies played an absolutely central role in turning feminism into a dirty word by depicting feminists as deviant, man hating, unrepresentative radicals who were a threat to society,” (qtd. in Zucker). And even though not much has changed in the media regarding women today, there is hope. Women are more likely to identify with feminism after being educated about it, whether that is through higher education, learning about it from someone else in your life who is knowledgeable about such affairs, or through self-led studies to further education on this highly important topic
An Examination of Feminism in Media
Do you believe women should stay home and take care of a family? Do you believe women should not have a right to vote, to drive, or even to manage a checking account? Do you believe that men are worthless unless they are strong and aggressive and great at business? If you’re like most people, and the majority of educated adults, you’re going to adamantly disagree with these beliefs. That is, if you’re like most people in modern America, you’re a feminist. It’s at this point where many people would harken to disagree with me, but that’s due largely in part to a massive decades long media campaign, one that paints feminism as radical and women as inferior. …show more content…
In the documentary, Miss Representation, we learn that women are twice as likely to be described with negative verbs in politics, for example, a media source would be stating that a women “complained” about the same information that a man “told”. (Miss Representation) The documentary then goes on to explain that women in the media are always about how they look, even if their job has nothing to do with their image. Miss Representation tells us that if you look at media coverage on a female politician and a male politician, you’ll find that the former’s coverage is focused on looks while the latter’s coverage is focused on their stance and ideas. (Miss …show more content…
It’s easy to shy away from the negative labels and connotations associated with feminism, and it’s normal to want to do so. People reject labels when it creates negative backlash for them (Zucker). S.J. Douglas said, “There is no doubt that the news media of the early seventies played an absolutely central role in turning feminism into a dirty word by depicting feminists as deviant, man hating, unrepresentative radicals who were a threat to society,” (qtd. in Zucker). And even though not much has changed in the media regarding women today, there is hope. Women are more likely to identify with feminism after being educated about it, whether that is through higher education, learning about it from someone else in your life who is knowledgeable about such affairs, or through self-led studies to further education on this highly important topic