Media is a key source of information to the public and may utilize both men and women to communicate a given agenda that may be useful to society. Mostly, the media can build or distort the way gender is reflected in society. The purpose of this paper is to explore gender presentation by focusing on the role of men and women as portrayed in the media.
For a long time, the images of women in the media have been negatively presented because the female gender is stereotyped as sex objects in society. Furthermore, there are many photos in the media where women are associated with household and family life only (Andersen & Witham, 2011). On the contrary, the male counterparts have been shown in the media on a positive note, where men’s images portray them as reformers and head of many family settings.
The images have changed over time due to feminist groups that have advocated equality in terms of how men and women are portrayed in the media. The editorial team in any media house has been regularly checking the effect of roles given in characters found in various content (Andersen & Witham, 2011). The media has emphasized that both images should show decent grooming in all cases where men and women should cover their bodies appropriately.
The way gender is portrayed in the media differs by society because some cultures have strict measures to curb the depiction of women as weak and desperate gender that can be exploited by men (Andersen & Witham, 2011). For example, in the United Arab Emirates, if a media company covers content that does not honor human bodily privacy in public, the government holds the right to shut the business. In the future, men and women may have equal chances in society due to the emphasis made on gender equality.
Reference
Andersen, M., & Witham, D. (2011). Thinking about women (9th ed.). Allyn & Bacon/Pearson.