Sexism and the representation of women in the media industry

[Charlie55]

I am writing a research folder for my dissertation at uni and i was looking for opinions on the subject of sexism in the media industry.

Do you think women are represented in a positive way in the media?
Do you think Page 3 in The Sun is degrading to women?
Do you think the way women are represented in the media has an effect on women’s body image?
Would you agree that most of the females on TV are white, young, able bodied and thin?
Would you agree that the media industry is still a very male orientated industry in the way that its run?

Any responses would be a great help, thank you :)

Yes.
No.
No.
No.
No.

Do you think women are represented in a positive way in the media?

Sometimes - it depends where you are looking
Do you think Page 3 in The Sun is degrading to women? Yes
Do you think the way women are represented in the media has an effect on women’s body image? To be honest no, I think most women look at unfeasible and unrealistic images of women and recognise them as such.
Would you agree that most of the females on TV are white, young, able bodied and thin? I don't watch much television and never mainstream stuff like "Strictly". I do like BBC 3 sitcoms and I think that is not necessarily true of them
Would you agree that the media industry is still a very male orientated industry in the way that its run? I don't know.

"Do you think the way women are represented in the media has an effect on women’s body image? " As Buffy said there has been a lot of research on these questions: the answer to this one is an overwhelming 'yes'.

Do you need to research people's opinions on these questions specifically, or the questions themselves?

Do you think women are represented in a positive way in the media? Sometimes
Do you think Page 3 in The Sun is degrading to women? Undoubtedly
Do you think the way women are represented in the media has an effect on women’s body image? Yes
Would you agree that most of the females on TV are white, young, able bodied and thin? Yes
Would you agree that the media industry is still a very male orientated industry in the way that its run? It is run to cater to male gaze

Rarely
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes

Thanks for all the responses so far! I am definitely looking for people's opinions and views generally about the subject :)

1. No, we are represented as if we have no agency of our own by almost every group apart from a few.

For example.

Liberals (feminists and the like):

Anything bad a woman does is the fault of the patriarchy and sexism.

Anything good that happens to women is the result of “benevolent sexism” which women have no control over.

Conservatives:

No, anything bad a woman does is the fault of liberals and feminists tricking them.
Women are forced into jobs and careers they do not want.

I could list many other groups, but its always the same. They all believe women have no agency.

In fact the only group i can think of that believe women have agency are MRAs who can fuck off.

Oh wait and MGTOW who actually have fucked off.

1. Of course page 3 is not degrading to women unless women choose it to be degrading to them, or they are considered to not have agency in regards to the matter in the first place.

1. Yes and its important for us to see and get over a lot of our hangups about body image, shaping the world to cater to every one of our overly emotional hang ups is not a good idea and we will be better off in the long run.

1. It depends on what channel you watch and what is wrong with having a healthy body, exercising and eating salad now and again....MEDIA STOP WORRYING ABOUT NOT PANDERING TO OUR BULLSHIT ISSUES.

1. No fucking idea what you mean by "very male orientated industry in the way that its run" as most media today is geared towards us and taking the piss off of men for supposedly being useless lumps or portraying them as violent sociopaths.

THREE QUESTIONS OUT OF FIVE WERE REGARDING OUR HANGUPS ON REGARDS TO HOW WE LOOK.

SCREW A PAPER ON SEXISM IN THE MEDIA ITS BEEN DONE SO MUCH ALONG WITH "BODY IMAGE" SHITE IT SHOULD BE INSTANTLY CLASSED AS SEXIST TO BRING IT UP.

Go do a paper on women who work long days or nights on oil rigs or in sewerage plants or that collect garbage all to support or help to support their family.

BREAK THE FUCKING MOULD.

Do you think it's useful or indeed helpful to order women to change their chosen area of study? For someone who's all choosy choice about things that damage women, you seem terribly prescriptive when it comes to things that really don't.

Do you think women are represented in a positive way in the media? Not usually

Do you think Page 3 in The Sun is degrading to women? Yes

Do you think the way women are represented in the media has an effect on women’s body image? Yes, but in a complicated, not necessarily cause/effect way.

Would you agree that most of the females on TV are white, young, able bodied and thin? Yes

Would you agree that the media industry is still a very male orientated industry in the way that its run? Yes

There are endless papers, research, publications on women and gender in the media as well as a lot of related organisations (try No More Page 3 for a start.) I think if you really narrowed down your focus it would be beneficial as those are broad questions. I think there are lots of fresh areas of inquiry - especially around digital media and whether it has had a positive effect on women's participation and / or representation in the industry.

Everything that sassyladdie said.....except the opposite.