Portrayal of Women in Music, Tv, Film,

Portrayal of Women in Music, Tv, Film, Advertising, & Other Media Since 1990

This essay addresses how the portrayal of women has changed in one segment of the media (music, tv, film, advertising) from the early 1990's when the book Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female With the Mass Media by Susan J. Douglas was completed. Discussed are the commonalties between women currently important to American pop culture and the women examined in the book, the differences or changes that have occurred, whether conditions have improved for women, and whether there has been a continued backlash against feminism in American popular culture over the last decade. Four sources are used. APA.

Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female With the Mass Media

Susan J. Douglas in her book "Where the Girls Are" examined the portrayal of women in the pop culture of the last part of the 20th century. She described the mix messages sent to young females through the media, especially television. As young women were being encouraged to be sexy, single, and join the Peace Corps, they were also being bombarded with images of cutesy Gidget, motherly June Cleaver, the witchy Samantha, and Jeanie waiting on her master. Douglas contends that this ambivalent representation made women the 'cultural schizophrenics' of today (Douglas 1995). Not much has changed during the last decade. Women and young girls are still getting mixed messages from the media.

Many prime-time television shows today portray women as professionals, such as lawyers, judges, and brain surgeons. However, most often the more powerful, the skinnier the women and the shorter and tighter their clothes, as with the entire cast of "Ally McBeal" (Timson 1995). Pamela Anderson and her gang romp the sunny beaches saving lives in itsy-bitsy bikinis and perfect Playboy Bunny breasts. This spectrum is equivalent to "That Girl" and Elly Mae Clampett, smart career girl with great clothes verses buxom blond. There have been powerful women portrayed during the last decade in a different range (Timson 1995).

Murphy Brown" was a powerful intelligent female character who had great clothes, however, she did not look like a waif and her clothes were not skimpy. "Roseanne" was an over-weight working wife and mother who dealt with family problems that had never before been portrayed on a television sitcom. And "Ellen" came out of the closet on one episode to tell the world that she was a lesbian (Timson 1995). This would certainly have not been witnessed on a sitcom television program twenty years ago.

Friends" is a prime-time television sitcom where every character is skinny-thin and beautiful. "The Nanny" is another skimpy dressed female. There is "Melrose Place" where 'the affairs are short and the skirts are shorter' (Timson 1995). Then there's the Tool Time Girl on "Home Improvement" (Timson 1995). But perhaps the most offensive to many females, young and old, is the 'girls on trampolines' segment on The Man Show, seen on cable's Comedy Central station. The show closes each time with shots of young beautiful girls in short-shorts, cheerleading outfits, baby-doll pajamas, Catholic school-girl uniforms, etc., jumping on trampolines as the camera follows them up and down, catching glimpses of white cotton underwear or black lace undies.

Despite the gains made by feminism, such as women now in the Congress and Senate, mayor of major cities, CEOs of corporations, serving in the police and fire departments, pop culture has become increasingly sexualized. Moreover, the result is having devastating effects on young girls as well as women (Timson 1995). "It is clear that a very large percentage of American women are unhappy with their bodies," says Joan Jacobs Brumberg, author of "The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls" (http://nm.server.jrn.columbia.edu/projects/masters/bodyimage/commodity/media_page1.html)."That kind of unhappiness begins very, very early in life," she says. Moreover, the problem doesn't disappear with maturity. Brumberg contends that the rise of plastic surgery, the prevalence of dieting, and the high number of women in therapy are examples of that prove women still suffer from self-esteem problems. She says, "People expect their bodies to be perfect these days. Women are judged too often by their appearance and young girls get the idea that appearance is the source of female power" (http://nm.server.jrn.columbia.edu/projects/masters/bodyimage/commodity/media_page1.html).

A recent study revealed that over 80% of 4th grade girls have been on a diet. Anorexia and bulimia are on the rise. Although the 'heroin chic' look of the last few years is supposedly out of vogue today, the average weight of a model is 23% lower than that of an average woman. Twenty years ago, the differential was only 8% (http://www.albany.edu/~cc4176/).