IF YOU DONT LIKE OUR BODIES, STOP POSTING THEM

Finally, unless you’re one to shy away from celebrity news, then you have most likely heard about the celebrity phone scandal. A hacker stole nude photographs of female celebrities such as Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Upton, and proceeded to post them on image board website 4Chan where they soon spread throughout the rest of the internet. The perpetrator illegal hacked into the celebrity’s own personal software. The situation is a huge ethical problem because it shows that women are still being unfairly sexualised to the point of the violation of their basic human right to privacy. These women are well respected, hardworking and talented, yet there will still be a biased portrayal of them within the media. This is perfectly described in the below screenshot.

Image Source: http://theirhappyistooloud.tumblr.com/post/96296135963/fucking-thank-you

REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN IN THE MEDIA

Image source http://screencrave.com/2009-09-24/women-make-a-big-impression-on-media/

  

Despite the feminist movement reaching a new level of opportunity for change with the rise of social media communication, there still remains a strong under and unfair representation of women in the media.

Men are still outnumbering women in powerful positions in television and current affair programs. In 2012  women made up only 28.8% of characters with speaking parts in the top one hundred films. The majority of lead protagonists in television and film prime time slots are male characters. A report by the Women’s Media Centre revealed that women only accounted for 16% of executive producers, directors, writers, cinematographers and editors in media related roles.

Image source: http://www.buzzfeed.com/krystieyandoli/ways-women-are-still-underrepresented-in-the-media#hluual

What people are exposed to through the media will influence their perceptions of the world around them. Having a largely male dominated crew means that women will have less of an influence in the writing room, and that televised screen time will consist of a gender biased perception of the female ideal. This is clear through the lack of female presence in video games and/or their minor representation. The majority of female characters are designed as highly sexualised prizes for the male benefit. For example, in the video game Grand Theft Auto where the male character is able to drive around searching for prostitutes. In particular, some games even emphasise violence against women.

Image source: http://fygirlcrush.tumblr.com/

Research on the portrayal of women in the media has revealed that nearly ¾ of female characters in sitcoms are underweight. Additionally overweight female characters are subjected to appearance based jokes followed with pre-recorded set laughter. Images such as this create an unfair ideal of women and not only highlight the gender inequality still apparent within society, but sadly challenge the standards held of beauty.

Not only are women underrepresented in the media, but they also face unfair questioning and bias due to their gender status. A clear example of this prejudice was the inappropriate questions Channel Nine sports journalist Erin Molan faced throughout her first radio segment on Kiss FM. The presenter was exposed to sexist questions live on air including her number of sexual partners, and whether or not she had undergone a boob job.

Image source: http://1clicknews.com/nine-presenter-quits-over-kyle-interview/

It is so important for individuals to understand and acknowledge that this gender biased behaviour is not only unethical and wrong; it is also going to have huge psychological effects and repercussions on the next generation of young girls that will grow up observing the behaviours and interactions of those in the media spotlight.

Mindy Kaling, popular star of US television show The Office, puts it best in the below statement.

“More than half the questions I am asked are about the politics of the way I look. What it feels like to be not skinny/dark-skinned/a minority/not conventionally pretty/female/etc. It’s not very interesting to me, but I know it’s interesting to people reading an interview. Sometimes I get jealous of white male showrunners when 90 percent of their questions are about characters, story structure, creative inspiration, or, hell, even the business of getting a show on the air. Because as a result the interview of me reads like I’m interested only in talking about my outward appearance and the politics of being a minority and how I fit into Hollywood, blah blah blah. I want to shout, “Those were the only questions they asked!"

-       Mindy Kaling, Rolling Stone (http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/lena-dunham-hilariously-candidly-interviews-mindy-kaling-20131111#ixzz2kMxUr72d)

REFERENCES

Dunham, L. (2013, November 11). Lena Dunham Hilariously, Candidly Interviews Mindy Kaling. Rolling Stone. Retrieved from http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/lena-dunham-hilariously-candidly-interviews-mindy-kaling-20131111#ixzz2kMxUr72d

Handel, J. (2014, February 19). Women Still Underrepresented in Film and TV, Study Says. The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved from http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/women-still-underrepresented-film-tv-681485

News.com. (2014, August 22). Erin Molan quits Kiis FM after inappropriate and sexist questions during her sports segment. News.com. Retrieved from http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/erin-molan-quits-kiis-fm-after-inappropriate-and-sexist-questions-during-her-sports-segment/story-fnndfy6b-1227029489557

World Savvy Monitor. (2009, May). Portrayal of Women in the Popular Media. World Savvy Monitor. Retrieved from http://worldsavvy.org/monitor/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=602:portrayals-in-popmedia&catid=211:beijing-declaration&Itemid=1049

Yandoli, KL.  (2014, February 19).11 Ways Women Are Still Underrepresented In the Media. Buzzfeed. Retrieved from http://www.buzzfeed.com/krystieyandoli/ways-women-are-still-underrepresented-in-the-media#hluual

WOMEN FIGHTING BACK

Fortunately female celebrities are starting to fight back at this injustice more. Beyoncé’s powerful VMA performance highlighting the true meaning of feminism would have been watched by countless young girls struggling with body image, and insecurities about their role within society.

WOMEN IS POWER- WHERE ARE WE?

In our male centric world, women are extremely underrepresented in nearly all power positions. Whether it be politics or the workplace, it is likely to find a male at the top. So why do we still live in a male dominant world when we are the most advanced we have ever been?

BUT I'M A CHEERLEADER (1999) 



But I'm a Cheerleader (1999), starring Natasha Lyonne  (Orange is the New Black) and directed by  Jamie Babbit  (Gilmore Girls) is a satirical 90's comedy about Megan, an all- American cheerleader who is sent off to True Directions, a"sexual redirection" camp under the suspicion that she might be a lesbian. Full of admittedly homosexual misfits (angst-filled gothic teens, a gender neutral soft-ball player, a rebellious rock and roller, camp boys and drag queens), the students are subjected to tasks simulating societal gender roles- domesticating the lesbians and toughening up the gay men.

The first Lesbian cult film of its kind, the slapstick humour, hyperbolic representations of archetypical homosexuals, the satirical sets and costuming and pretty mis-en-scenes makes the LGBT rhetoric palatable to a broader audience, which in itself is valuable for raising awareness. But true value in this text is in analysis, we can understand how audiences are protected by a 'safe' representations of the 'deviant' LGBT community- that where their characters are comical and archetypical.

The hyperbolic representations of 'archetypical' homosexuals echoes Judith Butler's (1998) 'queer theory', where she suggests that gender behaviour is 'performative' (Butler 1998). In addition, the choice of ethnic minorities to play the main male roles (e.g. a shy camp Jewish boy,  a loud-and-proud hispanic and the Filipino wresting champion) reflects the power of hegemony when representing the deviant sexual nature the LGBT community in film and media.

WHERE ARE THE WOMEN?

Politics is one of the most influential areas in our society and it aims to provide equality and peace. However, how can be possibly have gender equality when only 21 out of 196 world leaders are female? This leads to the questions ‘where are the women?’ and why are they so unequally represented. According to the Bureau of Statistics, in the House of Representatives in Australia, 25% of the members were female in 2012 (ABS Gender Indicators, Australia, Jul 2012 (cat. no. 4125.0)). This percentage is lower than that in 2002. While the percentage did vary of the 10 years, this highlights that we may be regressing when it comes to the representation of women in politics.

While women’s role in politics is limited, women are also often unfairly treated and represented in politics. An example of this was during Julia Gillard’s Prime Minister-ship. Julia Gillard, Australia’s first female Prime Minister, was often asked sexist questions by the media and there was a focus on her choice to not have children and how this made her a “bad woman.” Further, she was asked if her partner was gay because he was a hairdresser. These types of personal, and often sexist questions, were frequent during her time as PM. Discourse like this had never been seen before when the Prime Minister was male.

In the workplace, there is often an equal balance of the genders. However, again when you consider those in power positions, there is unequal representation of men. After surveying 10 girls who work in retail, I discovered that the majority of workers are female. However, 9 out of the 10 girls said that nearly all of their managers were male. This highlights how the opportunities for men and women are unequal when it comes to power positions and men are generally advantaged.

This inequality is not only evident in lower levels of workplaces but also those in CEO positions and the like.

This graph shows the percentage of female CEOs and Board Directors in companies listed in the Australian stock exchange. According to this graph in 2012, between 3-4% of CEOs were women. Therefore, there is a clear and sizable lack of female CEOs in Australia.

Clearly there is a tremendous inequality in the representation of women in power positions. Then when they are in power, they are treated unfairly and in ways that men wouldn't be. We need to start asking ‘where are the women?’ and how can we make their representation fairer.