Sexism in Media Promotes Sexism in Consumers

 

Hi, everyone! I was cleaning out my Google drive and found an essay I wrote on sexism and misogyny in movies for an English class. I thought this would be a great place to post it! All the statistics are accurate, and if you'd like the references let me know! Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments, I'd love to know everyone's opinion and experiences! Much love <3

 Sexism in Media Promotes Sexism in Consumers 

Introduction

   Throughout history, women have been excluded from media and literature. Unallowed any roles on the big screen, banned from the theater, punished for reading, and shown little female representation. 

   As society changed and women saw themselves more and more in the media, it didn’t fill them with the satisfaction they thought it would. Representation was not, and is not, often positive; or accurate. Sexist and inaccurate representation of women in the media has a negative impact on society. Consuming sexist materials in movies and shows allows for an audience to become familiar and unopposed to sexist ideals and actions in their own lives. 

   When men and women become familiar with sexist acts, its prevalence grows. Producers become less ashamed of including misogyny in their work, men become less ashamed of showing bias towards women, and women are constantly encouraged to think of themselves as inferior to men. The cycle never stops, misogynistic work is produced, it is received well by audiences, and then more misogynistic material is created. 

   In an article posted by Murray State University Digital Commons, a platform for sharing creative thoughts and research, it is explained, “Culture adherence to gender roles is often reflected in the media. Movies, in particular, can be useful in analyzing social conditions at the time of production, and to see changes in how sexism may present itself through the decades.” This shows that analysis of movies can be an accurate example of how a society may view women and everything they think a woman should be. 

Nudity in movies 

   One of the most common examples of how women are treated differently on screen from men is the amount of nudity shown in movies. According to a study researched by Nneka McGuire, an analyzer and editor for The Washington Post, “Female nudity on-screen is commonplace, at times even banal. A 2018 analysis of 1,100 popular films found that 25.4 percent of women had roles with some nudity, versus 9.6 percent of men.” This shows not only that the sexualization of women far surpasses that of men, but it also shows that out of actresses across 1,000 popular films, roughly ¼ participate in nudity. 

   The same study also produced results on the amount of revealing clothing on actors and actresses on screen. Of the women on screen, 28.4% were in revealing clothing compared to 7.5% of men. The objectification of women seems to know no bounds. According to the study, “13-20 [year] old females are just as likely as 21-39 [year] old females to be shown in sexy attire with some nudity, and more likely to be referenced as attractive.” What does this mean for an audience? Members of the audience that are young and impressionable learn that women and girls are sexualized based on surface factors such as clothes and appearance of face and body. Seeing naked women on screen constantly can enforce the idea that much of a woman’s worth lies in her body. For young men, this can be detrimental to the way they treat and view women. For young women, self image can be destroyed. A two-year study run by Oxford Journal of Communications, a platform for sharing theories and research results, shows “...viewing thin ideals and/or objectified content can contribute to body dissatisfaction, self-objectification and internalization of the thin ideal among some women.”

Gender roles in movies

   Gender roles are often fueled by misogynistic ideals. Women are not often portrayed as heroes or main characters in movies and are rarely dynamic characters. Nearly the majority of female characters are married, 46% of women compared to 34% of men. Inclusion of women in different genres is telling as well. Action movies yield 16% female protagonists and science fiction movies yield 8% female protagonists (Broom, 2020). Family movies however, yield 50% female protagonists and drama movies yield 28% female protagonists (Kenney, 2020).

   Fortunately, parents are aware of what the media is implying to their children and are doing their best to counteract the influence. A poll conducted by CNN, a news channel and website, revealed that, “...lots of parents are concerned about these issues, too. We polled nearly 1,000 parents across the country and found that they believe the media has a significant influence on their kids, from how girls should look and behave to how seeing violence can affect boys’ beliefs about themselves.” The hope is that as time goes on, movies will show less offensive material on women and the influence of offensive material will have less of an effect on its audience.  

Are things changing?

   Awareness of what producers are pushing on the big screen has allowed for a decline in sexism in movies over the past few decades. Though it still has prevalence today and though it still causes problems, studies run by The Independent, a journalism website, reported, “In the year 2000, less than 20 percent of all films had no sex or nudity, but this number increased to just under 50 percent in 2023.” This is showing positive change. However, the number of women’s roles have not changed according to a study conducted by Dr. Stacy L. Smith who is the Founder and Director of the Media, Diversity, and Social Change Initiative at the University of Southern California where she is also an Associate Professor. Her study yielded results showing “...less than a third of all roles go to girls and women… There's been no change from 2007 to 2015, and if you compare our results to a small sample of films from 1946 to 1955, there's been no change in over a half of a century.” Violence against women has also not changed. By age 19, ¼ of women will experience gender-based violence (Mao, 2022). This violence does not originate from the media but it is reinforced by it. Watching gender-based discrimination and violence on screen does nothing to prevent the epidemic in reality. However, less objectifying roles for women is a step in the right direction. 

   In reality, what is watched on television and in movies has a large real life impact on those who consume the media. It goes beyond entertainment. The way women are consistently portrayed as inferior and as objects change the way viewers think. Women internalize misogyny sometimes without even realizing it. They take on misogynistic views and discriminate against themselves, feeling a need to change themselves to fit a mold set by a sexist society. Men use misogyny to treat women negatively and believe there is nothing wrong with that because it's what they’ve spent their life consuming. 

   Fortunately the media has taken a turn for the better. Many producers have accepted the truth that mistreatment of women and misogyny in movies is not simply for entertainment or shock value. It is a mindset that, in one way or another, plaques all those who consume it. As more is learned through wisdom and research, a hope exists that the media that is presented to society is positive and reflects the behaviors it wants to see in its people.