Influence of Mass Media
By Maya
The term mass media describes many forms of entertainment: television, film, music, newspapers, magazines, the Internet, and advertising. For decades these resources have been available to people of all ages. Because this is where we receive most of our information, it is used by media organizations to target and impact America’s youth. Idealized beauty standards, irrelevant sexualization, and domestication are only some of the ways that young women in the media are portrayed today. This article provides a general overview of how many of the things we are used to seeing, are sending a negative image to young people everywhere.
Let’s be honest, the average person in this country does not look like Angelina Jolie, Halle Barry or Giselle Bundchen. So why is it that average women are not represented in mass media formats? It’s actually a simple answer. Idealized beauty standards are seen everywhere from commercials, to TV shows and movies.
The ideal of beauty has dramatically changed throughout the years, considering that Marilyn Monroe was a size 14 at the height of her career. In today’s media environment she would have been expected to be at least 5 inches taller and weigh at least 25 pounds less. This ideal puts pressure on young women to look like the people featured in music, magazines, film and many other mass media formats, even if the goal of being that thin is unattainable without harming your body’s health.
The film industry is one that has a major effect on how young women are viewed in society. Young women often have roles as passive and vulnerable characters who tend to leave the tough, strong and assertive roles to men. Women’s roles are written with irrelevant sexualization – their characters primary function is to please men. They ten display risqué and careless behavior. For example, wouldn’t it make sense that if two characters in a film are going to have sex that either one of them wears a condom? Especially if the target is a young audience since this is the population in which HIV has increased the most. Yet women in the movies rarely take steps to protect their sexual health.
The music industry just like the film industry exhibits the use of irrelevant sexualization to attract an audience of young people. Music videos showcase behavior that is just as promiscuous as what you see in film. Women’s bodies are constantly displayed in a sexual way, and this behavior is imitated by young girls across the country who idolize them. Another negative portrayal is domestication. The majority of commercials about house products or child care are still aimed at women. This reinforces the sexist and dated stereotype of women only working inside the home (and men never contributing to housework or child care).
It is clear that images of young women in the media have a tremendous impact on young people everywhere. Whether it is through film, music, or any other mass media format the public is constantly pressured to fit into today’s ideal of what beauty is. Young people are influenced to act like the characters they watch on TV. It seems that now more than ever in an industry obsessed with youth, there is no better way to describe what really matters than with the age old saying “sex sells”.
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