4) Medias representations of age, social class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and disability

Question 1

Identify ways the media suggest the ways in which women have been presented in the media, are limited?

Answer 1

Allocated a limited number of roles.
Less visible in media then men.
women are presented as ideals
women selected to appeal to men
women are seen as victims.

Question 2

Describe a limited number of roles ?

Answer 2

Women are presented in a narrow range of social roles in the media whilst men perform the full range of social and occupational roles.
Women are often found in domestic settings.
Women are rarely shown in high status occupational roles, such as doctors and lawyers. If they are they are shown to have problems with their usual circumstances – unfulfilled, unattractive, unstable relationships – or if they have children they are shown to be irresponsible

Question 3

Describe less visible then men?

Answer 3

In 1990, 89% of voice-overs were male.
Women were the main stars of only 14% of mid-evening TV.
Newbold (2002) – TV sport presentation shows that what little coverage there is tends to sexualise, trivialise, and devalue women’s sporting accomplishments.
Tuchman – symbolic annihilation – the way in which women in the media are absent, condemned, or trivialised.

Question 4

Describe women as ideals?

Answer 4

Ferguson (1983) – conducted a content analysis of women’s magazines between 1950-1980 – she noted that such magazines are organised around a cult of femininity which promotes an ideal where excellence is achieved through caring for others, the family marriage and appearance. Modern female magazines especially those aimed at teenagers are moving away from these stereotypes – although Ferguson argues that even these tend to focus on him, home and looking good (for him)

Winship (1987) stresses the supportive role such magazines play in women’s lives. She argues that they present women with a broader range of options than before and they tackle problems ignored by male dominated media such as domestic violence and child abuse.

Question 5

Describe women appeal to men (sex appeal)

Answer 5

Women are often presented as a sexual object to be enjoyed by men – the most extreme example of this is pornography and page 3 girls.
Men’s magazines such as FHM and Maxim encourage young men to dress, smell and consume in particular ways, however less pressure on men to change themselves to this ideal.
Women on the other hand may feel the need to conform to ensure they are desirable.

Question 6

Men and media portrayal- what is the masculinity myth?

Answer 6

Easthorpe (1990) argues that a variety of media such as Hollywood films and video games give this impression that a real man is based on his strength aggression and violence. However this is an ideological myth as the majority of men are unable to reach this goal of true hegemonic masculinity.

Question 7

What is the metrosexual male ?

Answer 7

Image created by the media of men using all new products and caring about fashion to reflect the change of social attitudes of men

Question 8

when did the term emerge and why?

Answer 8

1980’s-the emergence of a new breed of glossy magazines aimed at m/c men saying:
Men are emotionally vulnerable
Men should be in touch with their feminine side.
They should treat women as equals
They should care more about their appearance.
Active fatherhood is important

Question 9

Do Mens magazines have a positive influence on the modern man?

Answer 9

Gauntlett (2008)- studied FHM magazine- extremely positive it encourages men to be caring, considerate lovers, useful in home, fashionable and funny.

colliers (1992)- Mens mags are contradictory their is often pictures of the rugged macho man still in circulation and women are often sexualised.

Question 10

Identify the two models to do with disability?

Answer 10

Medical and social model

Question 11

Karpf argues the media has two approaches to disability, identify them and the model this come under?

Answer 11

Medical- The obsession with miracle cures

The obsession with disabled people as victims

Question 12

Explain the two approaches the media has of disabled people according to Karpf?

Answer 12

We are encouraged to pity the disabled and praise them for courage and dealing with their problems. These victims appear on telethons so we treat them as charity cases. Medicine is seen as a cure and charity organisations supply funding and support of this. Karpf believes that this humiliates disabled people and can come across as patronising.

Question 13

Philo (1999) – alongside GUMG found what about disabled people?

Answer 13

TV and press reporting of people suffering mental disabilities often focuses on violent incidents despite the fact that only a small minority of people with these disorders are potentially violent.
This portrays people with mental disabilities as violent and gives them a negative stereotype.

Question 14

The social model argues disabilities are the outcome of what?

Answer 14

social barriers.

Question 15

Describe two pieces of research for the social model ?

Answer 15

Cumberbatch and Negrine – found that there were no disabled people on any of the current affairs programmes or TV quizzes. They also made up only 0.5% of characters in fictional programmes.

Agyeman (2003) – content analysis between 1993 and 2002 indicated that little has changed over the years. In 2002 they made an appearance in 11% of programmes surveyed but accounted for only 0.8% of all people who spoke.

Question 16

Barnes did a content analysis of both electronic and print media to and identified images of how disabled people are portrayed, identify 5?

Answer 16

pitiable and pathetic
super cripples
objects of ridicule
own worst enemy
burden and dependent

Question 17

British children and often depicted in the British media in positive ways. Content analyses of media products suggest that eight stereotypes of children are frequently used by the media, identify 4 of them?

Answer 17

As victims of horrendous crimes – some critics of the media have suggested that white children who are victims of crime get more media attention than adults or children from ethnic minority backgrounds. For example, the Madeline McCann case or the Boxing Day tsunami when the media focused on a Swedish boy who had lost his entire family rather than the rest of the victims.

As accessories – stories about celebrities such as Madonna, Angelina Jolie or the Beckham’s may focus on how their children humanise them.

As modern – the media may focus on how children ‘these days’ know so such much more ‘at their age’ than previous generations of children.

As active consumers – television commercials portray children as having a consumer appetite for toys and games. Some family sociologists note that this has led to the emergence of a new family pressure ‘pester power’ the power of children to train and manipulate their parents to spend money on consumer goods that will increase the children’s status in the eyes of their peers

Question 18

How are the youth often portrayed in the media?

Answer 18

Youth are often portrayed by news media as a social problems, as immoral or anti authority and consequently constructed as folk devils as a part of a moral panic. The majority of moral panics since the 1950s have been manufactured around concerns of young people’s behaviour.

Question 19

Explain what Wayne et al found in his content analysis of 2130 news items across main TV channels (2006)

Answer 19

They found that young people were mainly represented as a violent threat to society, it was rare for news items to feature a young person’s perspective or opinion. They note that the media only delivers a one dimensional picture of youth, one that encourages fear and condemnation rather than understanding.

Question 20

What does Wayne et al argue?

Answer 20

they argue that it distracts from the real problems that young people face in the modern world such as homelessness , not being able to get onto the housing ladder, unemployment or mental health and that these might be caused by societies, or the government’s, failure to take the problems of youth seriously.

Question 21

How are the elderly depicted in the media?

Answer 21

Newman (2006) – notes that upper class and middle class elderly people are often portrayed in television and film dramas as occupying high status roles as world leaders, judges, politicians, experts and business executives. 
It can be argued that old age is generally devalued by the media industry. This is particularly apparent in the advertising of beauty products aimed at slowing down the ageing process or hiding it all together. On the whole, research suggests that the elderly are largely invisible across a range of media and when they do appear they are often negatively stereotyped.

Question 22

What did Butsch (2002) find about w/c in the media?

Answer 22

TV recreates the stereotype of white working class men as buffoons who are immature, irresponsible and require the supervision of their betters. In comparison, working class women were portrayed as being smarter than their partners – for example the Simpsons.

Question 23

what did Ehrenheich (1989) find about w/c in the media?

Answer 23

TV rarely represents the interests of working class people. News and current affairs programmes feature ‘white, professional experts’ to discuss issues of relevance to the working class.

Question 24

Are there any positive representations of the w/c in the media?

Answer 24

ince the 1960s here have been attempt to adopt a more realistic and sympathetic approach to working class life with Cathy Come Home, The Full Monty, Brassed Off, Shameless and The Street.

Question 25

What did Curran and Seaton find in relation to the w/c?

Answer 25

Newspapers aimed at working class audiences assume that they are uninterested in serious analysis of either political or social organisations of UK society. 
Political debate is reduced simply to conflicting personalities.

Question 26

How are the m/c represented?

Answer 26

Over represented in TV dramas. They’re generally portrayed as concerned with manners, decorum and respect.
Most Newspapers are aimed at M/C (daily mail, the telehgraph), they reflect m/c concerns such as immigration, terrorism and unemployment.

Question 27

How is the upper class represented?

Answer 27

very rarely negative, there is a idealised portrayal of wealth.
Reiner and Young- media represents society as meritocratic.

Question 28

When was male homosexuality made legal in the UK?

Answer 28

1967 Sexual Offences Act

Question 29

Identify the typical stereotypes of gay men and women?

Answer 29

men- camp, macho, deviant, flamboyant and funny

women- butch, short hair, aggressive, hairy, dungarees

Question 30

What did Gross say about homosexuality in the media?

Answer 30

when gay/lesbian characters do appear in story lines they are often played as a supportive role for natural order in society – they adhere to the view that heterosexually is the natural way and suppress their attractions. This means that gay/lesbians are negatively stereotyped and portrayed as inferior.

Question 31

What did Mcqueen say about common stereotypes of homosexuality in the media?

Answer 31

common stereotypes those of the homosexual man being identified by a mincing walk and camp voices and as lesbians as being butch dungaree-wearing feminists.

Question 32

How are representations of homosexuality changing in the media?

Answer 32

Due to their being more acceptance, they’re becoming more visible and more positively stereotyped.

Advertising are starting to engage to attract a previously untapped market- gay consumers, also to draw on the hipness of gay lifestyle in order to sell more products.

the perception of the gay plague has changed, it’s no longer seen as a proletariat epidemic. Gay activists and medical authorities have successfully changed the view (critcher,2000)

Question 33

What did Bernstein say about media representations of homosexuals?

Answer 33

They’re not true representations because in most cases they’re constructed from a heterosexual point of view and aimed at a heterosexual audience.

Question 34

How are minority ethnic groups represented in the media?

Answer 34

Almost always as a problem. They’re often reported as the cause of social disorder and crime.

Question 35

What did Van Dijk find in his content analysis of papers in the 80’s?

Answer 35

A positive representation of white British citizens and a negative presentation of non- white British citizens.
Minority groups were barely mentioned.

Question 36

What does Van Dijk show?

Answer 36

the voice of British press was predominately ‘white British’.

Question 37

What did cottle find about stereotypes of Blacks and Asians?

Answer 37

a large proportion of them are negative images that are being portrayed.

Question 38

Hall identified two types of racism, what are they?

Answer 38

overt and inferential

Question 39

describe overt racism?

Answer 39

Racism that’s apparent in racist arguments (less common)

Question 40

describe inferential racism?

Answer 40

Racism that’s coverage seems balanced yet is based on racist assumptions.

Question 41

What are stereotypes like today of ethnicities?

Answer 41

Different as we’ve become more accepting of other cultures etc.

the ideal of public service broadcasting has allowed Black programming to develop, the emergence of Black British Cinema through films such as My Beautiful Launderette.

Programmes such as the Desmond and Fresh prince of bel air become popular with the cast being primarily ethnic minorities.

Black and Asians and other ethnic minorities are now able to play ‘‘ordinary’’ characters with many being the main characters. Also becoming massive names in the media industry e.g. Will Smith, Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman and Samuel L. Jackson.