Foundation Portfolio in Media Kayleigh Stevens - Keatley 6449

  Representation of Men/Masculinity       Easthope (1986) argues that a variety of media, especially Hollywood films and computer games, transmit the view that masculinity based on strength, aggression, competition and violence is biologically determined and, therefore, a natural goal for boys to achieve.   Gauntlett argues that there are still plenty of magazines aimed at men which sexually objectify women and stress images of men as traditionally masculine. Rutherford suggests that these magazines are symbolic if what he calls retributive masculinity  - an attempt to reassert traditional masculine authority by celebrating traditionally male concerns in their content, i.e. 'birds, booze and football'.   Gauntlett (2008) focuses on the relationships between the mass media and identity and argues that the mass media today challenge traditional definitions of gender and are actually a force for social change. There has also been a ne...

  Representations of Women/Femininity   Tunstall: (2000) Argues that media representations emphasise women's domestic, sexual, consumer and marital activities to the exclusion of all else. The media generally ignore the fact that a majority of British women go out to work. Men, on the other hand, are seldom presented nude or defined by their marital family or family status.   - Working women are often portrayed as unfulfilled, unattractive, possibly unstable and unable to sustain relationships. It is often implied that working mothers, rather than working fathers, are guilty of the emotional neglect of their children.   -Research into women's magazines suggests that they strongly encourage women to conform to ideological patriarchal ideals that confirm their subordinate position compared with men. Ferguson (1983) conducted a content analysis of women's magazines from between 1949 and 1974, and 1979 and 1980. She notes that suc...