Rhea Sanghani

HIST 170 Prof. Mulkin, Tues/Thurs, 3:30pm

December 15, 2015
Women in the Media: All the Wrong Reasons
In todays advanced nations, societies are widely reliant on branches of technology and
mass media in order to connect to the greater world. The media serves to educate and promote
change, playing a large role in our society today.1 One of the key components of media coverage
is the fashion and beauty industry, in which people turn to for expressions of the perfect
woman and all things associated with her: the perfect look. Overtime, the stance on the
depiction of women and their gender roles in the media has evolved, but it still remains evident
today. The way the media portrays women influences people of all ages, from adults through
mainstream magazines, all the way down to children through Disney and animated movies. The
media has revolutionized our mainstream culture, over-influencing public opinion in various
areas, specifically the image of the ideal woman.
The media has been portraying men as the leaders of television and movies since 1975,
only with a few exceptions. In movies and television shows that are popular among children,
women are underrepresented and are symbolically annihilated.2 Childrens animated movies
stereotypically consist of a strapping male character destined to rescue the female protagonist,
usually a damsel in distress. While male roles in movies for children will depict a more violentdriven plot, women will usually deal with issues in the home and problems associated with

1Women's Media Center. "The Problem." The Problem. 2015. Accessed November 22, 2015.
http://www.womensmediacenter.com/pages/the-problem.

2 Arlene, Daniels, Gaye Tuchman, and James Benet, eds. Heart and Home: Images of Women in the Mass Media.
New York: Oxford University Press, 1978.

family situations and plots about interpersonal concerns. 3 The media has portrayed women in
the animation industry as the weaker sex, giving men the more prominent roles in the movies
that children watch and admire on a regular basis. 4 Movies like Tarzan, promote a strong,
masculine, male figure, as he kills a leopard with his bare hands, or when a domesticated Snow
White must await her prince to come to her rescue. A study of gender roles associated with the
top ten Disney movies of all time was conducted, and although female roles have evolved over
time, the bulk and foundation of the character still remains the same. The most significant issue
that these animated movies possess is the simple fact that children associate these movies with
what is normal, beliefs that could ultimately result in problems with self-confidence and false
views of reality. 5 A portion of this study focused specifically on the characters of the princesses,
and there were many traits that resembled each princess across the top ten movies that were
chosen for the research. According to Jolene Ewerts study at the University of Montana, all of
the princesses dressed very similarly, participated in singing and interacting with animals,
groomed themselves frequently, and participated in domestic activities like cooking and
cleaning. 6 Ewert argues that children will have a false representation of gender norms because
they idolize these female characters; the childrens admiration for the princesses is
uncontrollable, resulting in an incorrect, conformed way of thinking. Along with her study, Ewert
also created a chart that is shown below. By creating a visual, she allows audiences to understand

3 Arlene, Gaye, and James, 51.

4 Amanda Yerby, Samantha Baron, and Youjin Lee. "Gender Roles in Disney Animation." American Edu. 2015.
Accessed November 22, 2015. http://www.american.edu/soc/film/upload/gender-roles-in-disney.pdf.

5 Jolene, Ewert. "A Tale as Old as Time - An Analysis of Negative Stereotypes in Disney Princess Movies."
Undergraduate Research Journal for the Human Sciences. Accessed November 22, 2015.
https://www.kon.org/urc/v13/ewert.html.

6 Ibid, "A Tale as Old as Time - An Analysis of Negative Stereotypes in Disney Princess Movies."

the make-up of the average princesses character, and what the character will usually spend her
time doing. 7

The following video also provides an insight on the differences between sex and gender roles
that is ignored by Disney moviemakers. The video depicts the things that Disney has
incorporated into their films, and the misguided representation of women that has resulted from
them. The creator of the video mentions ridiculous acts committed by the princesses in order to
be with their true love. Examples include Ariel uprooting her family for her prince and Belle
withstanding forms of abuse for love. 8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oyGGwjPbLw

7 Jolene, "A Tale as Old as Time - An Analysis of Negative Stereotypes in Disney Princess Movies."
8 Gender Stereotypes Within Disney Movies. YouTube. 2011. Accessed November 22, 2015.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oyGGwjPbLw

The perfect woman takes on a new meaning in the medias use of all other types of
advertisement. All too often these days one will find an abnormally skinny, touched-up, dresseddown model on the cover of almost every popular magazine. Before, females were found on
covers of magazines that were aiming to appease male audiences; now, magazines with a female
audience are experiencing coverage of an ideal body, weight, and look. General magazines that
surround women are set up to embody the three Cs: Cooking, Cleaning, and Caring. 9 Images
on the covers of magazines are what first attract people to buy them. Nowadays, the media has
been using their concept of the perfect woman to guide society into believing that there is an
ideal way a woman should look. The concept that this appearance is the ideal one for all females
is spreading like wildfire among the women
who do not exactly resemble the models on
the covers of these magazines. For example,
the woman on the cover of Shape magazine
shown on the left is advertising this look for
the holiday season. The taglines around her
describe ways women can change their weight
and their body to resemble the model. 10
Magazines are a form of mass media that
creators have taken advantage of in order to
sway people into believing that there is an
ideal physical appearance that should be achieved by women. Unfortunately, women have
succumbed to the covers of such magazines, leading to the rise of anorexia and malnutrition in
9 Arlene, Gaye, and James, 98.
10 Shape Magazine. "20-Minute Workout." Shape, December 1, 2010.

the modeling and fashion industries. The NEDA, or the National Eating Disorders Association,
strives to help prevent eating disorders, fighting to help those who think they need to have the
perfect body. The organization argues that we have accepted that we reside in a mediasaturated world but we are not doing anything to control the message that they are
broadcasting to the general public. 11 Their research does conclude that although eating disorders
occur for multiple reasons, the impact of the media on television and in magazines has played a
part in the escalation of cases.
Mass media has become popular overtime and although it has changed and developed, it
continues to showcase messages that can be harmful to our society. Due to its powerful position
in our world, media is something that cannot be controlled, and because it serves as a means of
education and communication, the general public turns to it as a reference and a guide. The
public, ranging from children to adults, has formed an opinion about the various elements in
society; children have associated the gender roles found in Disney movies to be similar to those
found in a realistic community. The epidemic of the perfect body along with the perfect
woman has influenced females of all ages to believe that this look is the only acceptable one.
These influences have led to psychological issues regarding self-esteem and medical
complications of extreme weight-loss and anorexia. Though the media is a crucial part of our
society and is needed in order for our world to operate, its depiction of women has widely
influenced, and continues to influence, people too much, for the wrong reasons.

Word Count: 1312

11 NEDA. "Media, Body Image, and Eating Disorders | National Eating Disorders Association." Media, Body
Image, and Eating Disorders | National Eating Disorders Association. 2015. Accessed November 22, 2015.
https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/media-body-image-and-eating-disorders.

Bibliography
Baron, Samantha, Lee, Youjin, and Yerby, Amanda. "Gender Roles in Disney Animation." American
Edu. 2015. Accessed November 22, 2015. http://www.american.edu/soc/film/upload/genderroles-in-disney.pdf.

Benet, James, Daniels, Arlene, and Tuchman, Gaye, eds. Heart and Home: Images of Women in the
Mass Media. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978.

Ewert, Jolene. "A Tale as Old as Time - An Analysis of Negative Stereotypes in Disney Princess
Movies." Undergraduate Research Journal for the Human Sciences. Accessed November 22,
2015. https://www.kon.org/urc/v13/ewert.html.

Gender Stereotypes Within Disney Movies. YouTube. 2011. Accessed November 22, 2015.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oyGGwjPbLw

NEDA. "Media, Body Image, and Eating Disorders | National Eating Disorders Association." Media,
Body Image, and Eating Disorders | National Eating Disorders Association. 2015. Accessed
November 22, 2015. https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/media-body-image-and-eatingdisorders.

Shape Magazine. "20-Minute Workout." Shape, December 1, 2010.

Women's Media Center. "The Problem." The Problem. 2015. Accessed November 22, 2015.
http://www.womensmediacenter.com/pages/the-problem.