Part One Essay:

Media Impacts on Developing Female Social Roles

Olivia Giesbrecht-Coombs

HIST 457: Sexuality and Gender in Latin America

October 28th, 2021

Tucker Sharon
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This paper aims to explore how female representations in the media (telenovelas)

encourage or harm growth in female viewers’ social roles, education, and independence.

Arguments on this topic range from moderate views that don’t present a definitive stance, to

strong arguments claiming extreme benefits or extreme harm in the perceived role of women.

This synthesis of scholarship from 1991 to 2019 shows that representations of females in media,

often telenovelas, has both directly and indirectly impacted woman’s social roles, education, and

independence in an overall positive way.

Of the ten articles that contribute to the argument on how representations in the media

have contributed to changing female social roles, several agree that they have at least played a

role influencing society. Three articles that believe that representations in media contribute to

changes in society are written by Benavides, Porto, and Rowe and Schelling. Coming from

different points of view each author understands this argument differently but comes to a similar

conclusion. After regional analysis of North Mexico’s interaction with melodrama media – radio,

pamphlets, and telenovela – Benavides argues from a moderate perspective to show that media

reflects society but that this reflection forms a national identity for the viewers.1 Similarly, Porto

looks through the evolution of media through various political structures to show that media has

furthered social movements in Latin America.2 These movements can align with growth in

female social roles and independence, showing that while Porto does not directly contribute to

the argument there are implications of positive change for women’s issues. Furthering this

argument on social movements, Rowe and Schelling examine the effects of popular culture and

1
Benavides, O.H. "Melodrama as Ambiguous Signifier: Latin American Telenovelas and Narco-Dramas" (Drugs,
Thugs, and Divas: Telenovelas and Narco-Dramas in Latin America. Austin, University of Texas Press, 2008), 5.
2
Mauro Porto, “Telenovelas and Representations of National Identity in Brazil.” (Media, Culture & Society 33, no.
1, 2011), 63.
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the voice that media can give movements through widespread reflection.3 These three authors

show the broad ideas of the argument in how media impacts the choices of society, but they do

not delve into the specifics of the female experience.

Four authors that look more directly at the argument of female change are Sepúlveda,

Almeida, Hlormenyor, and Wilkin who all contribute to the idea that media does influence

society and that it benefits women’s social roles, education, and independence. Sepúlveda

contributes to the argument through a variety of different art and media representations, but

concludes that these demonstrations help to educate and empower woman to overcome social

roles that would harm them.4 Almeida worked directly with viewers of telenovelas in Brazil and

concluded that while everyone interprets these telenovelas differently many, particularly the

younger audience, are finding themselves empowered by the representations on screen.5

Hlormenyor approaches this argument by completing a municipal case study in female viewers

to argue that fictional characters are seen as role models and that the constant viewing of media

has greatly impacted the viewers behaviours.6 Wilkin follows this one step further by analyzing

statistical information and surveys to conclude that viewers acted on breast cancer education

found in the telenovela Ladron de Corazones.7 These authors help to prove that media, often in

the form of telenovelas, contribute to women’s education and encourage feminist changes that

3
William Rowe, and Vivian Schelling. Memory and Modernity: Popular Culture in Latin America. (London: Verso,
1991), 110.
4
Gabriela Aceves Sepúlveda. Women Made Visible : Feminist Art and Media in Post-1968 Mexico City. (The
Mexican Experience. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2019), 5.
5
Heloisa Buarque Almeida. “Telenovela and Gender in Brazil - Telenovela Way of Life.” (In Global Media
Journal. Acalpuco, 2000).
6
Collins Korley Hlormenyor,. “Telenovelas And Female Audience: A Study of Telenovela Viewers in The Tema
Municipality,” (2017).
7
Holley A Wilkin, Thomas W. Valente, Sheila Murphy, Michael J. Cody, Grace Huang, and Vicki Beck. “Does
Entertainment-Education Work with Latinos in the United States? Identification and the Effects of a Telenovela
Breast Cancer Storyline.” (Journal of Health Communication 12, no. 5, July 2007), 458.
 3

have a positive effect on women’s lives. Still, some authors disagree, showing the changes as

negative.

La Pastina and Tate both argue that the changes that can be seen from media are negative.

However, I would argue that they both make points that are in favour of my argument on positive

change for women. La Pastina completes a case study on the small town Macambira, beginning

their article with the shocking story of over-sexualised children.8 This is a persuasive way of

arguing negative effects in media. However, the described changes throughout the article hint at

more positive overall change as it shows the easing of strict gender roles to allow women to be

financial providers, gaining independence.9 Tate writes two articles about how telenovelas

portray women’s roles. Both articles look at the ideas of Marianism with her first article “The

Good and Bad Women of Telenovela…” showing how all women are shown as either good, like

Marian, or as bad and self-centered.10 She argues that these roles can help to reinforce and shape

negative gender roles. She looks at the issues again eleven years later in “Taming the Wild

Woman…” but this time she claims that women are allowed to be wild before eventually being

tamed into a Marian style of role.11 While both articles claim that these media representations

help to shape negative roles, they show progress as the roles seen in her second article are not as

immediately confining as in her first. These articles show how authors can reach different

conclusions in the same argument depending on their sources and viewpoints, as well as showing

8
Antonio C. La Pastina, "Telenovela reception in rural Brazil: Gendered readings and sexual mores." (Critical
Studies in Media Communication, 21 (2), June 2004), 163.
9
Pastina, 169-70. This switch to the financial provider was not caused by the telenovelas that the women of
Macambira were watching, but they do play a role in the comfort that women have in taking on these roles and
asking their partners to help take on roles that would have been traditionally considered feminine. Though, of
course, many men were not interested in taking on these roles even when they are not the financial provider, as they
are still uncomfortable with switching gender roles. In the context of telenovelas, this can be seen with the distaste
that they display with many of the telenovelas that their wives may be watching.
10
Julee Tate, "The good and the bad women of telenovelas: How to tell them apart using a simple maternity
test." (Studies in Latin American Popular Culture, 26, 2007), 99.
11
Tate, Julee. “Taming the Wild Woman in Twenty-First-Century Mexican Telenovelas.” Studies in Latin American
Popular Culture 36 (January 2018): 164.
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that generally, the argument tends to prove that progression in media has had a positive impact

on women’s roles. This progression in studying the impact of telenovelas has had one interesting

movement in recent years.

Current research on the impacts of telenovelas seems to have transitioned from South

America to Africa. When completing research on this argument I found that the majority of

articles that have been most recently completed and are available are from Ghana, whereas the

older facets of the argument have been primarily from cities in Brazil, Mexico, or on immigrants

from these regions to the United States. To keep this article consistent, I avoided most articles

that were from outside the original subject region. However, I included one article from Ghana

as this is a region where this argument has become very prevalent, and these similarities are an

effective way of showing the universality of positive change in women through feminist role

models in telenovelas.12 While there is no space in this paper, a comparison of South American

and African types of telenovela and the impacts of this media on female roles, education, and

independence would be an important area to study to understand how universal these changes

are.

After completing a brief historiography on the argument of female change due to the

media, it seems clear that telenovelas along with other forms of media play an important role in

changing female social roles, education, and independence. These articles show that the social

roles have changed with younger women following “other types of female behaviors” they

consider having “learned partially from TV” like the regular use of contraception that will keep

them out of maternal roles, unless it is something they want.13 Education has also been promoted

both outside of the media but also directly through educational storylines that can for example

12
Hlormenyor.
13
Almeida.
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“be successful at increasing knowledge” about breast cancer.14 Independence has also increased

for many “young women [who] cultivate most telenovela values… [including the] determination

to succeed in life in spite of challenges”.15 This range of research on the argument of impacts on

female roles proves that telenovelas can have a positive impact on social roles, education, and

independence.

Women’s roles, education, and independence have positively changed through time, and

in certain regions this can be in part attributed to the influences of telenovelas. While some

historians who look at the change caused by telenovelas don’t directly look at the impacts on

women their articles still normally indirectly show this process. Historians that do look directly

at women’s issues concerning the media are still arguing about the positive and negative aspects.

However, even when analyzing the arguments that push for the negatives many convincing

positives show in their arguments. Considering these arguments, it can be concluded that the

changes have been positive and the next area for this conversation to move to is a comparison of

these changes in the two main study areas: South America and Africa.

14
Wilkin, 465.
15
Hlormenyor, 62.
 Bibliography

Almeida, Heloisa Buarque. “Telenovela and Gender in Brazil - Telenovela Way of Life.” In
Global Media Journal. Acalpuco, 2000. https://www.globalmediajournal.com/open-
access/telenovela-and-gender-in-brazil-i.pdf.

Benavides, O.H. "Melodrama as Ambiguous Signifier: Latin American Telenovelas and Narco-
Dramas" in Drugs, Thugs, and Divas: Telenovelas and Narco-Dramas in Latin
America. Austin, University of Texas Press, 2008. Pp. 1-22

Hlormenyor, Collins Korley. “Telenovelas And Female Audience: A Study of Telenovela

Viewers in The Tema Municipality,” 2017.

La Pastina, Antonio C. "Telenovela reception in rural Brazil: Gendered readings and sexual
mores." Critical Studies in Media Communication, 21 (2): 162-181. June,
2004. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=ufh&AN=13308004&site=ehost-live

Porto, Mauro. “Telenovelas and Representations of National Identity in Brazil.” Media, Culture

& Society 33, no. 1 (2011): 53–69. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443710385500.

Rowe, William, and Vivian Schelling. Memory and Modernity: Popular Culture in Latin
America. London: Verso, 1991. Pages 97-113.
Sepúlveda, Gabriela Aceves. Women Made Visible : Feminist Art and Media in Post-1968
Mexico City. The Mexican Experience. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2019.
https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=2023990&site=eds-
live.

Tate, Julee. “Taming the Wild Woman in Twenty-First-Century Mexican Telenovelas.” Studies

in Latin American Popular Culture 36 (January 2018): 161–77.
https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=s3h&AN=138993435&site=eds-live.

Tate, Julee. "The good and the bad women of telenovelas: How to tell them apart using a simple
maternity test." Studies in Latin American Popular Culture, 26 (2007): 97-111.
(http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=a9h&AN=28516986&site=ehost-live )
Wilkin, HolleyA., ThomasW. Valente, Sheila Murphy, MichaelJ. Cody, Grace Huang, and Vicki
Beck. “Does Entertainment-Education Work With Latinos in the United States?
Identification and the Effects of a Telenovela Breast Cancer Storyline.” Journal of
Health Communication 12, no. 5 (July 2007): 455–69. doi:10.1080/10810730701438690.