This paper investigates why the media focuses on a woman’s image.
This paper expresses the oppression in which women in the media are living. The author discusses ways in which the media trivializes women and women’s issue, using many examples. Reasons are given as to why the media continue to focus on the image rather than the message, including that it is easy for them to do so, more profitable and keeps with the male domination ideology.
“The media concentrates more on a woman’s image than her message. The majority of media is male owned, and would have reason to do this. Media is also run for profit, and treating women as objects ensures greater profit. Examples of image rather than message are now the focus of attention. The media has many different ways to trivialize women and women’s issues. The mass media is mostly owned by large conglomerates and there are very few independent publications (Hope 1999). These conglomerates are owned by men like Rupert Murdoch, and the boards of directors are typically at least 90% male (Hope 1999). Women are highly unlikely to be editors of newspapers or any high profile magazines (Wolf 1996). Studies in the US have shown that the main job for women on newspapers is as a reviewer (Wolf 1996). This means that women are denied direct editorial input or content control.”