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Bristol Fawcett Society and Bristol Feminist Network’s Representation of Women in the Media project invites the Bristol public to explore and investigate the ways in which women are portrayed in the media, and to discover more about how women are represented, misrepresented or unrepresented in the media in 2009 Indymedia Film Night: Women and the Media
Snapshot of last year’s Results Absence: • Of 28 films showing at the Watershed, 4 were directed by women • At the Comedy Tavern, there were NO female performers between 15th October and the 15th November 2008 • A day in the life of CBeebies revealed that ALL the story narrators were male, and only 30% of the characters were female • An hourly sampling of TV revealed men were on the screen 8/10 times, women 5 out of ten times • The November Observer Sports Monthly had 177 pictures of men, but only 13 of women
Snapshot of the 07/08 Results cont’d Idealised images and the pressure to be beautiful • We counted 521 covers of magazines in WHSmiths and Borders • 291 had idealised images (to be looked at), 84% of idealised images were of women, 16% were of men. • 230 covers had images of people doing things. 85% of ‘doing’ images were of men. 15% were of women. • There was 1 image of an older woman – on the cover of a caravan magazine.
Images of women in magazines - Vogue • I looked at images in ads and fashion shoots in Vogue and Grazia • I looked at images of women with “character”, images of women in highly sexualised or undressed poses, and women with blank expressions. • The totals? In Vogue, 20 women had character, 48 women were naked or sexualised, 55 had blank expressions
Images of women in magazines - Grazia • In Grazia I measured the same image types. I found that: • 7 women had character • 12 images were highly sexualised • 14 images had blank expressions
The copy accompanying the photoshoot: • “Lara Stone is reclining in layers of Oscar de la Renta black tulle for Mario Testino. Not a murmur passes her pornographically full lips…she’s meant to be shy, but she has just growled like a big cat…a face and body of a seventies Playboy Bunny…it is hard not to stare at the naked Venus with the 32D breasts”
Negative and Positive Headlines • I looked at a range of weekly magazines over 3 weeks: • Heat, Grazia, Look, Star, OK, Reveal, New, Now, Closer • And looked at whether the headlines were positive about women, negative about women, positive about men or negative about men. • Some headlines were neutral or about men and women
Some headline examples • Stacey Pushed too Far (Now) • Jordan hits rock bottom (New) • Tearful Cheryl (Star) • Posh and Cheryl Fight for their marriages (Closer) • Cheryl’s Crisis (Look) • Tina O Brien’s Split Misery (Closer)
And my FAVOURITE! • Coleen’s Tears after 3 hour labour (Closer)
The Positive Headlines - women • The majority of the positive headlines were about weight loss and having a baby. • These are, of course, achievements, but no mention or celebration was made of the women’s careers or successes beyond their body and family status.
The positive headlines - men • Most of the male headlines were about X Factor contestants and Peter Andre • A lot of the stories with Peter Andre involved him criticising his ex wife Jordan for going on I’m a Celebrity Get me Out of Here, despite the fact that he had also been working the celebrity circuit.
Conclusion • According to magazines, women need to present a sexualised expression of their bodies, or have no expression at all. • Magazines tell us that women are always in crisis, falling apart and on the brink • The only successes women have are weight loss and having a baby • In magazines men can criticise women for behaviour they do themselves
The Sunday Times...... or The Sun? Both owned by News International Ltd Stephanie
The Style Section Teeter no more, ladies!
Two weeks later......we’ve had shoes. Now we have handbags... Style section, (22nd November 2009)
Travel section – 8th November 2009An article on tropical holidays
The Sports Section 15th November 2009 18 pages of sport 1 article about “women who lost the plot” 8th November 2009 22 pages of sport 1 page with photographs of women 22nd November 2009 1 photograph of a woman – in an advert
The In Gear section – cars, gadgets and games... An article about the first female Red Arrows pilot Headline inside....”The Red Arrows turns strawberry blonde” “Moore will need to fly just 4 feet off her leader’s wing”
The ‘In Gear’ section – one week later WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2010 “Convincing portrayals of bikini-clad wrestling “divas”..” An article about sailor, Sam Davies “Sam Davies occasionally sails naked but is packing thermals for a perilous race across the Atlantic”
Front page news....15th November 2009 An article about Belle de Jour, glamourising prostitution? “She found an escort agency and started her secret life. “I did have another job at one point, as a computer programmer, but I kept up with my other work because it was so much more enjoyable.””
And more Style.... An article about toys..... (22nd November 2009)
And something for the boys.... Style section, (22nd November 2009)
Calumet photographic product catalogue November 2009 Jessica Burton Gender Balance in Photography
Guardian Sports Pages, November 200925 days (Monday – Saturday)Total number of images: 1048 Alex
Total images: 10481019 images of men (average of 40 per day)28 images of women (2.7%; average of 1.1 per day)
5 were head-and-shoulder shots of journalists writing articles
