The Role of Media in Stereotyping Women

In less than 24 hours, the #MeToo became one of the most trending topics on Twitter with over a
million tweets and a significantly large no. of shares on other social media platforms. From celebrities
like Lady Gaga, Mallika Dua to millions of other women, the movement had gone viral. As rightly pointed
out by feminist writer Sharanya Manivannan, this campaign ' provided space for people to be vulnerable
about experiences across a spectrum, without having to be specific and its sheer cascade filling one's
social media feed demanded attention.' The #MeToo campaign to raise awareness of sexual harassment
and assault proved the power of social media for activism.

Social media or in general, the media today has shed light on women’s issues that were not previously
discussed, and enhanced conversations around topics not considered conventional by the general
population. It has triggered participation in real-life campaigns. And in many cases, seemingly simple
hashtags have initiated change. It is, therefore, beyond doubt, that the media through its power of
dissemination and reach has become one of the most massive tools for women empowerment.
However, a careful scrutiny of the other end of the spectrum gives an insight into the not-so-beneficent
side of the story.

Warm but incompetent and competent but cold are the two most common ways in which a woman is
being stereotyped today and the media industry is no different. The media have portrayed women into
two dichotomous fronts: the good woman and the bad woman. These subtypes are generally
juxtaposed against each other to dramatically elevate the so-called difference between the two. This
difference is further being oscillated between two extremes as the good woman being 'Mother India'
who is pretty, respectful, more confined to home, family caring and making a lot of sacrifices for others.
They are often shown as being willingly subordinate to men, often victimized, and as loyal wives and
mates. This is often done by either making their career orientations, non-existent or by dampening
independent views of the working women to make them more consistent with the normative and
traditional views on femininity in particular and 'gender' in general.

The other extreme consists of the bad woman or the 'glamorous girl' who is represented as highly
ambitious who could go 'to any extent' to make her ways, as hard, cold, aggressive, bitch, whore, in
short, all of the things a good woman isn't supposed to be. More than anything else, it gives room for
the strengthening of a divide-and-rule strategy. This is so because instead of collectively questioning the
system that assigns them such labels, it instigates women to focus only on individual self to compensate
for their perceived flaws. Consequently, most women accede to these juxtapositions, even embracing
their assigned subtype, which results in competing tribes within the system leaving women
disempowered and divided. Unfortunately, media have not been able to overcome these stereotypes
associated with women in India.

Further, in advertising and in magazines, women are usually portrayed as young, slim and with beauty
that meets the accepted standards. This is one classic way of objectifying women. Such partial and
unjust representation of women's body in advertisements as having slim legs, prominent breasts and
thighs forbid one to perceive that body as subjective beings with a personality, thoughts and emotions.
They are simply, as physical objects, to be studied on the basis of outer representation. The story does
not end here. A study reveals that 78 % of images of women in advertisements belong to the “young”
age group (under 30), presumably because our culture worships youth and beauty in a woman. Elderly
women are often depicted as sick, dependent and unimportant part of the population. Although, TV
advertisements tend to include more middle-aged women than magazines, there no. is quite small.
Moreover, their portrayal is often confined to as this single person doing endless household chores,
allowed to take a break only when she cries out of pain. It is at this point that the family validates her
presence and she is being taken care of by her husband who offers her to apply ointment. This relief,
however, lasts for a few seconds and there she is, back on her feet, all set take up bombardments of
orders and demands all over again.

Further, Women, in general, are most often presented in commercials as making everyday purchases
like groceries, baby products, etc. Men generally advertise cars, cigarettes, business products or
investments. It's a saddening fact that in spite of having an equal proportion of male and female
employees in companies like TCS, WIPRO, INFOSYS, when it comes to advertising, more often than not it
is the men who are projected behind the monitors whereas women are shown rather in the
commercials with cosmetics wearing 'fair and lovely' and a pink dress to become a cricket commentator.

Given the media's stereotypical approach, it's not surprising to find that men and women relationship is
also depicted in such a way that, the stereotyping is often reinforced. This sort of depiction ranges from,
firstly, women's dependence on men for almost everything. Be it booking tickets online or fixing
gadgets, women are often shown as these parasitic good-for-nothing elements whose both knowledge
and interest is limited to spending her partner's money on shopping and kitty parties. A second
recurrent theme in media representations of relationships is that men are the competent authorities
who save women from their incompetence. Men are being portrayed as the saviors of women at home,
workplace, and streets from any danger that may befall them. A woman defending herself from
suspicious and objectionable activities is a rare treat. This makes women audience more vulnerable to
calling for help in case of slightest danger rather than trying to handle it all by herself. A final theme in
these mediated representations is the representation of women as subject to men's sexual desires. The
consistent exposure to programs and commercials that illustrate women as decoration, consumable,
acted upon, to-be-used and sexualized objects desensitize the population and such representations
become more acceptable. There are subtle instances of objectification which may seem harmless, but,
in reality, have far-reaching consequences, producing a crowd of unaware, ignorant and insensitive
population being convinced that sexualizing women is normal.

The list is endless and even though India shines, there is a significant half of population which dooms
under darkness. With the advent of mobile phones and computers, the reach of media today is beyond
imagination. Media, which was just a reporting source earlier, now plays the strongest contender in
shaping, influencing, and revising public opinion. This burdens it with greater responsibility of closely
scrutinizing what it delivers and at the same time supervising its implications. If it does so, there would
be more frequent instances of a five-year-old girl persisting for a GIJOE instead of a BARBIE in the toys
section, thus breaking stereotypes.

Submitted By:-

Sourabh Singhal
Radio & Television Department
IIMC, New Delhi