Violence is a term we hear and read about in our everyday lif
e. It is defined as an intended behavior to hurt other people physically, emotionally, or even mentally. Long before television or radio stations, the ancient Egyptians used to entertain themselves with plays that talk about the murder of their god Osiris. Those plays used to lead to many similar crimes. This shows that violence has always played a major role in entertainment and the audience has always been affected negatively by this type of entertainment. Statistics shows that media violence is increasing by 378 per cent each year.
The media can affect a wide variety of groups, but have the most influence on women. The way media portrays women in television, movies, and advertisements cause negative effects on women physically, and mentally. Every day, women are battered, sexually harassed, abused, raped and psychologically tortured in their homes, their workplace and society. We cannot say that media is the only cause of violence against women, but media did increase the percentage of violent acts towards women.
Since media, violence has become more graphic and much more sexual. Many people including children watch Female World Wrestling Entertainment where female wrestlers try to tear out each other’s hair and rip off each other’s clothes. Also, one of the top selling video games in the world which is Grand Theft Auto is programmed so players can beat prostitutes to death with baseball bats after having sex with them or raping them.In the year 2000, rap artist Eminem promoted violence against women through his violent lyrics.
"Don't you get it, bitch? No one can hear you.Now shut the fuck up, and get what's comin' to you... You were supposed to love me!!!!! (Sound of Kim choking)NOW BLEED, BITCH, BLEEDBLEED, BITCH, BLEED, BLEEEEEED!"(Source: From the song Kim, by Eminem)
Because of his promotion of violence, Eminem sold 679,567 copies of his album in Canada only.Also Madonna's 2002 music video What It Feels Like For a Girl contained such graphic violence that even MTV refused to air it more than once.
In the recent decades, images of women in mass media have been under examination. We can see violence in print ads, where a woman is used as a sexual object to attract the consumer and thus sell a product. Also we can see violence toward women in pornography. Women in these two types are constantly shown in submissive, silenced, and also victimized positions.
We have all experienced the power of imagery. Since visual imagery is non verbal, then the messages sent through it can be mysterious and of course opposing. The media provides to us, the audience, many visual imageries which have indirectly a huge impact on our lifestyle such as on our values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. An advertisement which is the most common type of imagery we are subject to in our everyday life uses women to attract the audience.
The portrayal of women in such advertisements shows an obedient and objectified creature. It is also easy to see that by using “perfect models”, the media is portraying an "ideal" body type. Therefore, teenage girls' perceptions of their own bodies are influenced by the perfection of these models. It has been proven that media is a strong force in creating the stereotype of the tall and thin women as the "ideal" beauty type. As female models have become thinner, women in society have tried to follow the trend. We heard and saw many cases of girls or women who tried to do whatever they can to become thin. Some of them even starved themselves to death, others became anorexic, and others could not get out of their house because they did not represent the “perfect” woman shown by the media.
Images in advertisements are giving power to men over women. Many of the crimes or aggressive behaviors we see or hear about towards women mirror the messages that are sent through the media. Using any women as an object for a male’s gaze or for increasing the sales of any product is morally and ethically wrong and leads to violence.
Also, in most of the pornographic movies or pictures women are portrayed as victims of rape or abuse and men are shown as the source of power. “When she says no, she means yes" is a typical porn scenario. Women are shown being raped, fighting and kicking at first, and then starting to like it. Porn teaches its viewers that enjoying hurting and abusing women for entertainment is acceptable. So, this scene becomes a fantasy in the mind of the viewers. Men will unconsciously abuse their girlfriends or wives because they saw a source of happiness and power in the picture or movie they have seen. The women in Playboy magazine are called "bunnies," making them cute little animals, thus making them a toy. Penthouse magazine calls them "pets." Porn often refers to women as animals, playthings, or body parts. Some pornography shows only the body or the genitals and doesn't show the face at all.
This is an advertisement from Sisley. Sisley’s advertising campaign in the last four years has been criticized a lot. Its’ advertisements are marketed toward young white, middle to upper class females reading fashion magazines. We notice in their campaign the usage of women. The audience can directly notice the aggressive behavior toward women. For example, the first thing we notice in this advertisement is the model’s face; she has a fearful and frustrated expression on her face. The man behind her is barely shown. Her hair is on her face as if she had quickly turned around to see him and see what he is trying to do. The position of her body is submissive since her hands are held behind her back as she lies on the couch. Her elbow is blocking the view of the man’s face. So, the man’s intentions are not known since we cannot see the expression on his face. This scene is not clear, but there is a sense of awkwardness.
The reduction of women to body parts for men’s consumption can significantly damage a woman’s self-respect. Men are not born to objectify women, but it is a learned behavior, primarily from images of passive women. Women are also not born to be obedient to men, but they learn through the messages sent to them by the media to be under the influence of men who have greater power over them.
Writing for the Web is one of the easiest skills a journalist can learn in this digital age. A reporter needs to think less in terms of filing a whole story and more in terms of filing in takes.
Jonathan Dube said:
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