Soapbox By Ann Keegan Chambers For all the women who have struggled to keep a positive image in this “man’s world,” good news is on the horizon. No longer are women being forced to hold to unrealistic standards set by the media of yesterday. There has been a dramatic shift in gender power and now women are, more than ever, receiving a positive wrap from the media. It’s hard to argue that women are still being objectified and presented with a negative media image when so many changes have occurred since the beginning of the 21st century. The fashion industry has the worst reputation for the absurd standards set by the models on the catwalk and in advertisements. This standard, however, is slowly but surely being abandoned, and the fashion industry is working to alter the waif thin stereotypes that models are expected to adhere to. During the 2006 Fashion Week in Madrid, models that did not meet specific body mass index requirements were banned from the catwalk. In 2007, the Italian fashion label Nolita funded billboards that appeared during the Milan Fashion Week for the purpose of raising awareness of the industry’s affect on women’s perceptions of themselves. More recently, the 2008 Milan Fashion Week opened with a plus-sized model show. The television circuit is also adjusting to keep up with the ever-changing roles of women. Where there once were sitcoms with stay-at-home moms and their humorously clueless husbands, there are now women cast as successful and independent professionals. Many television shows, such as “Lipstick Jungle” and “Private Practice,” cast strong, working women as central figures. Women are also being provided with roles in the media that were traditionally thought to only be for males. The rise of women as sportscasters and the historic debut of Katie Couric as the first solo female anchor of a weekday network evening newscast are significant victories for women in the media. Women are no longer the menial sidekicks to their male counterparts in the world of communications and entertainment. While not all aspects of media and entertainment are concerned with improving the image of women, it is still important for our society to recognize and encourage the changes that are already being made. Whether or not the representation of women in certain media is positive or not, it is ultimately a woman’s own personal standards and her relationship with herself that determine the perception of her self image.
By Malia Griggs One of my favorite “Saturday Night Live” skits casts Tina Fey as Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin and Amy Poehler as Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton. The two hold a press conference and Fey says, “Reporters, stop using words that diminish us like pretty, attractive, beautiful …”, while Poehler continues the list with “… harpy, shrewd.” The election is over now, but the skit has an underlying point: The media too often categorizes women based on physical appearance and overly emphasizes the need for women to balance brains with beauty. Females in the media most often fall into two categories: hot or not. Sure, there are some driven women like Agent 99 in “Get Smart” or the women of “CSI”. However, these are impossibly thin women who kick ass for a living and flash lingerie at opportune moments. If they’re not saving the world, they’re troubled socialites (“The O.C.”) or overtly sexual (“Rock of Love”). If a woman isn’t hot, she’s a soccer mom or a socially inept, smart girl. Instead of a mirror, women are given a series of unrealistic models. A woman can be smart, but she must be gorgeous. She can be funny, but she should be an airhead. Real women are underrepresented. According to the White House Project, only nine percent of guests seen on Sunday morning news shows are women, and they speak merely ten percent of the time. The powerful women you do see, like Palin and Clinton, are pegged as sexy MILFs or witches with penis envy. This “beauty or beast” mentality has an affect on real women and the way they are treated by men. After watching TV shows like “Gossip Girl” where the main characters are scantily clad, girls are more inclined to go clubbing dressed in similar attire. Many clubs have a “ladies, dress your best” policy — meaning, the less you wear, the less you pay. There are also better drink specials for women than men. Encouraging women to drink more increases the probability of degrading treatment. Maybe the media is depicting real life, but blowing a debasing trend out of proportion instead fosters a negative representation of women. Womens’ image in the media has progressed since the days of June Cleaver wearing her pearls to vacuum the den, but female intelligence should be valued as more than a counterpart to aesthetic beauty. As SNL’s Hillary Clinton says: “I invite the media to grow a pair. And if you can’t, I will lend you mine.”