Proposal

Feminism and media representations

For my research project, I have decided to focus on feminism and how it is projected in the media. Feminism from my point of view, has anything and everything to do with women and the roles and ideas they occupy in the society. Feminism deals with the idealistic ways women should act and behave.

Over the years, I have noticed that women are appearing more and more in ads. In fact, they seem to be appearing in ads even more than men are. Why is this? Aren't men viewed as the epitome of all living things? Is it because women are more attractive than men? Is it because women have a certain aura about them? Do women have a natural selling ability? In doing this research, I hope to find the answers to those questions.

Sometimes the media portrays women in positive lights, while other times they may be negative. Because of this constant label change and stereotyping of women, I want to research how women have been portrayed in the media throughout history up to now. I have a desire to know if the wave of women being displayed as sex symbols has minimized. I also want to uncover if women are playing new roles in advertisements. These new roles would consist of managerial positions, tough, and independent roles that men occupy. Do women have a chance at taking over commercials like Oxi-Clean and Shamwow which are advertised my men with demanding personas? I want to discover what the media pathway for women in the future will look like.

Not only do I want to discover the different ways women have been portrayed in history and compare it to how they are portrayed now, I would like to learn how women feel about the way they are portrayed. Do they accept that they are being portrayed as sex objects? Do they accept that they are never portrayed as a strong, independent, and highly paid individual? How do women want to be portrayed?

In doing this research project, I hope to uncover the answers to all of the above questions. Answering these questions will aid me in finding out what the future of women in media holds. It will give me an idea of what women expect from the media and how they would like to be portrayed. This information will be beneficial to women everywhere who want a change in the way women are being represented.