Our blog revolves around the topic of Women in the Media. Our blog was created to portray and spread awareness of how women are depicted as sexualized objects, existing solely for male desires. We recognize how the media plays a large role in this issue. By creating this blog we hope to assist in destroying sexist stereotypes associated with women. Bloggers are able to explore various ways in which women are depicted as sexual objects in the media. At the same time, bloggers are able to explore media that works against damaging stereotypes of women. Hopefully, this will help reinforce positive views of women, and continue to aid in the deconstruction of negative stereotypes of women. The main goal of our blog is to empower women in society and inform the public of the media’s role in negative portrayals of women.
Women’s portrayal in the media is a popular topic of discussion in modern society. Habermas believed that the quality of society directly depended on its ability to communicate, debate, and discuss. In order for our blog to be successful, our society must maintain the ability to constructively debate important issues such as women and the media. The Internet itself is a technological revolution that has allowed numerous social movements to collaborate on a global scale. Our blog provides individuals with a new platform for mass audience participation. Before the Internet, social movements were often limited in terms of content they could deliver to the public. They were also geographically restricted in terms of who was able to participate and collaborate. Western society and the Internet are dominated by white, English speaking, educated males. These individuals are continuing to objectify women in the media, continuously reproducing stereotypes. Therefore this demonstrates the importance of promoting women’s social movements through the online community. The presence of our blog assists in countering ideologies held by the males who dominate the Internet. Habermas also believes that the public sphere has become a platform for advertising and public relations, which creates news that attracts attention. The sexuality of women attracts both male and female attention. Males desire the female body in a sexual aspect, while females often aspire to be the sexual female presented to them in the media. Our blog demonstrates how the success of using women’s sexuality in the media is continuously repressing women and their efforts to stop replicating negative stereotypes. Our blog is also an attempt to shift the focus of the public sphere from information that attracts attention to information containing important content.
Individuals participate within our social network for the reason that they believe this is an important movement that deserves attention. Participation varies based on factors such as gender, age, and location. The gender of an individual has a large effect on their response. A recent blog post featured an article discussing women in politics and political campaigns and the media’s obsession with their fashion opposed to their personality and intelligence. The media does not obsess over fashion in the same way with men in politics and political campaigns. The responses of males and females were very different from one another. One female responded discussing that false stereotype that all women are related to fashion. A male also responded referring to this article as insignificant. He also states that no one cares about women in politics or their fashion choices. Women are able to relate more to this issue and can add a more personal response. The male response represents the individuals who continue to reproduce negative stereotypes regarding women. Age is another factor that has a large influence on individual’s responses. This is evident in a blog post discussing women as sex objects in the media and how their exploitation affects violence and unequal treatment towards women. One young female responded that she was more accepting of female sexuality in the media because these are images she has grown up with. She also discusses her parents and how older generations are still appalled by the large amount of female sexuality portrayed in the media. An older mother responded to the same post arguing that the increasing acceptance of women depicted as sex objects in the media is only holding back progress for women. She believes this leads to the continuous reproduction of negative stereotypes concerning women. Different generations often have conflicting views on numerous issues. Public opinion has spread across international boundaries, creating a ‘transnational’ environment for numerous topics of discussion. We encourage participation from all members of the online global community to generate a broader range of ideas and opinions regarding women in the media. Responses from individuals participating in our blog reflect the different ideas and opinions. For instance, our Women in the Media social network featured a blog post featuring Carl’s Junior commercials that aired in television in the United States. Their commercials revolved around young female celebrities dressed in revealing clothing and acting sexual while eating a burger. One individual who is from Israel responded by comparing our Western culture that exploits women to their culture that has a deep respect for women and their bodies are considered sacred. Many individuals from the Unites States responded by discussing the genius of Carl’s Junior and other fast food company’s use of women’s sexuality to sell their products. This illustrates the differing levels of respect towards women in two different counties. Varying locations within the United States also affect the responses of individuals. One blogger from New York responded to the Carl’s Junior blog post by referring to the difference of women in the West coast versus the East coast. They referenced the fact that all of the women in these commercials are from the West cost, specifically Los Angeles. He believes the West coast is fake and focuses too much on sex, opposed to the East coast where he considers the girls to be classier.
Many of our blog posts focus on introducing various topics, ideas, or information in order to generate an online discussion. Our social network serves as an outlet for individuals to voice their opinions and articulate the issue. However, our social network also provides a way in which females can participate in their local communities opposed to only participating in the online environment. One blog post features information on popular workshops for female empowerment. The goal of this workshop is for women to make healthier decisions, create balanced relationships, be comfortable with their bodies, and to speak the truth. This workshop is promoting a positive view of women that is empowering and feminine, however not sexualized. Women can take this workshop in order to take further measures in reversing negative stereotypes against women. Participating in online discussion and debate is important; however participating with other individuals face to face is essential to combating this problem.
Our group made many observations regarding our social network. Using a blog as our platform to spread awareness and formulate discussion is dependent on finding and maintaining individuals to participate. We observed the difficulties that are involved with finding these individuals as well as getting them to interact within our blog. Initially the settings for our blog were set so only individuals with a Gmail account were able to participate. After realizing that this was keeping people from contributing to our blog, we changed the settings so anyone is able to respond and interact within our social network. We also observed the difficulties of marketing our blog and increasing traffic in terms of visitors and users. There are many blogs located online, many of which discuss the same topics. As a result, our group members made numerous attempts to find followers and individuals willing to participate. One method was finding individuals through a Facebook group that explained the topic and directed them to the blog. Another method involved e-mailing friends and family members requesting that they partake in our blog. We also posted the link to our blog on other social networking websites that deal with issues concerning women. We observed that contacting people we personally know via Facebook and e-mail was more successful in terms of recruiting individuals to participate. They seemed more willing to participate and to forward our blog to individuals they know due to the fact that we knew them personally.
