Women in Media: A Reference Handbook

by Amy M. Damico

Overview

This title provides a broad overview of how women are portrayed and treated in America's news and entertainment industries, including film, television, radio, the internet, and social media.

This book provides a one-stop resource for understanding the participation and representation of women in the U.S. media in such areas as narrative film, scripted television programming, advertising, video games, news, and sports. Coverage is wide-ranging and comprehensive, covering historical developments and trends as well as such relevant issues as gender disparities in pay and advancement opportunities, stereotypical gender portrayals in popular entertainment, sexual harassment in America's media and entertainment industries, and the dearth of positive media representations of women of color.

Engaging with this history and reading about current issues related to this topic will be useful to those interested in understanding more about why women's engagement in media—in such roles as performer, jourbanalist, producer, and writer—is important. It will also help readers better understand how and why problematic media representations of women hinder efforts to achieve full gender equality in American society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781440876059
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	07/08/2022
Series:	Contemporary World Issues
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	6.35(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.30(d)
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Amy M. Damico, PhD, is professor of communication and faculty adviser to the Endicott Scholars Honors Program at Endicott College in Beverly, MA.

Table of Contents

Preface xv

1 Background and History 3

Introduction 3

The New Woman in Early Media 5

Male Depictions of the Ideal "Girl," 7

Stereotypes of Women in Early Movies 10

Portrayals of Women during Hollywood's Golden Age 11

Women in Developing Media Industries 12

News 13

Film 17

Television 19

World War II Propaganda 20

Portrayals of Women in Postwar Entertainment Media 22

American Entertainment Media and Feminism 24

Approaches to Analysis: How Representations of Women in Media Are Studied 29

Theoretical Approaches 33

Common Stereotypes and Evolving Images of Women in Media 36

Women in Advertising 40

The Digital Age and Feminist Practices 44

Third-Wave Feminism 45

Conclusion 48

Bibliography 49

2 Problems, Controversies, and Solutions 61

Introduction 61

Women in Film and Television 61

Women in Film 65

Women in Scripted Television 70

Portrayals of Women Characters 73

Social Media, Gender, and the Entertainment Industry 75

Changing Dynamics and Positive Trends 78

Casting Controversies 80

News Coverage and Women 82

Women in News 82

#SayHerName 85

Persistent Gender Disparities in the Newsroom 86

Harassment of Female Journalism Professionals 89

Media Coverage of Female Political Candidates 90

Gender and Presidential Politics 93

Women in Sports Media 96

Gender Disparities in Media Production 97

Women in Advertising and on Social Media 101

Persistent Stereotypes 101

Pro-Female Advertising/Femvertising 103

Criticisms of Femvertising 105

Appearance-Focused Social Media Use 106

Thinspiration, Fitspiration, and the Body Positive Movement 107

Solutions 110

Changing Gender in the Media Landscape 110

Industry Responses 112

Increasing Media Literacy 115

Conclusion 117

Bibliography 118

3 Perspectives 139

Introduction 139

Magical and Difficult Women: Resisting the Waves of Feminism in Popular Television Sara E. Quay, PhD 140

Same Girl, Different Show: Representations of Young Femininity in Teen TV Lori Bindig Yousman, PhD 144

Defined by Desire and Dispossession: A Cautionary Tale about Early Film Representations of Native American Women Virginia McLaurin 148

No More Dragons, Lotuses, and Tigers? The Evolution of Asian American Women in the Media Melissa Yang, PhD 152

Women Discovered as Super Nora Hickey 158

From Panel to Platform: Women Comics Creators on Instagram Amaris Feland Ketcham 158

The Ava Effect: Women Amplifying Women behind the Camera Susan X Jane 166

Media Coverage of Women's Sport Dunja Antunovic, PhD Nicole M. LaVoi, PhD 169

Exposing the "Invisible Majority"-Representations of Women in News Media Julie Frechette, PhD 174

4 Profiles 181

Introduction 181

People 182

Lois Weber (1879-1939) 182

Lucille Ball (1911-1989) 184

Barbara Walters (1931-) 187

Caroline R. Jones (1942-2001) 190

Oprah Winfrey (1954-) 192

Geena Davis (1956-) 195

Joanelle Romero (1957-) 197

Christine Brennan (1958-) 199

Avis Little Eagle 201

Soledad O'Brien (1966-) 204

Shonda Rhimes (1970-) 206

Samantha Skey (1972-) 209

Mindy Kaling(1979-) 212

Chloé Zhao (1982-) 215

Influential Organizations and Representations 217

Ms. Magazine (1972-present) 217

The Color Purple (1985) 219

Sex and the City (1998-2004) 222

The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty 224

Orange Is the New Black (2013-2019) 228

Bibliography 230

5 Data and Documents 245

Introduction 245

Data 245

Film 245

Figure 5.1 Percentages of Women Working in Hollywood: 1910-2010 247

Figure 5-2 Percentages of Male and Female Characters in the Top Films of Each Year: 2007-2018 248

Figure 5-3 Percentages of Films with Gender-Balanced Casts in the Top 100 Films of Each Year: 2007-2018 249

Table 5.1 Exclusion of Underrepresented Women in the Top 100 Films of 2018 249

Scripted Television 250

Figure 5.4 Race/Ethnicity of over 5,100 Female Characters on Television: 2018-2019 251

News 253

Table 5.2 Numbers of LGBTQ Characters on Network, Cable, and Streaming Television Platforms in the 2019 Television Season 252

Table 5.3 Sexual Orientation of Regular and Reoccurring LGBTQ Characters in the 2019 Television Season 253

Table 5.4 Who Is Delivering News on Prime-Time Evening Broadcasts? 254

Table 5.5 Percentages of Women Journalists Reporting in Different News Areas 255

Table 5.6 Women and Men of Color Working in Local Television News 256

Sports Media 256

Figure 5-5 Gender and Athlete Breakdown of 1,587 Instagram Images from ESPN, Fox Sports, NBC Sports, and CBS Sports 257

Table 5.7 Percentages of Women Employed at Associated Press Sports Editor (ASPE) Newspapers and Websites: 2014, 2017, and 2021 258

Advertising 259

Table 5.8 Percentage of Advertising Characters Framed as Sex Objects in 251 Cannes Lions Film and Film Craft 2019 Advertisements 260

Table 5.9 #Femvertising Award Winners: 2015-2019 260

Documents 261

Document 5.1 Picturesque America, Anywhere in the Mountains by Charles Dana Gibson, c. 1900 261

Document 5.2 O'Hara, Neal R. 1920. "Those Fluttering Flappers: The Demi-Dame Who Is Too Young to Marry and Too Old to Believe in Santa." New York Evening World, April 20, 1920 263

Document 5.3 Congressional Hearing: "The Image of Aging in Media and Marketing," 266

Document 5.4 House Committee on the Judiciary Hearing: "Diversity in America: The Representation of People of Color in the Media," 270

Document 5.5 Reporter Sulome Anderson Speaks Out on Challenges for Women Journalists 274

Document 5.6 Congressional Resolution on Media Diversity 276

Bibliography 279

6 Resources 283

Introduction 283

Selected Books and Articles: Twentieth Century 284

Selected Books and Articles: Twenty-First Century 288

Contemporary Research Reports 301

Digital Resources and Audio/Visual Material 307

Organizations 312

Relevant Hashtags 318

Scholarly Journals 320

7 Chronology 323

Glossary 333

Index 339