Effects of Mass Media Messages: The Women's Liberation Movement

What does one call a platform that enables feminism while simultaneously undercutting it? Today that coy, back-stabbing ally of the women's liberation movement goes by the name mass media. Historically viewed as a liberal outlet, mass media typically favors a libertarian approach to controversial issues in terms of granting attention and coverage (Media Bias, 2009). Thanks to the largely liberal nature of the women's liberation movement, early feminism found a natural fit for discussion and dissemination in media. Whether or not outlets associate themselves with a liberal worldview, historical focus on objectivity and fairness has lent a sense of liberalism to the open airing of controversial issues (Media Bias, 2009). Thus, regardless of the politics or leanings of reporters, editors, or publishers, the libertarian approach of mass media toward early issues of feminism ensured the issues were brought into the public light of debate. Although the attention it attracts has often been demeaning (Bronstein, 2005), the feminist movement has generated consistent awareness through media over time. However, mass media has not been kind toward feminists, and hostile, inaccurate stereotyping continues to emerge through media imagery, messaging, and inherent attitudes today.

The women's liberation movement is historically "misrepresented and maligned" ( 2) at the hands of journalists who tend to stereotype feminists and frame the movement in terms of outdated perceptions (Bronstein, 2005). Today, according to Bronstein, journalists tend to perpetuate misperceptions by failing to distinguish between the differing values, goals, and ideals embraced by those engaged in evolving waves of the feminist movement. As evidenced by recent mass media features and advertisements compiled by The Gender Ads Project (Lukas, 2002), vicious feminist stereotypes endure in pieces such as a male-biased November 2003 Maxim magazine article purporting to "Cure a Feminist: Turn an unshaven, militant, protesting vegan into an actual girl!" This misguided and intolerant directive, purporting to be an informative source, alludes that men have the power to change women's minds and mold women into whatever men want to make of them. Other print depictions of women's liberation, such as that displayed in an also male-oriented Cake magazine photo spread obtained by The Gender Ads Project, continue to focus on errant stereotypes of feminists as sex-starved lesbians, entertaining male audiences with images of prostrate, half-naked female forms.

However, these types of negative reinforcements are not new to mass media. Although media has been instrumental in allowing the voices of the women's liberation movement to be heard, it has also acted to counteract feminist progress by perpetuating gender hostility and stereotypical imagery. A wide selection of advertisements that reference feminism reveals the media industry's largely inhibiting attitude toward feminism over time (Lukas, 2002). Portrayals of feminism in media often serve to trivialize, such as in the case of a Playtex magazine advertisement that claims "the new women's movement" embodies itself in a brand of bra. Another magazine example includes Kenneth Cole's recurring advertising themes, which indicate women have fulfilled their rights now that they have established the right to choose fashionable shoes. Media portrayals also occasionally attempt to sexualize the feminist, as a bikini-clad "women's studies" scholarship hopeful photographed in the pages of Stuff magazine demonstrates. These depictions, when taken as the whole presented by The Gender Ads Project, highlight the overwhelming bias of product marketers and male-oriented magazine editors who serve to inform the public about their offerings while reducing women's thoughts, aspirations, and issues to a category of silly fluff and fancies.

Indeed, the topic of women's liberation receives historical treatment as an uncomfortable joke through many forms of media. Marketers often mock the concept of female empowerment through patronizing messaging and exaggerated imagery. Despite the fact that two-income households have become the norm for modern, married American couples, the media habitually persists in forcing women into caretaker roles within its portrayals of frustrated wives who must clean up after everyone else in the household. When past or current media directly references the topics of feminism or feminists, women are almost inevitably cast in negative, demeaning stereotypes. For instance, a renowned 1913 newspaper advertisement for Shredded Wheat delivers a double blow to women's liberation (Lukas, 2002). Although its purpose is to inform female buyers about the popularity and nutritional value of the product, most prominent in the advertisement is the clear trivializing of women's success in gaining the right to vote. This attitude is apparent in the condescending language referring to "emancipation" and in the comparison of disproportional numbers regarding women who would vote versus women who had chosen Shredded Wheat. In addition, the ad text refers to "the housewife" whose only concerns should focus on her family's nutrition, typifying "American womanhood" in housekeeping terms. Here, the self-apparent bias strives to whitewash the importance of women's right to vote in favor of pushing a particular brand of breakfast cereal.

Other historical examples of feminist stereotyping in media abound. A 1921 magazine advertisement for Schrader Universal Valve Caps serves as a self-explanatory example of sexual objectification as a means of marketing (Lukas, 2002). The advertisement features a scantily clad (for the times) woman as the main focal point of an informative message in which her presence bears no relevance to the automobile products in question. Perhaps this represents objectivity in advertising: there is no purpose for the woman's presence in the ad other than to provide an audience with "something pretty" to view. Another magazine advertisement compiled within The Gender Ads Project, this one a Lux ad of 1956, continues the media tradition of depicting women as housewives held hostage by their "wifely duties." Such as many marketing messages of the period, the ad features images of a husband and son clearly enjoying their leisure time while the apron-clad wife must deal with an overwhelming stack of dirty dishes. The advertisement also includes stereotypical, cliché-ridden text that extols the inevitable messes made by men that the wives of the world must inevitably clean up. Here, while informing a female audience about a housecleaning product, marketers designed their bias to appeal to the housewife who at least wishes to be free of her gender restraints.

What of those women who have succeeded in casting off the shackles of oppression? Often stymied by its few-against-many position in matters of policy and public opinion, the women's liberation movement tends to be championed by its adopters and ignored, ridiculed, or overlooked by the general population. Feminists have not gone unaware of media's systemic stereotyping of their efforts. As Bronstein (2005) notes, "Research often confirmed feminists' fears that the news media framed them in ways unlikely to curry public favor" ( 2). So few as to be practically nonexistent, positive depictions of feminism in mass media are largely lost under the counterweight of their ill defined or intentionally damaging contenders. Although the United States now sees more independent, empowered female figures than ever before, mass media's historical imperative in decrying feminism a dirty word has ensured many women's reluctance to associate with that stigmatized term. Women who believe themselves equal to their male counterparts do not necessarily consider themselves feminists, confounding efforts toward "universal sisterhood" ( 5).

Thus, the minority of women who accept and embrace the feminist label is left to fight an uphill media battle on behalf of the less-engaged majority of the gender. According to Bronstein (2005), the dedicated feminist sect relies upon multiple media and in-person channels to build its message, "including classrooms, conferences, and a lively and engaging body of popular and academic literature" ( 3). Rather than avail primarily of organized political activities, as in past waves, contemporary feminists tend to turn to outlets such as independent magazines, music and art, and pop culture to give voice to their goals, according to Bronstein. Formal feminist undertakings have succeeded in uniting proponents and policymakers around "identifiable issue positions" including "pay equity, the Equal Rights Amendment, stricter sentences for rapists and batterers, and legal abortion" ( 3). However, Bronstein notes, mass media often fails to understand and articulate the impact of such interest-group actions for the wider public; journalists prefer to rely upon old-model stereotypes and assumptions to address evolving feminist values and stances. Therefore, public opinion surrounding women's liberation continues to be guided and influenced by outdated media frames-never very accurate in the first place.

The irony of mass media's attitudes toward feminism lies in mass media's historical roles in enabling feminism. Without media outlets, what success the women's liberation movement might have achieved to date is left to speculation. In the developmental stages of the movement, newspapers and fliers served vital roles in distributing literature geared to unite women over the issue of fighting for their rights to vote in the United States. However, although the media has served as the platform that made communication of the women's liberation movement an attainable goal, the media has simultaneously and persistently gone out of its way to counteract, discredit, and trivialize those efforts. Stereotypical imagery and innuendo continue to present the public at large with derogatory references to feminists and females, often typecasting them with unflattering or insulting descriptions. In addition, sexual objectification of women grows ever more prescient in advertising and mass media in general, and many marketers perpetuate "clever" reincarnations of imagery from bygone eras that relegate women to positions as simple housewives. As a cursory glance through the annals of time shows, the media has, at best, dealt the women's liberation movement a condescending, humoring tone. Through mocking attitudes conveyed with sarcastic coverage, stereotypical advertising imagery, and dismissive marketing messages, the media reinforces negative typecasting of gender roles and women's advocacy. The particular wording of media messaging changes over time to satirize adapting historical and societal norms, but the underlying attitudes of oppression and dismissal have not changed much. Despite its undeniable role in spreading the message of women's liberation, mass media has taken a peculiar brand of pleasure in ongoing attempts to negate that message.

References

Bronstein, C. (2005, Winter). Representing the third wave: mainstream print media framing of a new feminist movement. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 82(4), 783.
Lukas, S. (2002). The Gender Ads Project. Retrieved January 29, 2010, from http://www.genderads.com
Media Bias. (2009, December 28). Issues & Controversies On File, n. pag. Retrieved January 29, 2010, from Issues & Controversies database.