Understanding Media Representation and Social Issues

CONVENTIONS:

practices, behaviours, ideas and styles regarded as normal or taken for granted.

DISCRIMINATION:

treating someone or some group as different or less-than based upon their identity.

DOUBLE STANDARD:

a set of guidelines or principles in which one group of people is treated differently than performing the same or similar behaviour.

EXCLUSIONIST:

the position of excluding someone or some group from a fundamental right or prerogative.

FEMININITY:

socially constructed characteristics or ideas typically associated with the female sex.

FEMINISM:

a philosophy and social movement centered on improving the status and lives of women.

GENDER:

socially constructed characteristics associated with biological sex; ie., feminine, masculine.

HIERARCHICAL:

a system wherein certain practices, behaviours, ideas or people are valued over others.

INSTITUTIONAL:

coming from an institution or central place of power; functions to influence surrounding bodies, people, and values.

MASCULINITY:

socially constructed characteristics typically associated with the male sex.

MEDIA:

modes of transmitting information; ie. newspapers, magazines, television, radio, the internet.

MEDIA INDUSTRIES:

those businesses that produce and distribute media (news, television, film, radio, and recording, etc.)

MISREPRESENTATION:

a misleading or untrue representation of an individual or group, usually done with some intent to slander or deceive.

POST-FEMINISM:

the myth that feminism is no longer needed because its goals have been achieved.

REPRESENTATION:

in studies of media, the ways in which particular groups, topics, communities or ideas are portrayed through narratives, images, text, or sound.

SEXISM:

discrimination against someone or group of people based upon sex.

STEREOTYPE:

a shorthand used to classify cultural groups and individuals based on a simplified, overgeneralized and often biased understanding of how that cultural group operates.

OBJECTIFICATION:

treating individuals or groups as objects or things, without regard for their humanity. The objectified person or group has no agency and instead is a tool or pawn used by others. People belonging to subordinate groups are often objectified by their dominant counterparts. Sexual objectification specifically refers to treating someone (generally women) purely as objects of sexual pleasure and desire. Sexual objectification (and its prevalence in the media) is a point of critique among many feminists.

VISIBILITY:

the state of being commonly seen and properly represented in media depiction.

TYPECAST:

a process in which an actor is repeatedly assigned similar roles based on their identification with a specific physical or performance-based trait.

UNDER-REPRESENTATION:

a state in which a particular group enjoys less visibility, voice or power within a particular institution, relative to their representation in the broader society.

MINORITY:

means that a group makes up a smaller percentage of a given population while MARGINALIZED typically refers to a segment of the population who exists on the fringes of a given society. These groups are often excluded and isolated. * The concept of marginalization is also contextual. For example, females do not technically live on the fringes of society- but they may be marginalized in the workforce (ie. Hollywood)

WHO ARE THESE GROUPS:

ethnic minorities, visible minorities, women, individuals with physical or mental disabilities, elderly/young people, sexual minorities, religious minorities, individuals living in poverty.

ISSUES OF MEDIA REPRESENTATION: A LACK OF DIVERSITY AND STEREOTYPICAL PORTRAYALS

1. the first issue is a lack of diversity. If you are not a part of the dominant culture, which is typically Caucasian, you may not see yourself represented in films, television shows, news media, etc. * as we discover, media industries are starting to wake up to this fact - and we are beginning to see real changes.

Stereotyping

2. When minority groups have been represented in the media (typically film and television) they are often portrayed in a stereotypical manner. Remember that stereotypes are ways of categorizing groups largely in negative terms. What may have a grain of truth ends up being applied to the entire social or cultural group,