Self directed research

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http://www.genderit.org/en/index.shtml?w=a&x=91365

Consistently throughout Asia, women have been portrayed in the media as victims, subservient, nurturing, sacrificing and objectified sexualised beings. This not only inaccurately represents the diversity of women’s lives, roles and experiences within this complex and rich region, women’s contributions to the socio-political and economic development of society are often neglected.

The perpetuation of stereotypes in images and representation solidifies women’s traditional roles and unequal gender relations in multiple ways. Most visibly, women are seen as mourners at tragedies or as victims of violence. The Global Media Monitoring Project mentioned above found that out of the small number of women who were interviewees in news stories (14%), 29% of them were as victims of accidents, crimes or other events .This does not only represent women as helpless subjects without agency, it also fails to emphasise men’s role as perpetrators in instances of violence against women. Further, the dissemination of these messages affects women’s self-confidence, mobility and subsequently access and participation in public spaces (for fear of assault).

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/women_and_girls/women_coverage.cfm

Female athletes are increasingly photographed in what Professor Pat Griffin calls "hyper-sexualized poses." Griffin notes, "When it was once enough to feminize women athletes, now it is necessary to sexualize them for men. Instead of hearing, 'I am woman, hear me roar,' we are hearing 'I am hetero-sexy, watch me strip.'

http://www.medialit.org/focus/ster1_articles.html

We now know that rape is not an act of passion; it is an act of aggression in order to show domination. Are the images and lyrics of women chained, beaten and raped a media expression of a deep cultural need to dominate women, to keep them in their place? Are these images simply the overt expression of the psychological violence against women that we have tolerated for so long?

If so, the problem we face is much deeper than censorship, artistic integrity or our freedom of speech as guaranteed in the Constitution. It is the problem of facing the profound misogyny within our culture, within ourselves and even within religious traditions. We need to realize the ''fun" has never just been fun and begin the arduous task of personal conversion, cultural conversion and institutional conversion. When our cultural values change, so will our media.

http://www.barnard.edu/sfonline/hbo/johnson_01.htm

In a gesture of solidarity with sex workers, the episode encourages the audience to sympathize with Tracee, as we see her humiliated and hurt in a thousand small ways before the scene of her death. She tries to show Tony her braces and is reprimanded by Silvio for fraternizing. She offers a kiss to Ralphie and he turns away, making rude remarks about what she's been doing with her mouth. She says "hi" to Tony with a huge smile, but he waves her away and goes into another room with another stripper. Standing there in her too-tight tomato-red dress, hair swept up in an approximation of classiness and elegance, she has that look of gangly girls in six-inch heels for the first time. With this shot, the stripper is transformed into wallflower. The usual catty attitude among women toward exotic dancers (based on distorted fantasies of the stripper as blonde bombshell, a jealousy that implicitly condones violence against sex workers who are regarded as getting what they deserve) is undermined as the camera lingers on Tracee's disappointed face and awkward retreat. She becomes someone we recognize, someone we can identify with, someone we have perhaps been.