The document discusses representation of women in the media according to Van Zoonen's theory of patriarchal representation. It provides examples of how women are often sexualized in films, magazines, and tabloids through images and articles that focus primarily on their bodies and roles as mothers. Men are typically portrayed as powerful, independent, and rational while women are shown as emotional, caring for others, and defined by their sexuality and relationships.

1. Representation
Female representation in the media
In the media, women are hugely sexualised. They are encouraged to wear sexual clothing or
none at all. The last picture shows how the media love to make women naked as they think
it’s the only thing that theyre useful for. The first image also shows how often it is that this
kind of this happens and that in comparison to men, women get sexualised so much in films
and all media, that it is becoming “normal”. The middle picture also shows how the press
want women to think that whats most important is their bodies and that they need to have
“slim” and “sexy” bodies to do well in life.
Representation: is how media texts deal with and present gender, age, ethnicity, national and
regional identity, social issues and events to an audience.
Stereotypes: are a simplified representation of a person, groups of people or a place, through
basic or obvious characteristics- which are often exaggerated.
Counter stereotype: anideaorobjectthatgoesagainsta standardized stereotype andfocuseson
positive elementsof itwhichare traditionallyrepresentedasbad.
Anchorage: Words that go along with images to give meaning to them in a specific context;
includes captions in newspapers and taglines on film posters.
Van Zoonen Theory
Van Zoonen believes the media portray images of stereotypical women and this behavior
reinforces societal views. The media does this because they believe it reflects dominant social
values (what people believe in) and male producers are influenced by this. This is a patriarchy
(a society ran by men for men) which dominates and oppresses women.
The theory states that in patriarchal culture, the way women’s bodies are represented as

2. objects is different to the representation of male bodies as spectacle.
Gender is performative – our ideas of femininity and masculinity are constructed in our
performances of these roles. Gender is ‘what we do’ rather than ‘what we are’. Moreover,
gender is contextual – it’s meaning changes with cultural and historical contexts.
Van Zoonen believes
that these stereotypes
exist in today’s media.
These images are all produced by the same tabloid, which
is aimed for men to read. Therefore, they chose to
present the man (Leonardo di caprio) as very highly
respected, rich, posh and smart. This is the tabloids way of
showing their view of male superiority. In addition, as they
are hoping to please men, they have extremely sexualised
women in the bottom pictures. The lady in the bottom
right picture is blonde and is shown on a more comical
front cover. This shows how they’re playing on the idea of
blonde women being “dumb” which they think will then
boost how men are apparently superior. In the bottom left
picture even though she is shown as “women of the year”,
the magazine still portray that she only has this role
because of her body and that is why she is naked in the
photo. This also shows how they have chosen to have her
naked because it is what men would stereotypically like to
see and it shows how all they are interested in is seeing
her body.
FEMININITY MASCULINITY
Caring Careless
Nurturing Neglecting
Unreasonable/ Emotional Rational
Private, Domesticated Public, work-orientated
Sensitive Insensitive
Easy going Active
Gentle/Careful Rough
Soft/Emotional Tough/Resilliant

3. Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus
In this video, Miley Cyrus is showing the stereotype of women being very emotional. This is
because she is angry and sad at the same time. She is also objectified and sexualised in this
video.
Considering her past, she was on Disneychannel where she was portrayedas innocent whereas
in this video, she is naked at points and has completely changed her looks. This can show how
she is actually testing stereotypical looks for a women by cutting off practically all her hair in
the video. In addition, due to the song being about her sadness and having a breakdown, the
music company can still find a way to sexualise her by making her naked and showing off her
body when it has no relevance. This shows how no matter what, the media industry don’t care
about how women may feel as they only care about their bodies in order for them to make
money.
Lyrics:
“All you ever did was break me” This shows how if you look at it stereotypically, it can show
how men’s power over woman can affect them to be threatened.
“We kissed I fell under your spell” Shows how typically in TV, music etc., women fall in love
easily. This part of the song is quieter and slower and sadder, so once again is the Medias way
of drawing out weakness of women as they are emotional.
Representations of women across all media tend to highlight the following:
~Beauty (within narrow conventions)
~Size
~Sexuality (as expressed by above)
~Emotional dealings
~Relationships-as opposed to independence or freedom
Male Representation in the media
'Masculinity' is a concept that is made up of more rigid stereotypes than femininity.
Representations of men across all media tend to focus on the following:
~Strength- physical and intellectual
~Power
~Sexual attractiveness (which may be based on the above)
~Physique
~Independence (of thought, action, finances)

4. In both of these papers, the Daily mail have represented women as stereotypical. This is
because in the first one, images are used to create the idea of Meghan and Kate being perfect
stay at home mothers and in the second one, they are only focused on women’s bodies and
how they look in order to appeal to men.
In the paper on the left, the imagesimmediatelycreatethestereotype of being a perfectmum.
This is because women are known to be caring mothers and no longer work after they have
children, when actually this doesn’t have to be done and is a choice not a law. Zoonens theory
backs this up as it states how it can be used to reflect what people believe in, which male
producers would be influenced by. In addition, the reason why they have chosen these Images
is to create a bad picture of women as it is showing that they are weak as all they know is how
to care for children and the paper is implying that women are incapable of doing a normal job.
This is also reinforced by the headline. By saying “firm”, the paper is showing how there have
already been many royal babies and they just keep adding more- it’s the only thing they are
known for. This can also sow how the paper may want this to be shown so that people carry
on sticking to ordinary stereotypes for women which is to be caring and have children that you
alwayslook after,so they used the royal familyasa rolemodel for people to do this. This proves
Van Zoonens theory as she had ideas of what is shown in the media and the mainidea was that
they are shown as only caring and soft. The use of the yellow stand out writing for this title can
also confirm this as they want people to first notice the headline and the pictures and agree
with this idea. Finally, as older people normally read the news this could be targeted for them
as they would be more traditional due to their age and hence agree with the idea of
stereotypes.
In the front cover on the right, women are portrayed differently, but still in a way that sticks to
stereotypes. In this one, women are extremely sexualised and used for their bodies. Firstly, the
headline at the top says “Lose up to a stone in 8 weeks”. This shows how men are trying to

5. attract women to become more ideal for them and oppressing them. In addition, this ad is
actually the most eye-drawing part of the front cover. This is due to the neon pink colour for
the background and the bold, large writing as it would definitely catch people’s eye and the
paper hope that it will cause women to buy it. Adding on, the image of the woman in “sexy
clothing” was also picked for men to be interested in the story as all they are interested in is
women’s bodies, rather than the story. Van Zoonens theory supports this. This is because it
states that the media does this because they believe it reflects dominant social values (what
people believe in) and male producers are influenced by this. This is a patriarchy which
dominates and oppresses women. The theory states that in patriarchal culture, the way
women’s bodies are represented as objects is different to the representation of male bodies as
spectacle. Therefore, this shows how Van Zoonens theory proves the idea that this paper only
chose these images in order to get attention from men so they can oppress women, but also
to make women feel like they should look this way too, which again is oppressing them.
Regional Identity
Regional Identity refers to the part of the United Kingdom someone is from. It could refer to a
general area such a “North” or “South”, a country such as “English” or “Scottish” or specific
towns such as “London” or “Manchester.”
This can be shown in film through the setting, costume, accent, dialogue, props, makeup and
the class of the characters.
Some examples:
~Essex-often shown as being glamourous but cheap, footballer’s wives, lots of partying, being
quite stupid and looking fake.
~ South England – often shown as being the centre of culture, modern, classy, clever, sunny,
richer, doing middle class jobs such as managers, etc.
~North England – often shown as being poorer, bad weather, lower class, aggressive,less
culture, less clever, doing working class jobs such as builders, etc.
Representation Class
Stereotypically, the order of hierarchy goes:
Upper-class
Middle class
Working class

6. Working class: those individuals engaged in manual work, often having low levels of
educational achievement. The classic, traditional working class jobs include heavy laboring and
factory based work.
Middle class: those individuals engaged in non-manual work, often having higher levels of
educational achievement. Classic middle class jobs include everything from doctors and
lawyers to clerical workers.
Upper class: the elite class that controls the majority of wealth and power in British society.
Working Class
Stereotypically on the media, the working class are made out to all be like typical working class
communities that are seen on TV such as EastEnders and Corrie. They are known for being
“chavs” or having no jobs but lots of children. Their whole view is negative as they are poor,
but according toShildrick andMacDonald(2007)themedia makethislook bad and undeserving
of sympathy. Overall,the press makesjudgements about people, so the working class areoften
presented in the context of trouble, undesirable welfare scroungers and are unable to cope
with their delinquent children.
Newman (2006) argues that there are very few situation comedies, television or drama which
focuses on the everyday lives of working class who constitute a significant section of society,
and that inthe media working classareoften depicted in a verynon positive light.For example,
dumb buffoons (Homer Simpson) and immature machos (Phil Mitchell). Butsch (1992) also
thought that they are taken as a joke as working class are portrayed as flawed individuals
(benefit cheats, etc.).Working class communities have declined with the collapse of traditional
industries such as coal mining
Middle Class
Presented as educated and successful as well as able to cope with problems. They’re over
represented in the media due to their lifestyle. Representation fits in with the hegemonic
ideology of the dominant class in society. Their Representation justifies the existing class
structure and inequalities by suggesting people need to become more competent and
successful in order to cope with life. They also know they’re seen as “better” by society in
comparison to the lower class, so they act superior to them. They also look up to the higher
class people in society.
Upper Class
Mainly represented through the coverage of the monarchy. Nairn (1988) said that the “Royal
Family” concept = niceness, decency, ordinariness, so the Royal family can be deemed to be
“likeus” but “not likeus” – the queen seen as ordinaryworking mother but doing extraordinary
things. The royal family represent high class socially, so are seen as well-bred and cultured.
Represented through their accents, estates, and a taste for shooting and hunting, usually
represented in costume and period drama. By people who are not British, they see upper class
people as the stereotypical posh brits who are wealthy and have large houses.

7. Ethnicity vs Race
Ethnicity: Apopulation group whose membersidentifywith each other on the basis of common
nationality or shared cultural traditions.
Why is it significant?
Ethnicity connotes shared cultural traits and a shared group history. Some ethnic groups also
share linguistic or religious traits, while others share a common group history but not a
common language or religion.
Race: The term race refers to the concept of dividing people into populations or groups on the
basis of various sets of physical characteristics (which usually result from genetic ancestry).
Why is it significant?
Race presumes shared biological or genetictraits, whether actual or asserted. In the early 19th
century, racial differences were ascribed significance in areas of intelligence, health, and
personality. There is no evidence validating these ideas.
Race representation
Representation of race in the media can consist of the same sort of rigid stereotypes that
constitute gender portrayal. Stereotyping of race is seen as more harmful than stereotyping of
gender,as media representation maybe the only experienceof contact with a particular ethnic
group that an audience may have (especially children and young people)
Racial stereotypes are often based on social myth perpetuated down the ages.
Four key themes in racial representation:
Exotic: Example- Princess Jasmine due to her culture and way of life.
Dangerous: Example- King Fergus from Brave as he was a redhead Scottish and typically angry.
Humorous: Example-
Pitied: Example-
Black racial stereotypes
There are both positive and negative stereotypes when it comes to black people. Some
negative ones are:
~Criminals
~Gangsters
~Knife crime
~Players

8. Some positive ones are:
~Hip-Hop and rap music
~Athleticism
~Comedians
~Diversity
Some famous black people that make their talent look stereotypically good for the black race
are Snoop dog and Stormzy as they are well-known rappers who have led many other black
boys/men to try and have a career in rap and nowadays most rap songs are by black artists.In
addition, Usain Bolt brings a good stereotype to black people when it comes to sport as during
the Olympics there are multiple black participants and the race has now become well known
for being fast and good at sport.
Islamophobia
Islamophobia: An irrational fear of Muslims
Since the events of 9/11, there has been a growth in Islamophobia. This is due to the media
representing the whole Muslim race as bad, rather than just the terrorists who do bad things.
This shows how the press use such a broad word of “Muslim” when
only talking about a really small percentage of all Muslims but instead,
they choose to make the entire religion seem bad and they label all of
them as “terrorists” which is why islamophobia is a real thing and is
growing.
People such as Donald Trump also influence this as he is promoting it
in front of millions of people.