Group 6: Representation of Women in the media

Check out our full presentation here!

Women have never been represented as they should in the media. However, Women of color especially are often presented as sexual objects. Women of color in media are only made to fit certain stereotypes. Not only in western media, but as seen from the presentation, women in Bollywood all look the same and play similar roles. The roles that these women portray are often similar to white women in western media. 

Although we could not dive in too deep in the other cultures, but here's an interesting video I found while researching latinos and the media. Its about 9 minutes long and I highly recommend watching it because it talks about how latina women (and men) just don't "look hispanic enough" according to white male casting directors.  

Here's the video! Watch it, its interesting. 

Also here's a quick video of some of the Do's and Dont's from a asian girl and the dumb questions she gets asked on a regular basis. Very stereotypical stuff and is probably the reason why our media portrays asian women in one kind of light (or very similar lights constantly). It's because of our ignorance as a western culture and the refusal to educate ourselves in other countries. I think if white male casting directors or white male writers took the time to research some of the amazing cultures that are in eastern and middle eastern countries, we wouldn't see the same stereotypical things over and over again. 

Of course it's always going to start from the big producers and writers, directors, etc. Thats why women like Shonda Rhimes are such a blessing to the media world. She has created three different shows that not only include strong female leads, two of which are women of color. But also within these show, the complexity of what its like being a woman. She creates characters of color that are so much more than the color of their skin. We need more people like that in the world. Not just for movies and TV shows, but for print media as well. Books are a vital in the media world because usually that is the seed to so many things we end up seeing on screens. 

Watch Shonda Rhimes TED talk here. She's amazing. (not exactly related but she's just so inspirational)