Essay --

In today's society, a certain type of look can be the explanation on how and why someone gets noticed for a modeling contract or a movie role. In this century, everything is better, gaudier, and much more enchanting than before so why would women not want to be the girl on television who has everything she desired? These women, depending on their looks, can play a variety of roles on television; the villain, the geek, the social climber, and the girl next door. But what do they all have in common? Their beauty. These women that are seen on television are gorgeous, skinny, and mainly Caucasian. When we see these different types of women on the screen, we attempt to emulate them and the television shows know this because it boosts their ratings. Honestly, how many people will continue to watch a show where it was about someone's life and it wasn't successful because of the way the leading lady looked like? On the other hand, the female stereotypes continue to go on in the media we wi tness every day. The media's representation of women plays a significant role on the effects of self esteem and body image issues. When you watch television, you see women selling everything from clothes to cars because of their body image. The portrayal of women as sex symbols has been around for a very long time. But, what was considered as 'attractive' has changed. Take Marilyn Monroe as an example. She was, and still is considered, one of the biggest sex symbols of the past generation, but she "wore a dress size fourteen" (Gender Roles and the Media) while the models of this generation who are over a size five are considered plus-size. Saying what being beautiful is can make people do extreme things to be what the media considers acceptable. Th... ...but women are now the super moms, the CEO's of a major corporation. Women as a whole are clearly ditching the dainty housewife look and are now entering the workforce head on. Women's role in the media are undoubtedly changing just like in everyday life. Television shows have to be relatable to their audience. So if their audience is a woman in her 30's-40's, it makes sense for the show to have a working mother as the main character. Even though there have been developments made in the media, there are still many negative characteristics concerning women's role in the media. Gender roles still take place in the media. For example, when you see commercials it is principally middle-aged women trying to sell you cleaning products but men can be seen promoting things like beer and sports cars. It's just a subliminal message to show us where our roles are in society.