Women's Representation in the Media: Inequalities and Stereotypes
Chapter from the book:
Berkün,
S.
(ed.)
2025.
The Position and Problems of Women Based on Gender.
Synopsis
In this study, while women's representations in the media are handled through TV series, movies, news, social media and advertisements, how women's identity is constructed and reproduced through cultural representations is analyzed with a critical perspective. how women are represented in media texts; It points out what aesthetic preferences are in culture and how gender ideology is structured. In this context, the study is within the scope of feminist media studies and was created on the basis of Laura Mulvey's concept of masculine gaze. In TV series and movies, female characters are generally passive, indexed to romantic relationships and are handled within traditional gender roles; In the news, it is seen that women are presented as victims, criminals or passive figures. Representations of women in advertisements are often reduced to sexualized, commodified and idealized beauty stereotypes. Social media, on the other hand, seems to be a space where digital patriarchy is reproduced, although it ostensibly opens up a space for women to be subjects, and control, the display of the body and the culture of approval shaped according to social norms determine the dynamics of this field. In the study, the representation of women in the media is examined by scanning the studies conducted on different media contents. In the studies examined, it is evaluated how patriarchal codes and stereotypes are reproduced. In addition, digital activism and critical media literacy are discussed in the study as a movement to transform the existing stereotypes of women's representations.
