What are the negative images of women portrayed by mass media

Currently, there is an obvious discrimination against women in mass media communication. Professor Bao Haibo of the School of Journalism and Communication at Shaanxi Normal University summarized the triple absence of women in mass media communication in his book Cultural Criticism of News Communication: 1. the absence of the main body of news communication, i.e., the lack of women's right to speak; 2. the absence of news content, i.e., there is very little reporting on women; 3. the absence of news audience, i.e., women mostly watch TV for TV dramas, entertainment, food and other programs. ①Mass culture is detached from ideology, focuses only on the present and the individual, and chases after hedonism and one-sidedness. Feminist media critique theory distinctly shows a critical attitude towards the sexism and consumption of women and other characteristics shown by mass culture. This paper takes the presentation of women in Medaka Three Men as an example to talk about the problems in the image building of women in mass media.

Images of women portrayed by mass media

The discrimination against women in mass media is twofold: firstly, women are the appendages of the male-dominated society, and women do not have the right of fair media reproduction; in most cases, women are portrayed as meek, emotional, and envious individual existences, different from the strong, rational, and proactive men. Although female images and issues are extremely rich, what is hidden behind this is the means by which the cultural industry converts them into market interests. Secondly, the image of women has become a consumer product and object of desire for men, and while women themselves are appreciated and consumed by men, they have become the target consumer group for the reproduction of media and commodity capital.

1. Traditionalized image of women

First of all, the image of women portrayed by the media mostly focuses on the private sphere, i.e., the image of a wife who runs the house, brings up the children and serves the in-laws in the family. Such women sacrifice their ideals and pursuits for the sake of their husbands and children, and are always at the mercy of their work and independent personalities. Secondly, the work of professional women is almost auxiliary and replaceable by anyone. Most of the women's occupations portrayed by the media are clerical jobs such as secretaries. Women are relatively weak and do the work of serving tea and running around.

2. Materialistic image of women

This category of women focuses on their own appearance and shape, and their conversation always revolves around cosmetics, clothing, jewelry and beauty, and they care a lot about their looks, fearing to become old and ugly. Some of them are even the image of a third party who destroys other people's marriages, or the alternative image of a debauched and chaotic life. This type of image exaggerates women's love of vanity and idleness. They have lost their spiritual cultivation in their pursuit of material desires, and they think that they can have everything as long as they have material things. They enjoy the comfort of the mind brought by the material, and become lethargic and idle; they take the enjoyment of life as the ultimate goal of life's struggle, and will only arm themselves with material, becoming the embellishments of men's lives.