Women in Media

In todays society there are many messages that are sent out to the public. Each is based of

certain genders, races, and ages. For this assignment I choose to talk about “ Gossip Girls,”

Wednesdays, 9-10 pm, “Mean girls” which is a movie, and “ Beauty and the Geek,” Tuesdays 9-

10 pm. All three of these send out specific messages and deal with genders differently. In all of

these woman are portrayed as being indifferent. The males always seem to come out on top.

Gossip Girls is a tv show based around gossip. In the episode that I watched The two

main characters Serena and Blair whom are both from the rich upper east side were having a talk

about sex, and when it is appropriate to have it. Blair is a virgin and wants to wait. Serena on the

other hand has done it plenty of times. Due to this she has been named a slut, whore, and many

other negative things. There is also this boy named Chuck he sleeps around with many people

and is considered the male idol. In this episode both females are presented as weak, and

vulnerable. They seem to want to be males just because of the advantages that they have.

In this show males are represented to be strong, smart, handsome, and some what kind of

like idols. The females are represented to be vulnerable, nagging, all about clothes, shoes, and

nothing else. The seem to be portrayed as females who do not really care about anything other

than themselves. The mother of Serena in the episode seems depressed because she does not

have a man in her life. She says that she is unhappy because she is not loved by a man. I find this

to be very upsetting. They are sending a wrong message to all teenagers who are watching this

show. Yes this show is entertaining, but we do not want girls getting the message that they have

to have a man in their lives in order to be happy. One can be happy all on their own, and they do

not need anyone to support them or anything.

In the movie “Mean Girls” the girls are portrayed as being selfish, self centered,

egotistical individuals. The movie is about a group of girls who are called the plastics. They

basically go around thinking they are better than everyone else. They are often perceived as

dumb. These girls think that being popular is everything in life. At first the girls are perceived as

being bad idols for young girls, but towards the end they come to a great conclusion. They come

to show that popularity is not everything in life, and that being true to one self means everything

in the world.

The final show that I watched was “ Beauty and the Geek”. In this show individuals

compete week after week trying to win the final competition. The Geeks in the show are all