The Representation Project, a nonprofit organization that aims to challenge gender stereotypes in media, created a collage to show that pervasive sexism is still entrenched in the media.
Sure, we’ve come a long way since the Mad Men era, and yet, in 2013 we still hear messages like “I’m not saying she deserved to be raped, but…”, and we still see how women being portrayed as hysterical and unbalanced, or mere sexy body. Not to mention the vile, violent and demeaning lyrics and imagery in pop music.
What about here in Indonesia? The same, if not worse. It is not unusual for the media to refer women as “X, who has long hair and slim body”, irrelevant that part of information may be to the story. And the reports on the recent rape allegation against a famous poet by his female student just show how backward and discriminative against women our media can be.
“The media loves to divide women into virgins and vamps, angels or whores. Let’s not encourage them.” – fabulous Gillian Anderson in the series ‘The Fall’.
How has the media portrayed women this year? Not all that good, says this organization.
Comments