S/MD/23. The Influence of women represented in todays media

This project will discuss the representation of women in the media, with particular reference to the womens magazine, Company, which is widely utilised by its target audience of 18-25 year olds and has a readership figure of six hundred and eleven thousand. Together with this the mens magazine FHM, has also been considered. FHM has a general readership value of 3.5 million. With this in mind, however, through the deployment of a focus group, which was utilised within this work, the opinions and feelings of both genders belonging to various demographics have been ultimately considered. Thus, it is hoped that a balanced and impartial analysis is presented and indeed, demonstrated. A critical feminist approach is the chosen framework for this project namely as a result of the authors having studied and applied the works of Myra McDonald, Angela McRobbie, Janice Winship, Liesbet Van Zoonen and Sarah Pink, all of whom have undertaken their own analysis of the representation of women in media. It is important to analyse the projects topic with a feminist point of view, as it is concerned with the depiction of women in the media. Therefore it is felt that a feminist perspective is justified. The work contained herewith will argue, through illustrations, that the position of women in culture, particularly western culture, is homogenised through media representation. Further, it will highlight the ideological message that women must be sexy, beautiful and submissive. Moreover it will highlight that women are constantly thriving for social acceptance by altering themselves to achieve these ideals.