Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 1,3 (A), Martin Luther University (Institute for Anglistics/ American Studies), course: Twentieth-Century American Women's History, language: English, abstract: According to Webster’s Dictionary, media is “a medium of cultivationconveyance,...

Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 1,3 (A), Martin Luther University (Institute for Anglistics/ American Studies), course: Twentieth-Century American Women's History, language: English, abstract: According to Webster’s Dictionary, media is “a medium of cultivationconveyance, or expression”1. It contains newspapers, magazines, television, radiothe internet, video games, and much more. Undoubtedly, not only men but alsowomen appear in media. Along with it, women are bombarded by lots of mediapictures every day, nowadays. Those pictures present women who are beautifulonly if they are slim, pretty, and culturally accepted.In the opinion of the viewers, television is supposed to be the medium thatis most “real”. In that case, one has to question the correctness of the images ofwomen on television and how this affects the attitudes of the viewers.Advertisements are probably the most influential products on television. Herewomen are mainly pictured as a housewife who is married, with children, andwho is obsessed with cleanliness or as a sex object who is tall, with long legswonderful teeth, hair, and skin. Similarly, the image of women as sex objects canbe found in other media such as magazines, music clips, or video games. One canfind many examples for each. Thus, Britany Spears hardly wears any clothes inher music videos and men who are shown in the background of music clips arefully clothed while women in the same position are close to be naked2. If you havelook at computer games you won`t find many women in it but if so they are verymuch sexualized – “wearing tight revealing clothes and having unrealisticallylarge breasts, and distorted small waists”3 - such as Lara Croft.This paper will deal with those images of women and consequently theeffects of them. Concerning the effects this work will concentrate on theincreasing prevalence of plastic surgery, especially among teenagers, eatingdisorders, and low self-esteem nowadays.1 Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (1997), 10th edition. Springfield.2 What’s the problem? Facts about girls, women and media, No name. No date. 3 pages. Online.Internet. April 25, 2004. Available: URL:mediaandwomen.org/problem.html p. 1-2.3 Ibid., p.2.