Exam Question

500 word illustrated essay

"Has the mediation of gender changed, does this reflect changes in society?"

http://www.slideshare.net/jphibbert1979/a2-media-exam?qid=518daa8c-62fb-41c6-a1b8-9abfb0618def&v=&b=&from_search=1

Mediation is the process of something being portrayed in a different light through the media that isn't true to reality. An example of this would be how women are edited through Photoshop for magazine covers, when in reality they do not appear as flawless and defined; they have been mediated.

Firstly, the mediation of gender has changed over time as men and women are adapting to the social changes that connect with their gender stereotype. Women used to be conveyed as housewives who looked after the children and completed all domestic tasks around the house whilst the men went off too work. An example of this would be the fairy liquid advert (1966) - Stereotypical mother figure, woman's placed in the kitchen (housewife), and the daughter is learning about it as the next generation will be doing the same things when she's older. In 1966 the use of maternal, domestic women - in an advert complies with patriarchal representations of a female as either the sex object or the domesticated woman. Patriarchy is a social system in which males hold primary power, predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege and control of property. 

Years ago, it would be seen as the social norm for women to act as the housewife at home with their children, preparing food for their husband's dinner when he returns home from a long day at work. This ideology has changed over time, as women have grown to become more independent and men have become more domesticated. In one of the most recent Ariel adverts, a man acts as the person who has just done the washing, conveying how easy it is to wash clothes by just 'chucking it in and pressing a button'. This is sarcastic humour, as it demonstrates how men take washing as a joke, whilst Ariel are advertising their product as being something that makes the washing easy, specifically for the men. Giddens talks about identity being a conscious activity. He says how traditionally we have found ourselves in clearly defined roles based on age, gender, sexuality. Nowadays, we have to work out these roles for ourselves. Society has therefore changed as a result of these types of adverts, because men are now undergoing activities that only women used to be a part of.