Women’s Media Center just posted a great, short video on YouTube called “WMC at Sundance Film festival 2011” that gets across how invisible women and women’s stories are in the media. See the video here
As a potential mirror of our dreams and our realities, the media is seriously warped. Women are 53% of our population. How different would the world be if the media reflected women’s imaginations and points of view with the same attention it does men’s? Can you even picture it? Sometimes I think men have no idea what it’s like to exist in a world created by male fantasy. The problem isn’t that men are bad or that men are sexist; it’s that women need to be able to be the ones to tell their own stories.
Stats from the video:
72% of G-rated film characters are male. I just blogged about this yesterday
4 women have received best director nods, 1 woman has won
77% of film critics are male
86% of films had no female writers
5x more skin shown by women than men from G to R rated films
7% of top films in 2009 were directed by women (same stat as back in 1987)
24% of people interviewed in news are women
13% of guests on Sunday news shows are women
16% of news stories focus on women
67% of guests on major cable networks are men
26% of sources on NPR are women.
Pingback: House of Eratosthenes
Step 1. Go to maps.google.com
Step 2. Enter “Chippendales”. Take note of how many red dots there are.
Step 3. Enter “Hooters”. Again take note of how many red dots there are.
Personally, I think you could just as fairly use this experiment to say women are smarter about how they spend money…but either way, you’ll find the discrepancy is so large, it’s got to mean something.
I think you need to slow down on writing this off as a myth.
The skin thing is pretty easy to understand: Female limbs look better. Women are not attracted to half-naked guys, unless it’s that shallow actor playing the werewolf in that vampire franchise. They’re not going to put up with a crappy movie with a crappy story (other than those) just to see male skin. But us guys will put up with a bad movie to see a lady in skimpy clothes. We’re not wired the same. Men are more visual.
The rest of it, especially the movie critic thing, is a case of “with men like this who needs women?” Now if those male movie critics reviewed movies the way I’d review movies, there would be real need for female movie critics to balance it out. “True Grit: It was alright, but it needed more naked ladies & car explosions. Tron Legacy: Ditto. Iron Man 2: That darn Scarlett Johansson kept all her clothes on.” For better or for worse, this is not how the typical male movie critic writes movies reviews. Generally, you can’t tell a man wrote it unless you look at the byline. So who needs female movie critics. There’s no demand because there’s no deficiency in the supply; the men are trying hard to act like women. Getting horrified when someone smokes a cigarette, longing for a more perceptible message of social justice, snarking away if a female character is depicted in a less than flattering light, cringing at the jokes that are too raunchy…
Hey here’s a question. __% of parents in movies who admit at the end they need to do a better job raising their children, are fathers — fill in the blank. Bet that thing’s way up in the 90’s. The “daddy never shows up” trope has been so wretchedly overdone, Austin Powers ended up making fun of it. And since then, it’s been done a few more times.
See, you gals aren’t always getting the short end of the stick on this stuff.
Morgan,
Men are not more visual!!! That is a total myth! Men are allowed to be visual in our culture. Men watch and women watch themselves being watched.
Women are attracted to half naked guys. Not only that, women are attracted to completely naked guys.
I do agree about the bad rap for dads in movies.
Margot