Representation of Women in the Media

Sexualised/Objectified Female (Advertising) 

 The advert above are is banned by the Advertising Standards Agency due to the sexually explicit and suggestive nature. The advert suggest that the woman is engaging in a sexual act. The clothing brand American Apparel releases overtly sexual adverts in order to target their 18-30 year old men/women demographic. Therefore the use of their age demographic in their adverts suggests that their audience will be like the models if they wear the clothing brand. The use of degrading women into performing sexual acts is to showcase the idea that sex sells and the controversy generates attention to the brand in order to generate sales. 

Domestic Women (Film and Television)

Desperate Housewives was a drama based around the lives of a group of women living in the iconic Wisteria Lane. The show portrays all the women as housewives which are traditional roles with traditional values - mainly dependent on their husbands for income for their lavish lifestyles, however some wives did get jobs as seasons progressed. The main target audience for the show was 16-40 year old women, they have a broad audience due to the difference in ages of the women however they all play a housewife role at some point in the show. By having the women as housewives it allowed the writers to create drama based storylines within the neighbourhood as the women generally were 'stay at home' wives. The show although created for drama did emphasise old and lingering domestic stereotypes for women. 

Post Feminism (Music Video)

 Britney Spears plays four roles in the Womanizer video including; domestic housewife, office worker, private chauffeur and waitress. This done in order to create the idea that the woman is playing the guy and she knows he is unfaithful. In the post feminism era, Britney generally uses her body as a way to entice her audience and to show that sex is a dominant ideology - even in her Blackout (public meltdown) era. She first plays a domestic goddess role cooking and serving her male 'counterpart' before changing to a strong, independent office worker. The office worker role dominates the male by seducing him, then abusing him which shows female empowerment. The chorus reads 'I know what you are' showing that she is not stupid and he cannot lie to her. She then changes to a waitress whereby she is subservient to him, however she again lures him in before abusing him which shows her dominance - which contrasts with the server/customer role. She then changes to a private chauffeur (above) who controls the situation, the body language suggests that he is fearing for his life whereas she is calm and collected. Multiple shots throughout the video show Britney naked in a steam room, using her body to entice the audience. She changes back to the housewife role before dominating her lover and getting rid of him. The song relates to the audience as people are cheated on all the time and she shows female empowerment by saying that women aren't stupid and aren't to be underestimated - the song chants 'Womanizer' throughout to label cheaters and unfaithfulness.