Portrayal of women in media

There's no doubt that media have a big socio-cultural influence on the society. Of the many influences on how we view men and women, media are the most pervasive and one of the most powerful. Women throughout our daily lives, media insinuate their messages into our consciousness at every turn. All forms of media communicate images of the Gender, many of which perpetuate unrealistic, stereotypical, and limiting perceptions. Three themes describe how media represent gender. First, women are underrepresented which falsely implies that men are the cultural standard and women are unimportant or invisible. Second, men and women are portrayed in stereotypical ways that reflect and sustain socially endorsed views of gender. Third, depictions of relationships between men and women emphasize traditional roles and normalize violence against women. The image of women in mass media and women's participation in the production of messages disseminated by the mass media cannot be studied in isolation from the broad socio-economic, political, and cultural context at a specific point in time.