- REPRESENTATION OF GENDER TODAY (David Gauntlett)Chapter 4

(This handout focuses on men and women in the past 15years) GENDER IN CONTEMPORARY TV PROGRAMMES

• In prime time TV shows, 1992-1993, men took 61 per cent of the total number of speaking roles, with women having only 39per cent.
  
• In 1992-1993 a study found that only 3per cent of women were represented as housewives as their main occupation (a massive decrease from the 1970s)
  
• Between 1992-1993 a study found that 'the woman on prime time TV' was young, single, independent and free from family and work place pressures (Elasmer, Hasegawa, Brian 1999)
  
• Many sitcoms in the late 1990s, help portrayed women as free and independent, but still wanting a man, examples such as 'Sex and the City and Alley Mcbeal'

Representation and Gender linked to Sex and the City

- The women in Sex and the City are at the forefront, and are focused on their quests fore sex, pleasure and romantic love.

- The whole rationale of Sex&the City is that these women want pleasure, know how to get it and are determined to do so. And the kick is in the assumption that women are always great in bed, the men more variable.

- The character of Samantha has been particularly notable as a portrayal of a sexually assertive woman in her forties.

Gender in Contemporary Movies

Charlies Angels (2000)

• Michael Thomson of BBC online- 'Women's glamour and pouting', saying that the film's message was 'by all means be feisty, but never forget to be feminine'.
• The film does knowingly showcase the women's physical attractiveness, but their success comes from their brains, and their fighting skills.
• 'Barrymore, Diaz and Liu represent redhead, blond and brunette respectively ( as David Poland has pointed out, T[its], A[ss] and Hair.