Media Disparity

A Gender Battleground

Preface by Gaye Tuchman Contributions by Julie L. Andsager, Dunja Antunovic, Kim Bissell, Timothy Brown, Sim Butler, Carolyn M. Byerly Howard University, Dianne Bystrom, Steve J. Collins, Donna Z. Davis, Stine Eckert, Tracy Everbach, Barbara Friedman University of North Carolina, Fangfang Gao, J. Robyn Goodman, Adriane Grumbein, Marie Hardin Penn State University, Valerie Hennings, Stacey J.T. Hust, Anne Johnston University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Michelle R. Nelson, Hye-Jin Paek, Weina Ran, Kathleen Boyce Rodgers, Linda Steiner, Alexandra M. Vilela Edited by Cory L. Armstrong

Publication date:

29 October 2013

Length of book:

310 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

Dimensions:

239x159mm
6x9"

For decades, scholars have repeatedly found the inequity of gender representations in informational and entertainment media. Beginning with the seminal work by Gaye Tuchman and colleagues, we have repeatedly seen a systemic underrepresentation and misrepresentation of women in media. Examining the latest research in discourse and content analyses trending in both domestic and international circles, Media Disparity: A Gender Battleground highlights the progress—or lack thereof—in media regarding portrayals of women, across genres and cultures within the twenty-first century. Blending both original studies and descriptive overviews of current media platforms, top scholars evaluate the portrayals of women in contemporary venues, including advertisements, videogames, political stories, health communication, and reality television.

Armstrong has assembled an impressive collection of original research studies, theoretical essays, and literature reviews that, taken together, investigate not only stereotypical, harmful, and progressive representations of women and men but also contexts of media production, representation, and usage still in need of improvement. Contributors use an array of methods, including qualitative and quantitative content analysis, rhetorical and discourse analysis, and interviews. They investigate numerous topics, including gender portrayals and sexual scripts in music and advertising; news coverage of women's health; representations of female and male politicians and athletes; coverage of sex trafficking; and the gender gaps of Wikipedia, reality TV, and virtual environments . . . [T]he collection will be an important resource for anyone interested in media criticism, history, and production. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals.