Essay Proposal & Preliminary Bibliography

So it goes - I'm reposting my essay summary and my bibliography. Just finished today and am already suffering withdrawal from my daily SMH readings. Using dial-up internet and trying to access the SMH website is ridiculously tedious.

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To what extent can ideas concerning gender and sexuality dictate or contribute to media coverage of news and current affairs? How can, if at all, the media impact upon the issue of gender and sexuality in regards to on equality and fairness?

The issue concerning the interconnectivity of gender and sexuality is universal in that it may affect the outcome of not only what can be regarded as news and current affairs, but also the way in which these stories are covered. In my essay, I will attempt to explore how news stories, depending on their medium, are affected by such concepts. I will be discussing how gender and sexuality may affect ideas of equality and fairness in the representation of particular elements of a news story.

Gender encompasses a variety of concepts, in particular stereotypes. By referring to Bascow’s text, I will be able to assess a general definition of the gender stereotype and how it can affect social attitudes and values. This will lead into Flanders view that women are generally a minority when it comes to the media, an issue that panders comfortably with my debate.

Sexuality is an important issue in that it has come to cater towards the ways in which media reaches it audience. I will be referring to the idea of the media using sexuality and sex in general in marketing their publications and programs toward a desired audience. By doing so, I will be using various websites as well as television programs local as well as international publications to assess the role of sexuality in not only a news story but the media as a market.

In discussing equality and fairness, I will be referring to its various definitions as well as the sensitive flaws in the accuracy of reporting in regards to gender and sexuality. The social attitudes toward gender and sexuality will also be discussed in relation to this topic as well as
how the media’s coverage of various issues can similarly dictate views on these issues.

Preliminary Bibliography

1. Flanders, L., 1997, Real Majority, Media Minority: The Cost of Sidelining Women in Reporting, Common Courage Press, Maine

This text looks into the many issues associated with the under-representation of women in the media. It focuses on painting women as prisoners in an information society with no real voice as well as the sexualities that are often discriminated against by the media.

2. Hurst, J., and White, S.A., 1994, Ethics and the Australian News Media, Macmillan Publishers Australia Pty. Ltd., South Yarra

This text assesses the role of ethics in the Australian Media and how it may affect the reporting of a particular news story. It tends to look into the nature of private and public life and how it may be balanced. Hurst and White also tackle the growing issue of market media and how it can affect the ethical and moral standards to which a news story can be reported upon.

3. Bascow, S.A., 1992, Gender: Stereotypes and Roles (Ed. 3), Brooks and Cole Publishing Company, California

Bascow’s text is helpful in that it addresses how gender is constructed in regards to familial values, education and the media. In particular it looks at the social construct, and not just the biological definitions of gender. Bascow also looks at sexualities in regards to gender and how it may also contribute to gender stereotyping.

4. Williams, T., 2000, ‘Gender, Media and Democracy’, The Round Table, London, Vol. 357, 1 October 2000

This journal article was unearthed from the online database, Taylor and Francis. It looks at the apparent reorganisation of the basic institutes of society into the market, the Government and the family. It looks at the media’s role in addressing the range of issues associated with the representation of each respective sector, in particular centring on the issue of equality.

5. Gamson, J., 2001, ‘Jessica Hahn, media whore: sex scandals and female publicity’, Critical Studies In Media and Communication, Routledge, London, Vol. 18, No. 2, June 2001

Gamson’s commentary on the impacts of the female presence in the media focuses on the case of Jessica Hahn and the ways in which sexuality is used to gain media coverage. In this case, he refers to the gendered stereotypes that have come to be associated with women in their portrayal within the media and attempts to deconstruct them as a result. This article serves as a valuable resource to my essay as it focuses heavily on not only gender, but also sexuality.