Women as Sex Symbols

REPRESENTATION

REPRESENTATION

• A significant group we will study this year is the representation of New Zealand female youth – in particular the way they are frequently portrayed by the media as sex symbols.

• In the early post-war years in New Zealand, women were usually portrayed in a positive manner by the media. Women were considered crucial in rebuilding society and the population after the devastation caused by World War One and Two. The qualities women were valued for at this point in time largely consisted of domestic skills rather than intellectual ability or ambition. Any woman who considered a career over a husband and family was considered to be unnatural and a failure to her sex.

REPRESENTATION

• The representation of New Zealand female youth has changed dramatically by the late 20th and 21st century. Women are now increasingly portrayed by the modern media as sex symbols, valued only for their ability to sell products to the masses. Women are frequently dismembered in advertising causing women to be seen as objects or part of an object rather than a person. This has severe consequences for the way young women feel about themselves and the way they are viewed by society as a whole.

NZ ADVERTISING EXAMPLES:

L&P 1990Tui Advert 2006The Axe Effect - Lynx 2006Lynx Metamorphosis 2006Dove EvolutionPrimo Advert 2007

Burger King Advert 2007Media InfluenceFemale RepresentationNZ's Next Top Model

Representation response

• Describe the group you have studied

• Describe how this group has been represented in at least TWO texts you have studied.(note HOW refers to costume, camera shots, music etc)

• Explain the message or value conveyed through this representation

• Analyse the implications of this representation