In one day an average person will see around 4000 ads. The average American spends about 2 hours and 19 minutes on the internet every day, and they watch 4 hours and 31 minutes of television every day. Media is apparent everywhere and is one of the biggest influences on people throughout the world. The media is helpful in knowing what is happening in the world, but the media also leads to many problems. Through the media sexism is created. The media is the largest source of sexism towards women and leads to gender inequality and other issues because of its constant appearance in everyday life and the influence on society. In the media, gender based hostility is normal, and women are over-sexualized and seen as objects. The media fails to show women and the large place that they have in society. The media portrays women in a way that needs to be changed.

Today there is a sexual assault in America every two minutes, and one in four women are victims of domestic abuse. This domestic and sexual abuse is often made seem normal in the media, and women are often accused of provoking it. There are several aspects of the media that lead to gender based violence. In the article, “Gender Violence in the Media: the elusive reality” the author says that in the media, women are not seen as important as men. She states “the portrayal of them as sex objects prevents people from seeing this as a crime against a human being.” Women are not seen as valued as men, so when they are abused, killed or raped it is not taken as heavily as when the same thing would happen to a man. In the article the story of Athlete Oscar Pistorius, who is on trial for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day, is discussed. The story was all over the news, and in the tabloids Steenkamp was depicted as a sexual object who just happened to be a victim. The media focused on this instance because it was an attractive female. In many other cases stories of rape and abuse will not even make the headlines. The author of this article purpose is to argue that the way the media treats the issue of domestic violence is a problem. She gives examples of several instances of domestic violence and crimes against women to support her argument. She builds ethos by quoting journalists who have a closer insight to the media. Like in the tabloids and news, gender violence is built up extremely in video games. There are women running around in bikinis and getting shot in violent video games. The video game “Death Island Rip Tide” was sold with a special edition statue of a severed female torso. The violence in video games makes violence towards women seem like no big deal. In movies violence towards women is often shown as women are raped and killed without any further thoughts. Video games, movies and news can all lead to gender based violence because they make it seem okay, and fail to represent the victims of domestic and sexual abuse.

Another problem that women face in the media is the over-sexualized advertisements, offensive comments and they are objectified. When women are viewed as objects in the media, it changes the characteristics expected of women and leads to sexism. The representation project published a video “How the Media Failed Women in 2013” showing all the ways women have been made into objects in advertisements and in the news. It shows the constant insults women receive about their appearances in the media if they are not ‘perfect enough.’ The video shows how women have been sexualized in commercials for Fiat, Carl’s Jr., Equinox and Axe. Women are seen prancing around in bikinis or posing sexually with the product. The perfect looking women are seen as objects and nothing else. Music videos and movies use women stripping and naked to draw attention from viewers. This leads to the over-sexualization of these women. This source also shows remarks made towards women like “is this NBA cheerleader too chunky?” This shows that the public still views women on their appearance. This video is effective because of its appeal to emotion. It displays strong offenses to women that would draw emotion from anyone. It also uses a counterargument. It displays a few of the advances that women have made in the media but then goes on to show how women are still being slandered in the media in advertisements. Part of the problem with all the ads containing women is that ads sell more than products, they sell concepts. If women are seen as objects it will sell the idea that woman are objects promoting sexism. The characteristics of a women change because of the media. They have to be quiet, polite and pretty or else they will be judged like the others they see in the media. The media needs to change the way it treats women so women can change the way they see themselves.

Women are not a minority. The media represents women as a minority. Women are not seen in positions of authority like men are. In the media, women are underrepresented and this shows sexism. The article “Women’s Media Center Report Finds Women Still Underrepresented, Misrepresented in U.S. Media” shows just how underrepresented women are in the media. It effectively shows this by providing quantitative evidence. The numbers are shocking. Women were only 28.8 % of speaking characters in the top films of 2012. Only 6% of the top 100 films in 2012 had an equally balanced cast of men and women. The number of women on the radio news is only 8%, making it one of the largest gender gaps in media. This evidence appeals to logos. The article describes how the media is failing women across the board, and there is a major need for change. The author uses several women speakers to involve ethos and build an argument. The purpose of this article is to show how much women have been misrepresented in the media. The effect of this is women are not empowered. They do not see women in positions of power so they do not have as much confidence. The status of women in today’s media is shocking looking at how much the gender gap seems to have been closed. This shows how sexism is still visible today because women are still not half the media. Women have a large role in society which is not shown in media.

The media is everywhere. Sexism is everywhere as well. Sexism in the media is overbearing. Sexism is shown in the media through gender-based hostility, images of over sexualized, objectified women and the underrepresentation of women. The media creates sexism because it is so powerful. This can be reversed by giving women more powerful roles in movies, news, radio, and music. This can be reversed by fighting against gender violence and showing the horrors of it to the public. This can be reversed if women are looked at for their inside beauty and their thoughts instead of body parts. There are several ways to reduce the obvious sexism in the media. The media has the power to create a great amount of sexism but it also has the power to destroy it.