Status of Women 2000 Abstracts
Commission of the Status of Women
Fresh, Youthful, and Female-Positive: Analyses of Feminist Identity in Web Sites for Women • Debashis ‘Deb’ Aikat, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • The research for this study was based on concepts related to cultural studies and detailed discourse analyses of top four mainstream women’s Web sites • Chick Click (http://www.chickclick.com/), Cybergrrl (http://www.cybergrrl.com/), iVillage (http://www.ivilla~e.com/) and Women.com Networks (http://www.women.com/). This study examined the level of discourse regarding feminist identity based on five specific categories: 1. Empowerment, 2. Sexuality, 3. Justice and equality, 4. Action for Social, Political and Economic Change, and 5. Other Pertinent Themes.
Images of Women’s Basketball Players on the Covers of Collegiate Media Guides • Kiki Nigel Baker, Louisiana-Lafayette • In the advertising and news media. female athletes are consistently trivialized and marginalized through stereotypical images and minimal coverage. These media seem to still ignore the fact that female athletes have professional careers and continue to emphasize the personal areas of their lives. This image of a female athlete may begin at the collegiate level and may be encouraged by stereotypical portrayals of female athletes in publications produced by sports information departments. The purpose of this study.
Career-Related Advice and Information in Women’s Magazines: A Content Analysis of Work Options and Topics • Kimberly K. Cass, Drake • Career-related messages in magazines tell women what to think about their careers and how to act at work. This study examined such messages in Mademoiselle from 1961 to 1999. The 1960s and 70s were characterized by a focus on appearance and its relationship to obtaining employment. By the 1980s-90s, focus expanded to address a variety of topics. However, coverage throughout the study period was shallow, and types of careers covered were unrealistically glamorous.
Nurturing Motherhood: The Portrayal of Gender Roles and Childbirth in “A Baby Story” • Erika Engstrom, Nevada, Las Vegas • The author examines portrayal of gender roles and childbirth in The Learning Channel’s “A Baby Story,” a thirty-minute reality based television program that traces the story of couples anticipating the birth of their child. The show provides a medium for public discourse about childbirth while embodying several themes related to gender roles and childbirth in the 1990s, including conflicts experienced by women regarding careers and motherhood, and increased involvement of male partners in childcare.
Four Gender Equity Models and Why They Matter to Mass Communications Education • Kim Golombisky, South Florida • With women comprising the majority in mass communications classrooms, “gender equity” in education must be a priority for mass communications educators. This essay provides a general review of the issues. First it critiques four “gender equity” models • “equal,” “equitable,” fair,” and “affirmative” • and then it examines how these models relate to mass communications education. Finally it suggests a classroom “gender equity” audit and offers some practical strategies for developing a” sex affirmative” mass communications learning environment.
“You Can Never Be Too Thin” – or Can You?: Presenting Research Intended to Combat the Effects of Digital Manipulation of Fashion Models’ Weight, Leg Length and Skin Color • Jacqueline C. Hitchon, Shiela Reaves, Sung-Yeon Park, Gi Woong Yun, Wisconsin-Madison • Media scholars have recently linked the consumption of magazine images to eating disorders. Exposure to the thin ideal has been shown to create body dissatisfaction, reduce women’s self-esteem, encourage attempts at dieting, fuel a drive for thinness and contribute to eating disorder symptomatology. Previous research has neglected the role of digital manipulation of images in creating the thin ideal, which can better be described as a mirage. The paper explores the relationship between digital manipulation and focal psychological indices that lead to eating behavior problems.
The Last Male Bastion Enters the 21st Century: The Changing View of Women’s Professional Basketball In One Newspaper’s Sports Department • Lynn Klyde-Silverstein, Ohio • This qualitative case study uses participant observation and interviews to examine the way one newspaper sports section has covered the Women’s National Basketball Association in the three years of the league’s existence. Grounded in framing theory, standpoint theory, and critical theory, the study looks at the sports department’s changing relationship with its hometown WNBA team.
A Woman’s Place: Newspaper Advice Columns in the Wake of the Nineteenth Amendment • Jacquelyn Lowman and Lucinda D. Davenport, Michigan State • The Nineteenth Amendment, granting women the vote, was just one manifestation of the social, political, legal, and economic changes that roiled the United States during the 1920s. Traditional roles filled by men and women were being questioned. In a world where such customary sources of support and information as kin and local community were weakening, newspaper advice columnists filled the void as objective, sophisticated authorities. This study examines more than a decade of national advice columns in the wake of the Amendment, and finds them to be both a promoter of new ideas and a reflector of reality.
Does Sex Make a Difference? Job Satisfaction of Television Network News Correspondents • Cindy J. Price, Wyoming • Women have been entering the work force in large numbers starting in the 1940s and been increasing ever since. However, the number of women in network television news has not grown at the same rate as some other industries. This study surveyed all network television news correspondents at ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and PBS to determine if there were any differences between men and women in their job satisfaction.
The Language of Abortion: A Case Study of the Des Moines Register and the Quad-City Times, 1992-1999 • Heather Wiese Starr, Drake • This case study/content analysis examines newspaper coverage of Planned Parenthood and abortion and reproductive services in two city newspapers. In Des Moines, IA, Planned Parenthood has a long-established presence, and the DM Register was found to cover abortion in a balanced manner. In the Quad Cities, IA, a new Planned Parenthood clinic will open this year. Coverage of women’s reproductive rights was minimal before the clinic was announced, and noticeably negative during construction, in the Quad-City Times.
Margaret Sanger as Dissident Journalist: Demanding Wider Access to Birth Control Information • Rodger Streitmatter, American University • This paper documents the central role that Margaret Sanger and her two magazines • Woman Rebel and Birth Control Review • played in creating and sustaining the Birth Control Movement in America. It also identifies and articulates the major themes that dominated the editorial content of the two magazines. Although numerous scholarly works have previously been published about Sanger, they have portrayed her primarily as an activist. This study posits that Sanger also should be recognized as a highly effective dissident journalist.
Print friendly
