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1) Are women truly misrepresented in the media? Does media misrepresentation of men exist as well? How can we counter misrepresentations in the media?

As from what I see, I do strongly think that women have been misrepresented in the media throughout the years from the way they have been constantly portrayed as. Women being misrepresented as being “too-emotional” and “overly-sexual” have given the society an outlook on women as beings that are always desperate for men to “save”. Directors can be seen dressing women in provocative clothing and have them perform actions to get a man’s attention sexually in films, which results in a poor reputation of women when society starts labelling them with words like ‘b*itchy’. Besides that, even when women are given a role as a protagonist in media, they are usually of lesser strength compared to men. This gives the society a representation of women not being adequate enough to gain the same amount of respect as men despite the high IQ, knowledge and talent that a women posses.

However, the misrepresentation doesn’t only occur in women but in men as well. This is because media have the tendency to portray men as beings that doesn’t shed a tear and express their emotions. This has indirectly affect the representation of men as uncompassionate and refraining them from really caring for the people that they love because it is seen as uncommon.

We can counter misrepresentation in the media by being aware of what the media is feeding us. We need to understand that the media constantly aims to fantasize reality, persuading the society to believe in the fantasy that does not always benefit us. When we are sure of the fine line between reality and fantasy, we will then not give into the misrepresentation that frequently occur in media, instead learn to stand on what we truly believe will benefit us as human beings.

2)  Does the media send the message that our values lie in our bodies? Is this the dominant message that we see and read on a daily basis through movies, news, TV shows, comics, games and novels?

According to researches, yes, it is especially prominent in American Media. But otherwise in Malaysian media, many things are censored, seeing that Malaysia is a relatively conservative country.

Even so, there are evidences which points to sexual objectification and sexism in Malaysian media, which may not be explicit.

Generally, things like video games are easily accessible in most countries. Unfortunately, almost all video games features a sexy female character, with incredible proportions and/or skimpy clothes, and mainly a side character. Yes, it is especially dominant in games, when the target audience are youths and men.

But in different media, such as novels, may not have such an obvious explicit outlook on women. As novels comprises of many different genres, and not all genres are against women, projecting them in a negative way, all the time.

3) Describe some gender stereotypes perpetrated by the media, whether local or international that you have been exposed to. What are the positive and negative effects of these stereotypes? How do these stereotypes of femininity and masculinity limit girls and boys, from your own experience and what you have observed from others?

As we all know, media plays a huge role in influencing us. Let it be about society, health or even body image.

The female characters in movies are often portrayed as the “vulnerable” one, easily controlled by men and are shown as slaves for men whereas we have the male characters who are often portrayed as strong, masculine and the ones who have power over everything that they do.

Positively, all these gender stereotypes portrayed by the media result in important issues such as human rights and social justice where men and women should be treated the same. We’ve seen that they are actually men out there who have contributed and helped to achieve gender equality.

However,  because of these gender stereotypes, the media has made it look as if it is alright for men to treat women like the way they are being treated in movies in real life. The magazines that we see on the stands, the ads that we see on tv have given the world the idea of how, especially a woman,  to look like. In addition to that, this has set a “high standard” for the society. As a result, many young girls have difficulty accepting how they look and wanting to change every single detail about themselves just so they could “fit in” with the crowd and be accepted by society.

Please, please stop gender stereotypes. It is very toxic to the mind. The world needs to open their eyes and take this issue seriously before it gets out of hand and we wont be able to shape the future generation.

4) As young people are deemed the most susceptible to media's messages and influence of peer pressure, how can you guard yourself against what the media tells and shows you about how you should be as a person, whether as a male /female, thin/plus-sized, Asian/POC, LGBT/hetero/masculine/feminine stereotypes, rich/poor/urban/rural, cool and popular/uncool/outcast etc.

Media is a minor influence towards the children but it has a very powerful impact.Young people are very easy to be influence because they are trying to figure out their own identity. As young  people, how i should guard myself is by having my own strong stand. As example; I believe that we all should have our own belief as a guideline for our own good so that we are at the right track. And I stand to this since I could remember.

We also should gain more knowledge so that we won’t be cheat by the media and know what is right or wrong. Knowledge is the key of success. It help us not to get lost in the sea of media. Media may share and show a lot of things but we need to know whether the information given is right and accurate sometimes it’s just rumours just make us feel the pressure. Media also shows all this small figure body, sexy and hot body and all the things that a girl would dream of but as an intellectual figure we need to know nobody will ever be perfect and having a perfect body is not by harming yourself. We should be wiser person or thing of a way to get achieve it without harming yourself.

DON’T let the media get into you because they can.

Have a moment for yourself and think over and over again if the whole thing in the media is logic or not and find an evidence to prove it wrong or probably do a reasearch about it. People tend to belief when things are been shared and viral through all medium. Have a brain and act like you actually go to school and actually gain something at school because I believe that school is a place where they educated students.

5) After having sat through the lectures in this module and have gone through the exercises in the tutorials, what have you learnt and realised about how the media affect most people’s lives and affect yours?

Before had this lecture, i did not know that media give much impact to people. For example, we watched a video which related with feminism. After I watched video i realize that the media can put information to people’s brain even if that is wrong. I got shocked some part of video. That scene is that the game scene which have thinking of against feminism. Furthermore in GTA, some game player just hit the person in the game. Of course we can not say those guys will hit other guys and discriminate girls. However when i watched that video, i consider that the young age guys can get thinking automatically. Therefore for me i want to say that never attack Expressionismus. But Government need to control the media because the kids can not filter the wrong knowledges which come out from media. Moreover reflect my life, honestly i did not mind about such a things( I love Quentin Tarantino hahaha). However I gain something in this video. That is that when i touched media I need to be sensitive. If i do not be like that i could just follow thinking which got problem in Ethical.

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1) Zia Da - Yes, women are truly misrepresented in the media. You will see this everyday, women being misrepresented in media, it is just everywhere. I do not think media misrepresentation of men exists as much as of women do. The media must be controlled by authorities. Laws must be strict and tightened. The society especially the younger generation must be educated to understand, support and practise equality among men and women, and also to make a drastic change in this issue.

2) Zia Da - Yes, the media sends the message that our values lie in our bodies, which is so wrong and negative. It is the dominant message that we see and read on a daily basis through all sorts of media. This proves that this negative and false mindset has already been absorbed and instilled in people’s minds, and we cannot turn a blind eye to this serious matter, which is feminism in media.

3) Janice -  The characteristics of women are supposed to be gentle, submissive and shy. However men are expected to be tough and have the power of leading. In the occupations field, women are supposed to work less than men, because men are supposed to be in charge and hardworking in their work and earn more money than women. Stereotypes will cause a person miss a chance to build relationships with certain types of people. For me, feminine and masculine are unrealistic. Because we may show different traits at different times and also they may not capture how we truly feel, how we behave or even how we define ourselves.

4) Amni - Just be yourself. That’s what we need to do as the young people who need to guard ourselves against what the media tells and shows us about how we should be as a person. You are the one who decides what you want to be in your life and how you would want your life to be. Live your life and be happy of who you are.

5) Afraa - Media being our first and only exposure we are bond to be affected. In a society or a culture the media shapes our perceptions and it's something that we can’t help along with things that trigger us eventually, whatever you used to think will be changed. For example I've observed in some channels in the Middle East. Arabic TV series are always materialistic and I remember once our culture never really cared about such things. With us being so exposed to such shows it made a generation so aimless and the only thing that they would care about is a Chanel bag or an overpriced car. If you provide the masses with TV series where intellectual people are involved, it will eventually inspire people to think differently.

# data[].attributes.body
1) Are women truly misrepresented in the media? Doe media misrepresentation of men exist as well? How can we counter misrepresentations in the media?

2)  Does the media send the message that our values lie in our bodies? Is this the dominant message that we see and read on a daily basis through movies, news, TV shows, comics, games and novels?

3) Describe some gender stereotypes perpetrated by the media, whether local or international that you have been exposed to. What are the positive and negative effects of these stereotypes? How do these stereotypes of femininity and masculinity limit girls and boys, from your own experience and what you have observed from others?

4) As young people are deemed the most susceptible to media's messages and influence of peer pressure, how can you guard yourself against what the media tells and shows you about how you should be as a person, whether as a male /female, thin/plus-sized, Asian/POC, LGBT/hetero/masculine/feminine stereotypes, rich/poor/urban/rural, cool and popular/uncool/outcast etc.

5) After having sat through the lectures in this module and have gone through the exercises in the tutorials, what have you learnt and realised about how the media affect most people’s lives and affect yours?