Abstract

Adolescent girls and boys use online networking sites differently, and girls have a higher risk of being harmed by non-adaptive use. The aim of the study was to assess the extent to which adolescents portray themselves according to gender stereotypes on their Facebook profiles. Participants were 623 Facebook users of both sexes who responded to the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) and the Personal Well-being Index (PWI). In the first step, the adolescents responded to the BSRI with respect to how they view a typical adult in terms of gender stereotypes. In the second step, half of them responded to the BSRI with respect to how they view themselves and the other half responded with respect to their self-presentation on Facebook. The results show that adolescents consider themselves to be less sexually differentiated than a typical adult of their own sex, both in their self-perception and their self-portrayal on Facebook. The study confirms that the psychological well-being of girls decreases considerably with age and that it is associated with a greater degree of masculinity. We conclude that adolescents produce accurate self-representations on their Facebook profiles, and both boys and girls tend to offer a less sexually differentiated self-concept and self-portrayal than that of the typical adult, with a slight preference for masculine traits; moreover, masculinity is associated with a greaterdegree of psychological well-being.

Abstract

TV serials analyzed in this paper show a representation of stereotyped gender. These cultural products, despite its apparent modernity, reproduce inequalities in the representation of the feminine and masculine through gender stereotypes which are sexist models for the construction of gender identity among its young viewers. Besides, a gender and co-education approach for an audiovisual alphabetization should be a good way against inequality.

Abstract

This article aims to outline the positive assessments made by the public, through the service of the Catalan Women’s Institute (ICD) on speeches containing media representations of gender. It is a way to illustrate how the products of cultural industries are part of the audience’s social imaginary and how it is able to identify and assess constructive representations of gender. The media and audience as agents of social change suggest ways of teaching on gender issues. Finally, the text encourages us to think about the possibility of creating and enhancing educational strategies to form a critical audience that generates proposals, guidelines, a discourse on gender according to social reality.

Abstract

This article presents the results of a quantitative and qualitative analysis of adolescent selfpresentations in Fotolog. The images which these adolescents create and share through the Net focus on the construction of the Self. Here gender and sexuality become the main structuring factors of representation. Results point to the fact adolescents selfpresentations mirror some of the categories defined by Goffman in his study of gender hyperritualization in advertising. Moreover, other gender expressions are found in the sample, such as the lesbian pose or the erotization of bodies which Gill also detects in advertising. Despite the fact that the images that adolescents upload in Social Networking Sites reproduce gender stereotypes and patriarchal patterns based in advertising, it must be said that they also elaborate a relatively varied repertoire of pictures and are able to conceive original creations. These creative selfrepresentations are the outcome of a process of negotiation of gender and sexual identity which occurs in these settings, as well as in other adolescent media practices. To avoid a thoughtless reproduction of gender stereotypes and contribute to a critical negotiation of these representations, media education is needed. This media education should take into account the way in which adolescent practices are shaped by other media consumption.

Abstract

The elderly population has increased considerably in recent years and it is estimated that by 2050 32% of the Spanish population will be old people. This group is underrepresented in the media and does not attract much research interest. To put this right, we present an analysis of the representation of older persons in advertisements appearing in magazines aimed directly or indirectly at seniors in Spain. A content analysis estimated the frequency of appearance of the images and words that represent the elderly, and a discourse analysis enabled this study to investigate the presence of stereo types and discourse relations between advertising and theories of ageing. The results show that the older people who appear in the ads are mostly men portrayed as consumers of entertainment products who are at the beginning of their period of old age. A marked gender stereotype is observed. The differentiation between the institutional and commercial advertising discourse is also clear. The study analyses such advertising over three decades, covering the period in which the age distribution of the population has been inverted in Spain. Throughout this period, the frequency of ap pearance has been very low. Old people are clearly an invisible collective in magazine advertising.

Abstract

This paper studies the coverage of WAGs (wives and girlfriends of sportsmen) in online sports-media by analyzing 418 articles published in four major online sports’ newspapers in Spain: Marca, As, Mundo  deportivo, and Sport. A content analysis was used to create a card of analysis with ten fields. Thus, the paper analyzes the evolution of this phenomenon between 2000 and 2015; the sections, sport, type, and extension of such news; authorship, headlines, main theme, and information linked to negative facts about them; and the role played by women. Results show a significant increase in news coverage about WAGs in all newspapers. The coverage is mainly short news stories with abundant images; located in entertainment sections; associated with beauty, motherhood, male dependence, and subordination.