My summary on how teenage girls are represented in the media

I think that the Media represent teenage girls in in a negative way by; neglecting teenage girls real body images and replacing it with false beauty that is an unrealistic look.  By the media doing this it's makes most teenage girls think that they never look good enough and it makes them want to look like the 'false beauty'.  The media also puts pressure on everyday teens to think they have to look perfect for boy's to look at them or even take notice.  The media likes to manipulate stereotypes and exaggerate on how teens should look.  I think that it is time that the media starts using real girls to show teenagers that everyone is not perfect, we need a change in the media so girls stop being so hard on themselves.

Gender Stereotyping in the media of teenage girls.

High school couple picture out of dolly magazine!

In magazines aimed for girls between 13 and 17 their will always be an article focus of a boy. Usually it is either to do with boyfriend advice, how to impress him, or a photo's of the latest 'Heart Throb'. I will be explaining how the media portrays and tricks girls into thinking they will need a crush or a boy to be successful in life and the damages that relationships can cause for teenage girls.  When I think of teenage relationships I think of high school and more friendship than love, but these day's relationships can become so serious that it can cause problems for young teenage girls.  The media has helped contribute to this by always having images of girls looking really happy by being with strong boys and advice on how to get your crush to notice you. But whats really bad about the happy images of girls with boys and advice, is that it tricks girls minds into thinking they need a boy to make them happy and have the 'higher status' within their friend group and school.  Having girls think they need boy's means it can make them change themselves to be 'perfect girlfriend material' this can lead to friendship problems, personal make overs attitude changes and self body harm.  Most people have probably experienced knowing someone who has went through ridiculous scheming to try get their crushes to notice them such as flirting, peer pressure for trying new things to make them seem 'cooler'.  The media has completely changed the image of a teenage relationship by making girls think when you are in a relationship it's more than just "boyfriend and girlfriend".  The media has helped make girls get crazy ideas by having their advice section for girls on how to get boy's, although girls may think this is helpful at the time, it is usually the complete wrong advice.  They tell you to wear certain thing's , what boy's like girls to do and what boys like. This is miss guiding girls by telling them that if you want to have a relationship you should do certain things that you probably wouldn't do and then this is giving your crush the wrong impression of yourself.  I think that teenage relationship these day's are far to serious and they can change girls for the rest of their lives if they get in the wrong relationship.  Relationships for getting out of hand and it's time the media changes the messages they print.  My advice is be who you are and don't be afraid to raise your voice about something you think is wrong or right.


      Here is some images of other magazines that put images of girls with boys being extremely happy.




Kendall and Kylie Jenner 16 and 15.

    Stereotyping of teenage girls  in the Media

Media is in our everyday lives we read it, see it, hear it, watch it and asorb it!  Most teenage girls around the world are influenced by what the media say's and does. Magazines main focus is advertising certain products, teenage magazines are basically to do with fashion and beauty that has lots of images of pretty girls to make the teenagers want to purchase the products.  This popular magazine cover of Teen Vogue characterizes a typical  representations of teenage girls!  On this cover are sister's Kendall and Kylie Jenner who are step sisters to the "famous reality tv socialites" the Kardashians.  These girls come from a very wealthy family and have many thing's that most girl's only dream of  having.  They are both skinny and pretty with staight shiny hair have perfect skin and  are both wearing minimal makeup. They have the "natural beauty look."   The question is how much of what they look like is real and are they really this perfect?  Having images like this on teen magazine covers can make teenage girl's have more doubts about  their "body image",   Teenage girls like to follow the trends represented on the Magazine Covers.  But the truth is that it is unrealistic to think you should look like Kendall and Kylie.  The cover will be be heavily photoshoped to make Kendall and Kylie look like the dream image for TeenVogue!  Because of images like this it can cause low self esteem for normal teenage girls because they keep wanting to look like something thats "fake" this can cause thing's like self body harm, peer presure, bullyng, no confidence and suicide.  On the cover of TeenVogue the writing is about fashion, expert tips for skin and makeup ideas this is basically summing up you need all of these things to be happy and look good.   Throughout the entire magazine there are images of skinny clear skinned girls that are all smiling and look full of life.  Most teen magazines have very few images of dark skinned girls which can lead to multicultural racism; as white skinned girls are usually on the cover and this makes them seem more superior.  This is not the only magazine that has "fake" images almost every other teenage girl magazines have the exact same approach to advertising the wrong ideas.

 Here are some other popular magazine covers that show the same type of images as Teen Vogue

Mean Girls

Cady having makeup and hair done by the "popular girls" .

In this photo it represents the stereotype of the "popular" girls.  When Cady first arrived she wore jeans and plain t-shirts in this picture we see Cady wearing pink, which represents girlie, childish and very feminine.  The girls who accepted Cady into their group are helping her to make the transition by doing her hair and makeup, this is showing us that to be the "popular girl" you have to look a certain way,  which is very girlie and made up with lots of make up.  This is giving older and younger girls the image that if they want to be the "popular girl" they have look and dress a certain way.  This stereotyping and representation does happen in the "real world" e.g  high school, sports, jobs but high school is the main place where it starts because girls are just starting their teen years and want to become more independant  and who doesn't want to be to be well like by everyone!  The problem is that Girls think they have to look like the girls in this photo to be the "popular girl".

Clip from mean girls cafeteria scene.

In this clip from mean girls it represents all of the stereotypical groups, this clip is taken in the cafeteria which  represents where you sit what you eat and usually who your friends are.  It shows the strict seating plan that the cliques sit e.g. Cady has just got her lunch and the popurlar girls (plastics) ask her to sit with them because she looks pretty, straight away Cady's group of freinds are angry at her because she is sitting with a different group of girls who look different.  In this clip it goes through all of the different stereotypical groups off teenage girls such as the girls who eat their feeling's, varsity girls, cheerleaders, mean pretty black girls, ugly nerds, the perfect popular girls and the wannabee popular girls. In the clip it shows clear images of the different cliques this is giving the image of teenage girls that they can only be freinds with one specific group and this is usually the group who looks the same e.g. if you're fat you will only be freinds with the fat girls.  This clip also show's that the pretty popular girls are the "cool, well liked girls" and that everyone wants to be like them this is giving teenage girls around the world the message that you will only ever be freinds with the people who look like and you will never be able to feel well liked and pretty if you are not freinds with the "popular girls".  This is what the film/media industry is creating when doing films they
 build on typical stereotypes and exzagerate them to form opinions about who is good and who is bad.  And when people see a girl or group of friends they judge them on what they look like and relate them back to movies that they have seen and catorgorize them to a specific stereotype.

• Explain what a stereotype is.

A stereotype is a popular belief about specific types of individuals or groups

• Say how and why we stereotype.

We as humans make prior judgements within meeting a person for the first time. We base these judgements on looks whether it be their ethnicity, the colour of their hair, what they are wearing or how they act. After these judgements have been made in our minds, we categorize them into different social groups. Once you make a judgement on someone it takes a long time for you to change your opinion about them.

• Briefly explain why the media uses stereotypes

The main reasons the media uses stereotyping is to keep us entertained because it gives us interesting things to talk about and to relate to with other people.