Manish Madan, Ph.D, USA, SSH Blog Correspondent

A few weeks ago, I participated in a panel discussion on street harassment. My fellow participants included a lifelong advocate on gender rights and women’ safety in India, Dr. Sharada Jayagopal – part of Women Graduate-USA, a physician by profession, and the TV personality, Ms. Renee Mehrra who is also a well-known activist for women’s right. Renee asked me about my views on the role of media (particularly Bollywood movies) in regards to the sexual harassment of women. I think as a society we need to ask this question more often given the wide-reach of media, its permeability in our society, and how it shapes our opinions and beliefs.

So for the purpose of this post, I will revisit some of the research about media’s role influencing the sexual harassment of women. The presentation of women often based solely on their physical appearance, including certain manners inviting sexual innuendos, is often noted in the research. In some cases, media shows women to be submissive.

Media cultivation theory states, “The views shown on the television media is mostly taken as the messages and beliefs that are real and valid’” and will argue that the consistent portrayal of women in a sexually objectifying manner or as someone who can be harassed and will remain submissive when harassed, is likely to be taken as a reality outside the “idiot box” as well.

Naturally, the media content varies within the genres, such as music videos, soap operas, comedies, action movies, dramas, etc. Some genres attract more objectification than others. For instance, Selena Gomez’s song Good for You will be strikingly different from CNN Erin Brunnet’s Out Front — unless it involves Chris Matthews at CNBC “Hardball” (no pun intended!) asking her to come close to the screen during a video interview just so her could tell her, “You look great!”

In a study from Italy, Silvia Galdi and her co-authors examined the relationship between the objectification of women as sexual objects and the likelihood of sexual harassment occurring using Italian TV Programs. The authors used three sets of video clips depicting, i) objectified women, ii) non-objectified women, and iii) no women in the video. The study showed participants’ higher harassment penchant after watching the objectification TV program compared to watching the non-objectified women professionals or the ones where there were no women in the video.

The study also noted that male participants reported greater intentions to engage in sexual coercion and a higher likelihood to engage in harassment behavior as a result of viewing TV programs that depicted objectified women. Interestingly, participants who watched objectified programs were also more likely to conform with the traditional masculinity norms regarding dominance (used as a symbol of sex and power), and aggression.

The question thus goes back to the initial discussion, does the media create new social realities or is it a mere transmitter of existing social certainties? Thoughts?

Either way, such realities or certainties that comprises one gender or makes their existence vulnerable in a public space must be addressed.

There is also evidently some research that shows that the amount of time a youth spends consuming some form of the media is much more than the time spent in school or having interpersonal communications with parents. That said, if I view our social structure that enables an environment of sexual harassment as a jigsaw puzzle, then media will perhaps be one vital piece that has some role in this puzzle. Expanding the landscape of women portrayal in media with shows like #Quantico with a female lead charting her own course is probably a good change going forward where the women are not seen as mere sexual objects.

Do you think someone will consider sexually harassing the FBI recruit, #AlexParrish?

As a civilized society formed on principles of equality and respect, the media does have a role in either condoning or monitoring the objectification (often sexual in nature) of women, and having a larger role to play in our society’s struggle toward addressing the sexual harassment of women.

In conclusion, while I discussed the role of media in gender objectification, I also want to offer caution in singularly blaming it for the gender harassment as it will lead us to a reductionist approach. It is not only media nor is it all media, but perhaps there is a little bit of everything. Media is one bit of the puzzle and we also need to focus on various social, cultural, patriarchal and environmental factors that also promulgate the concept of gender harassment in our society.

Please use #MediaRoleinSH to share your views. I will look forward to reading and commenting on it!

#SexualHarassment #Masculinity #Dominance #MediaPortrayalofWomen #Italy

Manish is a Professor of Criminal Justice at Stockton University where his research focuses on examining sexual harassment, gender empowerment, spousal abuse and policing issues. You can follow him @Prof_Madan or reach out to him at www.manishmadan.com.