Gender Equality

Firstly, what is gender equality?
the state in which access to rights or opportunities is unaffected by gender.

Now the second question is, does today's society uphold the idea of gender equality in media or is it all a misconception? And if so where does it stem from?

It can be quite clear to see that gender equality in today's media is quite far from existent.

Let's take a look at some recent magazines.

GQ, for example

We see a young, successful, black (wow) man by the name of Lebron James all suited and booted on the cover of the February 2009 issue surrounded by sub heading and titles that not only empower him as a man but do not degrade him, or men in general, in any shape or form. We see words and phrases such as King  and only 24 and just getting started suggesting to the audience great masculine authority here while the rest of the headings talk about your general manly stuff - cars, food, suits etc. He poses wearing a sharp suit and a very subtle smile. Nothing wrong with this, right?
Now let's look at a female magazine;

Cosmopolitan, for example

The first word we see is not even the title but the word SEX  in big capital letters and this already gives readers the general idea what the selling point of this magazine is. 21 Mind Blowing Sex Moves.  Crazy Sex Confessions. Best Birth Control Tips Ever.  It is very clear to see that this woman's magazine revolves around the idea of sex. We see a model in the middle of the cover sporting a very skimpy black and white dress while showing her ridiculously gorgeous long tanned legs. The model oozes sex appeal and although sex sells, doesn't she deserve more? Doesn't she deserve a magazines cover that shows her sex appeal but also advertises how strong and powerful she is as a women?


These are the most clearest examples of gender inequality in  the media. Why is the women's magazine full of sex and half naked women but the men's magazine advertises strong and masculine men with not one mention of sex? The women of today are downgraded as nothing more but sex objects when they have so much more to give. There are plenty of beautiful and successful women in today's society who are in touch with their sexuality who are seen as sex objects as if to say women aren't any good for anything besides sex.

A company who has repetitively been criticized for their ads is American Apparel.

 
This ad was banned in the UK because the Advertising Standards Authority thought the model's pose was "gratuitous… overtly sexual and that they demeaned women."

The panel on the left side of the ad is overtly sexual and only tangentially sock related. And the gender of this model? Female. In comparison to the men's ads in AA, they are nowhere near as sexualised.  
American Apparel is never too far from controversy as seen in this article.


Overall, gender equality is a belief women have been fighting for decades dating way back to the late 19th Century( and ever further) with the Suffragettes campaigning for suffrage which eventually came for us 1928 after many losing their life during hunger strikes and Emily Davidson being trampled by the King's Horse. We are no different to the men around us so why the labels " whore", "slut" and "hoe" stick with females and not with males while they engage in the same sexual activity as us is just another example of gender inequality. Hopefully,we won't have to go to such drastic measures like the Suffragettes to get gender equality in the media as it should be something we should be entitled to from the day we are born.