Sexualisation and Objectification of Women in Indian Movies

Name: Ankita Bhowmick

Roll no.: MCM20006

Semester: 3^rd Semester

Department: Mass Communication & Journalism, Tezpur University

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Gender & Media

• Gender stereotypes are taken into account when gender is shown in the media. Gender stereotypes are stereotypes that lead to gender-specific standards that distinguish between male and female behavior patterns.
• Media has a significant role to play when it comes to gender stereotypes. Initially, women were not as present in the media as they are now. If women were present in media, they are often present to appear in “sexualized or subordinated roles”.
• Men and women are shown in the media in a variety of ways. When men and women are portrayed in the media, they are frequently assigned conventional rules to follow.

Bollywood Industry & Gender Representation in Indian Movies:

• The magic where Hindi films in India are created and produced are categorized into the Bollywood Industry. It is important to look at how gender is represented in Bollywood films.
• Throughout the history of Indian cinema, the story of every hero is incomplete without saving the “damsel in distress”—the heroine. Thus, A majority of women actress in Bollywood films are portrayed as subordinate or underrepresented as compared to the male actors.
• Indian films has significantly higher prevalence of sexualisation of female characters and the movies score low in depicting women in significant speaking roles.
• The prevalence of female directors, writers and producers in the Indian films was also not at a very high number.

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Sexualisation of Women in Bollywood Movies

• Definition: Sexualisation is to make something sexual in character or quality or to become aware of sexuality, especially in relation to men and women. Sexualisation is linked to sexual objectification.
• Sexualisation of female characters in movies is a standard practice across the global film industry and women are twice as likely as men to be shown in sexually revealing clothing, partially or fully naked, thin, and five times as likely to be referenced as attractive.
• With women consistently perceiving similar roles throughout the industry in which they are sexualized and hold to the standards of traditional roles, they are still seen as submissive towards men. Ghaznavi et al. (2017) support how female characters are often sexualized or depicted in traditional roles.

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Prevalence of Item Songs in Bollywood

Examples:

Objectification Of Women in Indian Movies

Media to Women

What happens because of such portrayals?

How Should the portrayals be?

• Women as human beings and not objects.
• Women having her aspirations, needs, life.
• Women having equal roles as men.
• Women respected for ‘what she is’ rather than ‘what she should be’.
• Society having men & women as equal partners.
• Changing not only the media but also the Minds.

Conclusion

References: