Has the mediation of gender changed, does this reflect changes in society?

During the period of the 1950s onwards, it could be argued that media was mainly concerned with the male audience as women were often treated as second class citizens who were inferior to the opposite sex. Women were largely sexualised within the media as can be seen in advertisements such as clothing or cigarettes. Within these adverts, we see women completely objectified and represented according to  Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory. This over sexualised representation of women clearly shows that they were not taken seriously within the media world. This point is highlighted further within this time as women were also represented as dull or stereotypical stay at home mothers. This can be seen within advertisement campaigns such as Fairy Liquid adverts within 1965 which depict this stereotype as a selling point. Apart from these representations women were not really shown as much else within the media. Women were often represented as lesser beings than the male, this was also done because it was thought that men would be buying these items for the women so it was often implied that the women needed what was being advertised because they were unable to cope without it.

Since this point, gender representation has stepped into the modern age and has seen some changes along the way. The role of women has become more general, stepping away from stereotypes. This can be seen in adverts such as Persil which now feature a man doing the washing instead of the woman doing it. Nutella also had an advertisement campaign in the year 2013 which depicted multiple people of varying genders and ethnicities. This marked a change from the previous campaign in the year 2011 which instead depicted a stereotypical stay at home mum in her morning routine of taking care of the children. This shows significant progress and how the lines between gender are becoming blurred. This can also be said for the fashion world, which despite having made little progress in the way it objectifies women actually has taken the views of women into consideration. Now we see men being overly sexualised just as much as women as can be seen in brands such as Calvin Klein. Now theorists must consider the female gaze within media as it now plays such a big role. This much attention to what women want to see would definitely have not been seen within the media of the 1950s. The media has also become accepting of changing genders, a concept that would not have been tolerated years prior has now become a large part of media. Examples of this include Brad Pitt's Rolling Stone cover in which he wears a dress, blending gender stereotypes of both sides, and the Caitlyn Jenner reveal for Vanity Fair which sparked a wave of support and controversy.

To conclude modern media has changed drastically from the small concerns of male audiences to a wide variety in which all gender classes are represented differently but much more equally than before. A lot of these developments can be owed to society and how events within history has influenced the ways in which different classes are represented. As women began to campaign for equal rights throughout throughout the 1960s-1970s period in America it made the idea of strong women move into mainstream media. As celebrities such as Bruce Jenner begin to undertake in life changing surgery, more and more media outlets have begun to cover this subject matter in television such as Orange is the New Black, and in advertisement such as MAC.