The issues of media and gender have long been a major area of research in media studies. Studies have focused on the way minority women have been portrayed, paying little attention to how these images affect their self-perception. In this study, the researcher shifts the focus to examine how minority women of various ethnicities interpret and internalize mainstream media images that glorify white femininity as well as the portrayals of minority women. This qualitative, exploratory content analysis research design applies Social Comparison Theory and Self-Schema philosophical approach. Content analysis using latent and manifest coding was applied to the interviews. Ten participants were selected through a snowball sampling design and identified as women with any non-white, ethnic group. Four themes emerged: 1) Mainstream media generally depicts women as sex symbols; 2) reliance on media perpetuates the use of stereotypes; 3) the ideal image of women is depicted as white, tall, and thin; 4) minority women are taught that they are inadequate and unworthy. Implications for social work practice and policy are discussed.

Minority Women and Western Media: Challenging Representations and Articulating New Voices presents research examining media portrayals of women from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. It provides qualitative and quantitative findings of how women are stereotyped and misrepresented not only because of their gender but also their race, religion, ability, physical attributes, and political status. Whilst their voices are frequently excluded, marginalized and misrepresented, the chapters in this volume show how minority women are creating and articulating new discourses and challenging assumptions and expectations about themselves. This book provides insights into how women are represented in different media, including newspapers, television shows, films, and online platforms. Scholars of media studies, women’s studies, and communication will find this book particularly useful.

The issues explored are: what mediated popular culture says about women and their roles in contemporary society; whether and how the mediated representation of women addresses real women's goals and potential; how the popular media negotiate the tension between cultural constraint and social changes within their portrayal of women; and whether women are still the victims of symbolic annihilation by the media."--BOOK JACKET.

"Ideas move mountains, especially in turbulent times. Lovemarks is the product of the fertile-iconoclast mind of Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide of Saatchi & Saatchi. Roberts argues vociferously, and with a ton of data to support him, that traditional branding practices have become stultified. What’s needed are customer Love affairs. Roberts lays out his grand scheme for mystery, magic, sensuality, and the like in his gloriously designed book Lovemarks.” —Tom Peters Tom Peters, one of the most influential business thinkers of all time, described the first edition of Lovemarks: the future beyond brands as “brilliant.” He also announced it as the “Best Business Book” published in the first five years of this century. Now translated into fourteen languages, with more than 150,000 copies in print, Lovemarks is back in a revised edition featuring a new chapter on the peculiarly human experience of shopping. The new chapter, "Diamonds in the Mine," is an insightful collection of ideas for producers and consumers, for owners of small stores and operators of superstores. So forget making lists! Shopping, says Kevin Roberts, is an emotional event. With this as a starting point, he looks at the history of shopping and how it has changed so dramatically over the last ten years. Using the Lovemark elements of Mystery, Sensuality, and Intimacy, Roberts delves into the secrets of success that can be used to create the ultimate shopping experience.

Nasty Women: Media Portrayals and Treatment of Women provides readers with a comprehensive examination of the portrayals of women in mass media that appear to be divided along gender, race/ethnicity, social status, age, disability, sexual orientation, and body image. The book also covers how women's privileges, disadvantages, and exclusions are treated in the media. How have women been misrepresented and mistreated in today's mass media venues? Women's changing roles in American history and politics, as well as their roles in news stories as experts and credible and reliable sources, are a few of the subjects found in dedicated chapters. Other chapters provide insights into: 1) the challenges faced by women who identify as LGBTQIA+; 2) research on depictions of violence against women; 3) media portrayals of women as victims or perpetrators of violence; 4) how women's bodies are imagined in mass media content; and 5) portrayals and depictions of women starring in popular reality television shows. A discussion on the various "isms," such as racism, sexism, heterosexism, colorism, lookism, and body-ism, are further introduced to readers, as are the theories of feminism, theories used in mass communication research, social psychology theories, and queer theory. Nasty Women is an instructive and necessary resource for courses in sociology, mass communication, journalism, women's and gender studies, graduate programs, and other social sciences disciplines that focus on media effects, culture, and society.

Creates a new framework for approaching Black women’s wellness, by merging theory and practice with both personal narratives and public policy. This book offers a unique, interdisciplinary, and thoughtful look at the challenges and potency of Black women’s struggle for inner peace and mental stability. It brings together contributors from psychology, sociology, law, and medicine, as well as the humanities, to discuss issues ranging from stress, sexual assault, healing, self-care, and contemplative practice to health-policy considerations and parenting. Merging theory and practice with personal narratives and public policy, the book develops a new framework for approaching Black women’s wellness in order to provide tangible solutions. The collection reflects feminist praxis and defines womanist peace in terms that reject both “superwoman” stereotypes and “victim” caricatures. Also included for health professionals are concrete recommendations for understanding and treating Black women. “ this book speaks not only to Black women but also educates a broader audience of policymakers and therapists about the complex and multilayered realities that we must navigate and the protests we must mount on our journey to find inner peace and optimal health.” — from the Foreword by Linda Goler Blount

There is a growing knowledge base in understanding the differences and similarities between women and men, as well as the diversities among women and sexualities. Although genetic and biological characteristics define human beings conventionally as women and men, their experiences are contextualized in multiple dimensions in terms of gender, sexuality, class, age, ethnicity, and other social dimensions. Beyond the biological and genetic basis of gender differences, gender intersects with culture and other social locations which affect the socialization and development of women across their life span. This handbook provides a comprehensive and up-to-date resource to understand the intersectionality of gender differences, to dispel myths, and to examine gender-relevant as well as culturally relevant implications and appropriate interventions. Featuring a truly international mix of contributors, and incorporating cross-cultural research and comparative perspectives, this handbook will inform mainstream psychology of the international literature on the psychology of women and gender.