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Media View of Baby Boomer Women Has Shifted as Women
Changed
Highly accomplished Hillary Clinton most applauded
for 'standing by her man'
 Jan.
24, 2006 - Media portrayal of baby boomer women has shifted and changed
even as society has changed. Maryland Journalism Professor Maurine
Beasley says in the 1940s, the "Doris Day ideal of a sweet, wholesome
young woman permeated the media." For most women of that period, family
came first.
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But the daughters of those women were portrayed
much differently. The Women's Liberation movement and Vietnam War
protests helped push the media to a portrayal of women that not only
included shifting views on explicit language, but it was also "much more
oriented to sex in both broadcasting and print," says Beasley.
Civil Rights legislation continued the push, as
women were given more opportunities to attend graduate school and take
on well-paid careers. But despite that, the Maryland Journalism
professor says "the traditional ideas of women as family caretakers by
no means went away."
Today, Professor Beasley says women "face a
bewildering array of social, economic and political choices, while
lower-class women face a burdensome economic struggle that middle-class
feminism has not really addressed. All this plays out to some degree in
the mass media, but the emphasis is on selling women products to enhance
their sexual appeal, which is basically a very traditional approach to
keeping many women subordinated to a male-dominated structure."
Professor Beasley is an expert in how women have
been portrayed by the media, as well as women journalists and their
coverage of First Ladies. Recently, she was interviewed about the
shifting coverage of baby boomer women and where that coverage could be
going in the future.
Interview with Professor Maurine Beasley
Philip Merrill College of Journalism , University of Maryland
Q - What's different about the portrayal of baby
boomer women as opposed to their mothers?
Since the 1940s coverage of women has tended to
change in relation to shifting social, economic and political ideas on
the roles of women in society. During the period after World War II,
women often were pictured in terms of suburban experiences. Family life
seemed all important and young women were urged to marry after finishing
high school.
The Doris Day ideal of a sweet, wholesome young
woman permeated the media. Newspapers had special "women's pages" that
idealized homemaking, although they also ran articles on women of
achievement but generally in the context of Mrs. So-and-So doing
something on her own but always putting her family first.
Betty Friedan wrote about this in The Feminine
Mystique, although some critics of that work point out that she
overstated the case for advertisers preying on women by urging them to
fulfill themselves only in terms of shopping for consumer goods.
Nevertheless, the mass media tended to portray women mainly in
connection with family life.
Q - Has the portrayal of women really changed
all that much?
Yes and no. The women's liberation movement
impelled newspapers to get rid of women's sections, although a few are
coming back. Vietnam War protests helped fuel attacks on the
"Establishment" that included shifting views on explicit language, and
the portrayal of women became much more oriented to sex in both
broadcasting and print. There also was an emphasis on achievement in
line with Civil Rights legislation that brought new opportunities for
women in attend graduate school and to pursue well-paid careers.
At the same time the mass media, driven by
business-oriented factors (advertising, circulation), is inherently
conservative. Business is not revolutionary in general. It wants to
uphold a status quo that allows the market to function smoothly. The
most radical ideas about women in the 1960s and 1970s appeared in
alternative publications, most of which are out of existence now except
for web versions. In short, it became respectable for women to pursue
graduate work and careers like medicine and law, but the traditional
ideas of women as family caretakers by no means went away.
Today young women are presented with a bewildering
array of options including the myth of "superwoman" - one who can do
everything, have children, rise to a powerful position, even be a
glamorous sex symbol, all at the same time. Since most people are
incapable of living up to such an unrealistic goal, many women are
turned off by what remains of the feminist movement as portrayed by the
mass media. Whether the emphasis on women as a sex symbol is actually
part of "girl power," or late-day (third wave) feminism is open to
debate. (First wave feminism is said to have taken place from 1848 to
1920 when women finally got the right to vote; second wave feminism from
the 1960s to about the 1980s but with dribbles left to date, and third
wave feminism equated with "girl power" in the minds of some from the
1990s to date, although some say we now are in the post-feminist
period).
At any rate middle-class women, who often are not
aware of their history, face a bewildering array of social, economic and
political choices, while lower-class women face a burdensome economic
struggle that middle-class feminism has not really addressed.
All this plays out to some degree in the mass
media, but the emphasis is on selling women products to enhance their
sexual appeal, which is basically a very traditional approach to keeping
many women subordinated to a male-dominated structure. Exceptions, of
course, are those women who truly are "superwomen" and can succeed at
being both beautiful and brilliant.
Q - You point to the career of Hillary Rodham
Clinton as a significant marker in the history of the baby boom
generation - why?
Hillary Rodham Clinton, now the leading Democratic
prospect for running for President in 2008, is a prime example of a
"superwoman." She has done all the things that feminists wanted women to
do - get a graduate degree, have a successful career, be a mother -
apparently a very good one too - and successfully run for public office.
Yet, how ironic that she met relatively little
public approval, until she stood by her husband while he was impeached
for his relationship with a mistress. Hillary in her role as wronged
wife was far better liked than Hillary in her role as a "superwoman."
Q - How do you see media coverage of baby boomer
women changing now that they are starting to hit 60?
In two ways. One, there is tremendous interest in
selling women on age-retarding beauty potions, plastic surgery,
anti-wrinkle treatments, many pushed by doctors. Two, manufacturers are
beginning to realize that nearly half the consumer spending in the
country is done by those 50 or over.
We're beginning to see products designed for them.
In addition, the idea of the "senior citizen," which some think is
demeaning, may be on the way out in favor of a more vital approach to
aging. Baby Boomers see life spans expanding and plan to live longer
than their parents. Today being 70 is the same as being 60 in the past.
Fears about pension plans may also keep people working longer and
possibly in an odd way contribute to the mental health of some by making
them feel a part of society when they are along in years rather than
being an old person shoved aside.
Q - What message do you see baby boomer women
sending the media?
That's hard to say. If Hillary Rodham Clinton
really runs for president or for that matter if Condoleezza Rice does,
that will be a powerful message to take women more seriously as
political figures.
Q - Have First Ladies led the way in changing
the media's portrayal of women?
Since World War II most First Ladies have
illustrated changing ideas about the role of women. While Bess Truman
and Mamie Eisenhower were throwbacks to the idea of women as passive
individuals only interested in their husbands, many of their successors,
Jackie Kennedy, Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter, Nancy Reagan, certainly
Hillary Rodham Clinton have made the position of the first lady an
important part of the American political process.
Today Laura Bush spars
with Hillary Rodham Clinton, pushing Rice as a presidential candidate.
All of this reflects changes in media portrayal of women related to the
Baby Boomer period.
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