2nd Draft

“Don’t stress your brain out too much; just sit there and look pretty” ^[[1]]

To what extent are females represented as sex objects in reality TV shows such as ‘Love Island’?

Reality TV shows are not a good influence for young female audiences as they may assume that they need to replicate their actions and live up to their physical appearances:” Among girls who watch reality TV, 72% say they spend a lot of time on their appearance.”^[[2]] Despite the gains made by feminism over the last 30 years, reality TV still offers too many negative gender stereotypes. This is particularly highlighted in the latest reality TV show, ‘Love Island’ (2016). It is a documentary sub-genre, created by ITV and produced by ITV Studios. It is aired at 9pm, after the watershed due to its explicit content and predominantly targeted at mainstreamers, C2DE working class aged 16-30+, ranging from 70% female viewers to 30% male viewers. The show follows a linear narrative therefore editing plays a key role within the narrative because they must cut down twenty-four hours into forty minutes. The dominant ideologies consist of men having authority over women which portrays women as sex objects, reinforcing patriarchy: “Males as a group have and do benefit the most from patriarchy, from the assumption that they are superior to females and should rule over us” ^[[3]], and the ideology that in order to be with someone you must be willing to engage in sexual activities, thereby making it acceptable for a man to have sex with more than one women however when a woman does she’s criticised.

This ideology was challenged when contestant Zara Holland was stripped of her Miss Great Britain title after engaging in a sexual act on screen. However, fellow contestant Sophie Gradon spoke out in her defence: “As an ex, Miss Newcastle and Miss GB, I can say that it’s time people move forward from their old-fashioned thinking and accept the simple fact that... women like to have sex!"^[[4]] 

The pageant organisers said: "The feedback we have received from pageant insiders and members of the general public is such that we cannot promote Zara as a positive role model moving forward.” ^[[5]]

Throughout the show, women are being represented as sex objects which reinforces the dominant female stereotype of women being 'sex icons', “Women might have an even tougher time, especially moms, who may try to get their teenage daughters to refrain from being objectified.” ^[[6]^] The denotations of a girl in a bikini gives the connotation of her being sexually exploited by showing off their body.

The first episode starts with close-ups/medium shots of the villa and these shots also show the arms and legs of a women which already objectifies women as they're using these close-ups to potentially attract a male audience. There is a voice-over of a women who appears to be the host of the show, this sound is non-diegetic as we can't see her speaking directly to the camera. There is also non-diegetic music being played alongside the voice-over which is parallel as it sounds very sexual which fits with the nature of the show. The host says: "It's a beautiful villa for beautiful people."^[[7]], this comment is controversial as the aim of the show is to bring in people from the public and this comment makes us imply that the producers of the show are specifically looking for: "Some sexy singles"^[[8]] which was another comment made by the host. This further emphasises that the show is merely concerned about the appearance of the people within the show. 

After the shots of the villa and the host, there is a medium shot of a boy and girl in bed half naked which gives the impression that they have been engaging in sexual activities which then reveals that the show is not only about "sexy" people but also about sex, “Watching at home, viewers couldn't hide their disgust at the public sex antics on the ITV2 show. One tweeted: 'Love Island legit makes me feel sick. How you gunna be having sex with people watching and saying stuff about sexual positions. wtaf.’”^[[9]]

 

There is also a long shot of a girl working in the office surrounded only by men which is followed by her getting up and stripping into a bikini. She then walks off while the men just look at her in approval, “If we start to believe what these shows tell us, which is that women are stupid, incompetent, and can only succeed by using their sexuality to get ahead.” ^[[10]] This relates to Mulvey’s theory^[[11]] about the male gaze as it appears that the girl is presented merely to look at. This scene also relates to Perkin’s theory^[[12]] about stereotyping being partly true as she is in an office working however she is only acknowledged for her sexuality and beauty therefore portraying her as a sex object.

Also, according to Marxism, the sexist representation of women in the media, advertising and popular culture is no longer limited to the presentation of women as dutiful wives and mothers. It now encourages women to be seen, and aspire to be seen, as sexually available and attractive to men at all times. At work, women continue to earn less than men and tend to be concentrated in lower paid, female-dominated and highly casual industries and jobs, “Rather than seeing examples of what women can become — a scientist, a vineyard owner, a chef — girls and young women are watching examples of females as teen moms, housewives or socialites (Kardashians).” ^[[13]]

The opening scene introduces the contestants of the show and they are all good looking, fitting the dominant reading of the show being for "Beautiful people".  This sequel scene sums up the dominant reading of the show being simply about attractive people coming on a show to find love, aka engaging in sexual activities. The host once again confirms this reading by saying; "Let’s meet the group of gorgeous young singles."^[[14]]

The female contestants arrive wearing bikinis which is followed by close-ups of their bodies to potentially attract a male audience due to the male gaze, “Throughout the decades, TV has depicted females by focusing on their physical characteristics, sexual appeal, and romantic success, whether they are housewives, mothers, or objects of desire.” ^[[15]]

The first contestant is Miss Great Britain and instead of talking about her career to be an inspiration to the younger girls watching, she chooses to talk about her assets: "My boobs are real, 32 DD."^[[16]] This portrays her as a sex object and according to the hypodermic needle model^[[17]] this representation is injecting information into young females and also young males that a woman is merely acknowledged due to her physical appearance, “Research has indicated that body dissatisfaction can be seen in studies with girls as young as six years old.”^[[18]] This is damaging and rises concern for moral panic^[[19]] as younger females begin to feel insecure about the way they look, “Girls today are often just as self-hating when it comes to their bodies as their pre-feminist counterparts were.”^[[20]] and also aim to have this 'perfect body' that the females on this show all have and show off in bikinis majority of the time in the show, “A cultural ideal of thinness for women, which is well below the average weight of women in that culture, directly causes body dissatisfaction at a higher rate among women than men.”^[[21]]

Feminists have spoken out against the objectification and stereotypes of women and male domination of society/patriarchy. They also argue that sexual objectification can lead to negative psychological effects including eating disorders, depression and sexual dysfunction, and can give women negative self-images because of the belief that their intelligence and competence are currently not being, nor will ever be, acknowledged by society, “The sexualisation of women is related to the development of eating disorders, low self-esteem, depression, and negative feelings regarding sexuality.” ^[[22]] Additionally, young male audiences also may be injected with the idea that a woman is merely beneficial due to her sexuality. This is also a moral panic as men objectify women, “When men view images of sexually objectified women, it has been shown to increase men’s acceptance of rape myths, interpersonal violence, and gender role stereotyping.” ^[[23]^]

According to the theory proposed by Levi Strauss, there are many binary oppositions ^[[24]] visible in this scene, the first would be 'men vs women' and 'masculinity vs femininity'. This is shown as the female contestants stand in a line while the men come in one by one, “As they attempted to couple up, the girls were lined up (in bikinis, obv) for the boys to pick from like slabs of meat on an oestrogen buffet.”^[[25]] You can tell from some of the female contestants body language that they are trying to gain the attention of the male contestants and they do this by standing in a seductive manor, “And you’d understand that women were put on this earth to compete for male attention—when, of course, they’re not busy pulling each other’s hair out or lounging half naked in a hot tub.”^[[26]] The female contestants have to stand forward if they like the way the guy looks but ultimately, the male contestant gets to pick one. 

This is objectifying them along with making the men seem superior to them since they are the ones picking and not the girls, “When it comes to men, the women become naïve, this is the similarity between the girls in both reality TV programmes. This supports hegemony that women should be beautiful and take care of their appearance.”^[[27]] This relates to Levi-Strauss's theory that representations are formed by ideology and in this case, the producer clearly holds the view that men are dominant and emphasises on patriarchy as they are picking girls as though they are an item in a shop or an object, “Males as a group have and do benefit the most from patriarchy, from the assumption that they are superior to females and should rule over us.”^[[28]] This also relates to Medhurst's theory of using stereotypes to tell the audience that men hold dominance while women are subordinate, “These shows not only culturally signify that subordination is acceptable, but they promote the embodiment of the media’s version of attractive; tall, thin and beautiful.”^[[29]]  

One of the female contestants is not chosen by any of the boys and is paired up with a guy she didn't like which is obvious through her facial expression which shows distress, this relates to Blumler’s and Katz uses and gratifications theory^[[30]] of personal identity. In this case, young females could see themselves being reflected as they may also experience rejection. Finding themselves reflected in texts and learning behaviour could also produce negative role models for young girls, “You are told in reality TV that no quality about women is worth anything other than her beauty, that she has no access to power other than her beauty.” ^[[31]]

An article by Daily Mail focuses on two contestants who have sex before the lights go off in front of other housemates who then applaud.  Malin Andersson and Terry Walsh couldn't be bothered to wait until the lights were off and decided to get intimate with an audience. “Viewers couldn't hide their disgust at the public sex antics on the ITV2 show, Ofcom said they had received 10 complaints during the current series of Love Island, relating to swearing, glamorisation of smoking and inappropriate sexual activity.” ^[[32]] Similarly, ITV’s Love Island was investigated by the television watchdog over complaints about a sex scene involving two contestants which was broadcast just 10 minutes after the watershed. Ofcom launched an investigation after eight viewers complained.

The representation shown in ‘Love Island’ is accurate in some aspects since female celebrities usually exploit themselves in the sense that they dress quite revealingly or openly engage in sexual relationships, “The increasing sexual connotation of reality programmes displays a cultural message to viewers that it is appropriate to over-sexualize your lifestyle as well as revolve the majority of your life around dating and intimacy.” ^[[33]]

Additionally, the representation isn't fair as its producing a wrong role model for girls to look up to, “Teens and adolescents who regularly view sexually or romantically themed reality shows are more likely to endorse traditional gender roles and stereotypes. These traditional roles limit women to the home and the caring for of children and allow men to be the bread winners.”^[[34]] Younger females watching the show will assume that in order to gain attention they need to look/dress a certain way, “A study found that girls who watched more appearance focused television shows were less satisfied with the way they looked. Results also indicated that girls who had more discussions with their peers about celebrities and what they looked like had more of a desire to be thinner.” ^[[35]] Furthermore, in reality TV, women are portrayed as dependent and subordinate to men, as well as vain. The women are generally young and physically attractive displaying them as sex symbols, “The portrayal of women in reality TV is not realistic.”^[[36]] This stereotype is not only confining but offensive to female progress, “Before women’s liberation all females young and old were socialised by sexist thinking to believe that our values rested solely on appearance and whether or not we were perceived to be good looking, especially by men.”^[[37]] Women are also judged against men who serve as the norm in television and society.

Some of the main themes in the show is that in order to be with someone you have to be willing to engage in sexual activities, it’s acceptable for a man to have sex with more than one women however when a woman does she’s spoken about, “Apart from being depicted as passive and weak, women are generally much younger and more physically attractive than their male counterparts, displaying them as sex symbols.” ^[[38]^] The major values in this text make the audience assume that relationships are all about sex, being physically attractive and having trust issues, “Nearly every night on every major network, “unscripted” (but carefully crafted) ‘reality’ TV shows routinely glorify retrograde stereotypes that most people would assume got left behind thirty-five years ago.”^[[39]]

ITV determine what they broadcast on their platform therefore meaning that they control the way women are being stereotyped in reality TV shows they produce. Rather than subverting these stereotypes they are reinforcing them in shows such as Love Island where women are being represented as sex objects, “Reality TV shows are far from being simple ‘guilty pleasures,’ these programs are actually guilty of fomenting gender-war ideology and significantly affecting the intellectual and political development of this generation’s young viewers.” ^[[40]] Throughout the show, the male contestants only speak about engaging into sexual activities with the female contestants which once again portrays them as sex objects, “The concept of being a gentleman has been lost on this lot, who spend their days cooped up in the villa either bragging about their sexual conquests or objectifying their female co-stars.”^[[41]] In addition to that, contestants Nathan and Cara were cuddled up in bed, when Cara declined a kiss, Nathan told her: “You’re the most frigid girl I’ve ever met in my life, you are frigid aren’t you? Do I intimidate you? I thought so.”^[[42]] This comment further injects into young girls minds that they need to be willing to perform sexual acts even if they’re not comfortable in order to gain approval, “By putting men like this on TV, we’re not only teaching boys it’s ok to speak to women like this, but we’re also perpetuating the idea that women should ‘put out’ or face ridicule.”^[[43]]

Furthermore, since its a reality TV show its expected since similar behaviour is seen on other shows, e.g. Geordie Shore, Towie, Big Brother etc. “Kim Kardashian was only noticed due to her publicly leaked sexual intercourse stunt with musical act Ray J. Before this she was just another young woman, which only further promotes the over-sexualized nature of women in television and the need to flaunt ones physical attributes in order to get noticed.” ^[[44]]   Many criticize Geordie Shore as entertainment in its lowest form as it promotes fights, drinking, people falling over, nudity, swearing, and “bucking” [sexual intercourse]. 

However, it could be argued that “We exist in world where we are told to fear or be ashamed of our bodies, rather than enjoying them. And somehow the Geordie women have unlearned this — and thus, in their small way, helped feminism.”^[[45]] They sexually compete against the boys of the show. Holly warns that “I’m going to be banging for fun. Literally, I’m gonna be the new Gary.”^[[46]] The girls refuse to be passive objects, instead adopting the boy’s sexual aggression and reflecting it back at them. Rather than attempting to rein in the boys’ “pulling [picking up women]” they level the playing field by adopting for themselves the masculine sexual standard. On the other hand, shows like “The Bachelor” showcase a regressive view of relationships by allowing women to compete for a relationship and saying “pick me, pick me” in hopes that they are chosen by the bachelor. From the slut, the airhead, the backstabber, and the Angry Black women often portrayed, the type of behaviour portrayed on reality television has set the feminist movement back at least 30 years!”^[[47]^]

When exploring historical reality television, there were shows such as ‘The Up series’ which is a series of documentary films produced by Granada Television that have followed the lives of fourteen British children since 1964, when they were seven years old. So far the documentary has had eight episodes spanning 49 years (one episode every seven years) and the documentary has been broadcast on both ITV and BBC. Another show was ‘The American Sportsman’ which ran from 1965 to 1986 on ABC in the United States. A typical episode featured one or more celebrities, and sometimes their family members, being accompanied by a camera crew on an outdoor adventure, such as hunting, fishing, hiking, scuba diving, rock climbing, wildlife photography, horseback riding, race car driving, and the like, with most of the resulting action and dialogue being unscripted, except for the narration. From this we can see that reality TV shows held more educational purposes in the past however they now hold entertainment value. Social realism is something the British have always done well. We live in a country more liberal than most, where contentious opinions have often been tackled through drama. Television has helped break down certain social barriers by educating the populace.

Many of the women on reality TV shows tend to be acting out lives as teenage mothers, cheated-on girlfriends and/or scheming drama queens, “I’m thinking of programmes… where all the women talk about is their looks and their clothes. It focuses on the lives of beautiful women who spend a lot of money on themselves – and that’s just not the real world.”^[[48]^] By contrast, strong and hard-working, purposeful young women with dreams and ambitions beyond their looks and their sex lives are very thin on the ground in these programmes, “They offer such a limited view of what it is to be a woman, and all over the world young girls are lapping it up.”^[[49]] The emphasis on the value of women being about how they look and how they dress is all-pervasive in the reality TV genre, “Studies have shown that women have been underrepresented and stereotyped in TV programs.”^[[50]] The message girls can pick up from this is clear: being a woman is all about style and appearance, not what you do or what you stand for, “A study found that for girls their ideal figure was thinner than they were and that their ideal figure was also thinner than what boys indicated that they liked. Boys showed no desire to be thinner.”^[[51]]

To conclude, with the media containing so many images of women and men, and messages about men, women and sexuality today, “the representation of women almost inevitably involves and invocation of sexuality/sexual performances.”^[[52]], it is highly unlikely that these ideas would have no impact on our own sense of identity, “media and communications are a central element of modern life, whilst gender and sexuality remain at the core of how we think about our identities.”^[[53]] Love Island is just another example of how despite the multiple feminist movements, women will always be perceived as an object and men will always hold authority, “Boys will be boys” is an idea that many have been socialized into believing. It serves as an excuse for men to look at/talk about women in a sexual way. It has been internalized by both me and women.”^[[54]]

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Bibliography

Works cited:

Blumler, J. G., & Katz, E. (1974). The Uses of mass communications: current perspectives on gratifications research. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications.

Cohen, S. (2011). Folk devils and moral panics: the creation of the Mods and Rockers. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

Dubrofsky, R. E. (2011). The surveillance of women on reality television: watching The bachelor and the bachelorette. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.  

Gauntlett, D. (2002). Media, gender, and identity: An introduction. London: Routledge.

Hooks, B. (2000). Feminism is for everybody: Passionate politics. Cambridge, MA: South End Press.

Lévi-Strauss, C. (1969). The raw and the cooked. New York: Harper & Row.

Mulvey, L. (1999). Visual pleasure and narrative cinema.

Pozner, J. L. (2010). Reality bites back: the troubling truth about guilty pleasure TV. Berkeley, CA: Seal Press.

Tasker, Y. (1998). Working girls: Gender and sexuality in popular cinema. London: Routledge.

Watson, J. B. (1930). Behaviourism. N.Y.: Norton.

Worell, J. (2001). Encyclopedia of women and gender: Sex similarities and differences and the impact of society on gender. San Diego, CA: Academic Press

Webpages cited:

Huffpost Entertainment- ‘Love Island’ Is a Lesson in Why We Deserve Better from Reality TV In 2016-http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/ashley-percival/love-island-we-deserve-better-from-reality-tv-_b_10339138.html

Daily Mail- TV watchdog to investigate ITV's Love Island sex scene aired just ten minutes after watershed -http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3697010/TV-watchdog-investigate-ITV-s-Love-Island-sex-scenes.html

 

Forbes- What Reality TV Is Doing To Women-http://www.forbes.com/sites/worldviews/2012/04/20/what-reality-tv-is-doing-to-women/#7b39cfcd719f

The Huffington Post- What Has Reality TV Done to Young Women?-http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ashley-bush-and-raphaela-sapire/reality-tv_b_1916603.html

 

Newsweek- THE PROBLEM WITH WOMEN ON REALITY TV=HTTP://EUROPE.NEWSWEEK.COM/PROBLEM-WOMEN-REALITY-TV-69809?RM=EU

 

Vanderbilt (feminism and film) - Representations of Women in Reality TV-https://my.vanderbilt.edu/wgs272/2013/04/representations-of-women-in-reality-tv/

 

Chelssrep- How Are Women Represented In Reality TV Programmes? -https://chelsssrep.wordpress.com/2011/11/21/case-study-so-far/

 

Daily Star- 'Women like to have sex' Love Island Sophie hits out at Miss GB for Zara de-crowning-http://www.dailystar.co.uk/showbiz-tv/hot-tv/524739/Love-Island-Sophie-defends-Zara-Miss-GB-decrowning

 

The Artifice- Stereotyped: Women in Reality TV-http://the-artifice.com/sterotyped-women-in-reality-tv/

 

Reality TV—The real effects of Gender Stereotypes in the media on our girls self-esteem-http://selfesteem.dove.co.uk/Articles/Written/Reality_TV_The_real_effects_of_Gender_Stereotypes_in_the_media_on_our_girls_self_esteem.aspx

 

 

Women as Sexual Objects and Victims-http://womenandadvertising.weebly.com/women-as-sexual-objects.html

 

Blog- My Love Hate Relationship with Women in Reality TV

-http://blogs.psychcentral.com/diary-therapist/2014/07/my-love-hate-relationship-with-women-in-reality-tv/

 

The Girls Of Geordie Shore: Unlikely Paragons Of Sex Positivity-http://www.blogher.com/girls-geordie-shore-unlikely-paragons-sex-positivity-0

 

Iowa State University- Portrayals of women in prime time reality TV programs-http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2395&context=rtd

 

Eastern Kentucky University- Reality television and its impact on women’s body image-http://encompass.eku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1049&context=etd

 

Moving texts:

Love Island, 2016, Reality TV show

Geordie Shore, 2011- ongoing, Reality TV show

Reality TV and Women's Self Esteem- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdAuOYB8dUI

The Problem With Women on Reality TV- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF4HpBmIPXc

Works consulted:

Books-

Fourie, P. J. (2007). Media studies Media History, Media and Society. Cape Town: Juta and Company.

Gaither, G. A. (2012). Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality. Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy.

Hollows, J. (2000). Feminism, femininity, and popular culture. Manchester, U.K.: Manchester University Press.Lieb, K. (2013). 

Ward, J. R. (2015). Real sister: stereotypes, respectability, and black women in reality tv. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Ziesler, A. (2008). Feminism and pop culture. Berkeley, CA: Seal Press.

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[1] Love Island, 2016

[2] The Huffington Post- What Has Reality TV Done to Young Women?

[3] Worell, J. (2001)

[4] Love Island, 2016

[5] Daily Star- 'Women like to have sex' Love Island Sophie hits out at Miss GB for Zara de-crowning

[6] Forbes- What Reality TV Is Doing To Women

[7] Love Island, 2016

[8] Love Island, 2016

[9] Daily Mail- TV watchdog to investigate ITV's Love Island sex scene aired just ten minutes after watershed 

[10] Newsweek- THE PROBLEM WITH WOMEN ON REALITY TV

[11] Mulvey, L. (1999)

[12] Tessa Perkins- Stereotyping

[13] The Huffington Post- What Has Reality TV Done to Young Women?

[14] Love Island, 2016

[15] Iowa State University- Portrayals of women in prime time reality TV programs

[16] Love Island, 2016

[17] Watson, J. B. (1930)

[18] Eastern Kentucky University- Reality television and its impact on women’s body image

[19] Cohen, S. (2011)

[20] Hooks, B. (2000)

[21] Eastern Kentucky University- Reality television and its impact on women’s body image

[22] Women as Sexual Objects and Victims

[23] Women as Sexual Objects and Victims

[24] Levi-Strauss, C. (1969)

[25] Huffpost Entertainment- ‘Love Island’ Is a Lesson in Why We Deserve Better from Reality TV In 2016

[26] Newsweek- THE PROBLEM WITH WOMEN ON REALITY TV

[27] Chelssrep- How Are Women Represented In Reality TV Programmes? 

[28] Gauntlett, D. (2002)

[29] Dubrofsky R. E. (2011)

[30] Blumler, J. G. & Katz, E. (1974)

[31] Reality TV and Women's Self Esteem

[32] Daily Mail- TV watchdog to investigate ITV's Love Island sex scene aired just ten minutes after watershed 

[33] The Artifice- Stereotyped: Women in Reality TV

[34] The Artifice- Stereotyped: Women in Reality TV

[35] Eastern Kentucky University- Reality television and its impact on women’s body image

[36] The Problem with Women on Reality TV

[37] Hooks, B. (2000)

[38] The Artifice- Stereotyped: Women in Reality TV

[39] Pozner, J. L. (2010)

[40] Pozner, J. L. (2010)

[41] Huffpost Entertainment- ‘Love Island’ Is a Lesson in Why We Deserve Better from Reality TV in 2016

[42] Love Island, 2016

[43] Huffpost Entertainment- ‘Love Island’ Is a Lesson in Why We Deserve Better from Reality TV in 2016

[44] The Artifice- Stereotyped: Women in Reality TV

[45]The Girls of Geordie Shore: Unlikely Paragons Of Sex Positivity

[46] Geordie Shore, 2011-ongoing

[47] Blog- My Love Hate Relationship with Women in Reality TV

[48] Reality TV—The real effects of Gender Stereotypes in the media on our girls self-esteem

[49] Reality TV—The real effects of Gender Stereotypes in the media on our girls self-esteem

[50] Iowa State University- Portrayals of women in prime time reality TV programs

[51] Eastern Kentucky University- Reality television and its impact on women’s body image

[52] Tasker, Y. (1998)

[53] Tasker, Y. (1998)

[54] Vanderbilt (feminism and film) - Representations of Women in Reality TV