THE INFLUENCE OF CULTURAL ATTITUDES ON REPRESENTATIONS IN MEDIA SPACE: GENDER SPECIFICS

Abstract

The research is devoted to the gender peculiarities of women’s representation in contemporary Russian media space. The objective of the study is to reconstruct the existing female image broadcast in periodical and non-periodical media publications. The content analysis of 6 different media confirms the opinion of foreign and Russian researchers that the media image of women is most often reduced to two archetypes – “housewife” and “businesswoman”. It can be stated that it is the professional and private spheres of life that are considered in the media as areas of “natural” female presence. In general, a woman in the media today is a representative of the domestic sphere, a cultural figure, a sportswoman, and, less often, a politician and an active citizen. At the same time, female characters appear in visual and verbal images mainly in business and professional contexts, which illustrates the trend towards expanding the role of women in society. At the moment, the female image has undergone a certain process of emancipation, as a result of which it has become more business-like and professional.