Symbolic Annihilation - The Feminist Argument

The Feminist Argument

Since the 1970s, scholars of feminism have used the concept of annihilation to express the effects misrepresentation of women and girls in mass media has had on their ability to find secure employment, advance in the workplace, and create unique identities. Lisa P. Hebert notes that media are "crucial in the construction and dissemination of gender ideologies, and thus, in gender socialization."

Many such scholars argue that mainstream depictions of women and girls result from dominant racial, gender and class ideologies. These ideologies, when skewed from reality, distort representation into demeaning stereotype or trivializing portrayals. Feminists argue that such flawed media representations further distort the viewer's conceptualization of women, their role in a society, and how one interacts with them. The ultimate cost of this pattern, to feminist scholars, is the symbolic erasure (or annihilation) of positive and empowered female role models in popular media. Women who consume this media, over a period of years, are said to "internalize" oppression through giving merit to stereotype.

Hebert, in speaking about the effects of misrepresentation and symbolic annihilation of black females, describes the stereotype that is depicted in mainstream media and often adopted by female viewers:

"In addition to the black body ideal of large breasts, thin waist and round buttocks presented in videos, many of the black women featured depict a Westernized beauty ideal of lighter skin, long hair, and blue or green eyes. Racist and sexist thinking informs the way color-caste hierarchies affect black females."

Dr. Marty Klein writes that for such women to conform to the stereotypical norms depicted in mass media, to be an acceptable female, many feel they "have to carefully modulate, and therefore undermine, their own sexuality."