Women are inundated with news propagated by a male-dominated, male-centric media – yet most women don’t take the time to step outside the bounds of network news to tune into the voice of women in the media.
If women make the effort to pay attention to women, as seen, heard, and reported through the women’s media, the world can change for the better – for you as an individual, for women in general, and for everyone.
We know women and men are different. How this difference shapes women’s reporting of news, and how the reporting of news can drive change in the world, is profound.
Traditional male-dominated media focuses on and promotes violence, competition, winning, and myopically limits economics to materialism and money. Reports of cooperation, goodwill, and compassion are absent, as are stories showing social and human values. Women are overlooked, undervalued, and under-reported, and told that the predominance of men in media – as subjects, as reporters, as editors – is self-evident, because men and their values are more important. So say the men.
News written and reported by women has a different perspective – and it’s not painted pink and wearing heels. Women’s focus and physiological response to fear and uncertainty is different from men’s, and provides a perspective sorely needed in the media.
As UCLA professor Shelley Taylor says in her book The Tending Instinct, the sociological studies of the 1920’s stating that man’s response to fear is “fight or flight” were half correct. Those studies were conducted only on men, and men do respond to fear by fighting or fleeing. Taylor’s studies prove that women’s response to fear is to “tend and befriend”.
Women’s different response to fear and uncertainty is evident when women report the news. Women don’t focus on differences: we focus on similarities. We don’t focus on winning (well, unless it’s in a healthy venue of sports): we focus on helping. We realize that to build and sustain a truly strong economy, we must work together, and we must thoughtfully educate children. We value an economic system that includes non-monetary assets. We concentrate on solutions, on similarities, and on the common good, regardless of cultural and geographic boundaries. Yes, we must we report the violence being done against women, but we do so not talking merely of statistics, but with a call for change, a ray of hope, and a focus on compassion.
Despite this inherently different perspective, most women tune into male-dominated news, and hear only the male perspective. If women in the United States spent even one-half of their normal media time partaking of women’s media, the effect would be life-changing: Freed from some of the fear and misogyny propagated by traditional media, more women would become aware of the subtle control exerted by male-dominated media and messages. Primed with a different perspective, women could more easily break free of restrictive thinking, traditions, and policies. Women would feel heard, valued, and capable of making a difference. Women would have greater impetus to reach full potential, bringing compassion, hope, and positive change to lives, families, communities — and the world.
What do you think would happen if women – if YOU – were to forgo 30 minutes of the nightly broadcast of fear, warfare, and deceit, and instead take in 30 minutes of news presented from a women’s perspective, with an editorial foundation of compassion and hope?
For the next three weeks – 21 days, the time psychologists say it takes to make or break a habit – can you replace half of your media time with time spent tuning into women’s media?
Read the Women’s Rights blogs at Change.org. Browse through She Writes and read what a variety of women say about current events. Listen to a podcast from Women’s eNews instead of your regular morning commute talk show. Read headline stories at The Women’s News Network and Women in Media and News instead of at CCN and Yahoo. Follow the Global Fund for Women and read their blog. Check the news at Women Thrive.
For 21 days, change the network. Change the website. Change the media.
You might find more than the media changes.
Photo by harshilshah, via Flickr • CC BY-SA 2.0
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