THE IMAGE OF A FEMALE CONTEMPORARY - WHO CREATES IT?(Digest of publications in periodicals)

It is for Nature to choose in which body to kindle the spark of life, while no human being, when born, is ever a chooser of the sex. Even though male and female bodies are shaped randomly, it is our body, that is, our sex that determines our whole life. For society has long established a set of sex rules relating to a child. These rules are of distinctive "male" or "female" coloring ("Stop whining like a girl!", "Hit back, aren't you a boy?", "Be nice and humble, you're a girl").

These rules, persisting in culture and behavioral stereotypes, have been maintained by all public institutions ЁC starting with the family at the core of it with certain contributions to character molding from kinder gartens, schools and state institutions alike. The media has a major role to play in this process. Once I came across such a phrase: "Women and the media are on different sides of the moral and spiritual barricades". I support this point of view and I am going to tell you why.

Here are some examples. The magazine Mir Zhenshchiny (Woman's World) features an interview with celebrity actress Larissa Golubkina who says, "In my very childhood I learned this simple popular wisdom: "To love is to sacrifice".

We do bring such "wisdoms" along from our childhood, from the environment we were raised in. From the same interview: "She never revolted, never said she was an actress and a good singer too, and was also engaged in theatre and film productions. Her husband was always considered the principal "star" both in the family and the artistic community, which is probably why they were a happy couple".

This may well be the reason why they were happy together. For me, however, this quotation is noteworthy because it shows how the magazine, by using the stereotyped roles of man and woman and offering the viewpoint of the popular actress, imposes the idea that men should dominate in all spheres of life.

The media has recently been focused on the difficulties women face trying to handle their family and work duties, and the problems they encounter in the workplace. The media argues that it takes women greater efforts than men to deal with all this. With the problem of employment growing more acute and causing stiff competition for jobs, such statements in the printed media push women into the background, reviving the patriarchal ideology of "women's natural function" and "returning women home". This attitude is taken up and voiced by some sociologists in the media: "The most important form of women's creative work which may affect the future of the nation is the mother's work"; "to be a woman is to give birth to and raise children, and to keep house"; "the woman's key product is children". Igor Kon, the so often quoted psychologist, maintains that "the new time has dramatically enhanced the opportunities of individual choice in terms of one's career, wife, and lifestyle". A woman, as it follows, is not an individual, and is described not as an independent subject. She is just a "wife" bracketed with inanimate notions.

During the Soviet period of Russia's history each generation of women was assigned a role that the State deemed appropriate within a particular period. The housewife was well respected all through the New Economic Policy period when the labor market was overcrowded. The woman wearing a red headscarf was glorified by the State when it badly needed hands to mix concrete at new construction sites during the Industrialization period. As an acute need arose to drastically increase the number of Soviet engineers, women were encouraged to get professional training.

What is the role the media assigns women today? "A time of choice for women has come", Moskvichka (Female Muscovite) declares optimistically. "You can go into business, make a career, or stay at home with your children ... However, feminine charm should not be buried among fax machines, computers and copiers". Meaning "feminine charm" can be lost while a woman operates modern office equipment. And what about her charm buried among a gas cooker, vacuum cleaner and washing machine?

The newspaper Zenshchina (Woman): "Farmer and His Wife-Farmstead Keeper is a new major offered at the Yaluturovsk vocational training school (Western Siberia)... During their course of training the students will receive a driving and tractor driver's license, master the basics of accounting; female students will be additionally trained in sewing, knitting, cooking, and handling the garden and domestic animals". The girls are thus warned from the very beginning about a woman's double duty.

Let's take a look at business, yet another sphere of life that offers a lot of new opportunities for women as well. It is commonly believed that a business woman tends to lose some of her assumably innate qualities such as mildness, tolerance, benevolence, and femininity. For example: "A business woman becomes irritable, short-tempered, and aggressive". And the reason why is: "It is not because they are so excessively involved in their business that women grow aggressive but because, having failed to realize their ambitions, they feel frustrated and dissatisfied". The explanation seems to be quite contradictory: "business women failing to realize their ambitions" sounds strange, doesn't it? A simpler explanation may be that a woman has to accept the rules of the game in business, where her mildness would not enhance her competitiveness.

Here is another example of a media-created business woman: "Unfortunately, it is by far easier to buy chic clothes and get a stunning hairstyle than to get rid of bad habits like "forgetting" to reply to letters, fax messages and phone calls, be late for appointments, go back on your promises, lose papers and documents, pretending all this is quite excusable. Regretfully, such a "work style" is typical of our ... ladies, and no computerization or speaking fluent English will help". These statements are permeated with negative assessment of the qualities generally attributed to women.

It can be said that the recent years have seen the women's movement gaining momentum in Russia. There are women who have consciously gone into politics, business and management, and who are ready to stand their ground. True, such women are few and sometimes lack self-confidence, which is most likely because society has failed to prepare them for possible competition with men. So does society really believe in women?

Here is an excerpt from an interview with Alla Puchkova, General Director, Dialogue-Delta (Moscow), published in the local newspaper Chelny LTD: "Alla, how ever did you, a young and pretty woman, manage to get as high as General Director?". These lines made me feel that it was totally absurd for a woman to become General Director. Can you see how a single question, rather rudely and ironically put, may be enough to reveal one's true attitude to women? It also suggests a biased attitude of hidebound male managers who fail to estimate the true potential of a female professional. If a reporter interviews a man, his professional skills are typically emphasized, whereas an interviewed woman is likely to be encouraged to talk about her cooking and housekeeping abilities rather than about her professional skills and achievements.

The media-created image of a woman is that of a mawkish babbler, while a man is always shown talking to the point. Look at this quotation from the magazine Krestyanka (Peasant Woman): "... Meanwhile, lots of people, mostly women, love talking and hate listening. When they go to extremes, individuals of this kind will not only listen but will argue without even listening". Can it be safely asserted that this or that quality is immanent only in women or only in men? Any quality is inherent in both sexes depending on circumstances, especially when interests clash. None of the qualities can be solely attributed to one sex only.

Mir Zenshchiny offers the following statistics: "In Germany, preference is given to wives who are pretty, faithful but ... not too smart! Only 16 to 20 percent of Germans think intelligence and good education to be women's main asset". The conclusion made is: "A smart woman stands a better chance to lead her fianc to the altar if she does not show her mental capacity too often". The magazine then suggests that Russian women give it a thought. Thus, through tips and hints given by the media, women have been for decades induced to forget their own selves and satisfy only men's desires.

Komsomolskaya Pravda (Komsomol Truth) offers the following: "... only those families remained happy in which the woman had voluntarily made herself inferior to the man. "That's patriarchy!" some emancipated nuts will yell as they read these lines". I think that such expressions as "emancipated nuts" are used deliberately to cause a negative reaction. It is the media that has formed in society a negative attitude toward the words "feminist" and "emancipation'. The paper goes on with: "... but if you want to be a present wife, not an ex-wife, your choice is either you will completely obey your own pride or you will slightly (just for appearances' sake!) obey your husband".

Such advice suggests that the female reporter who wrote this article has seen lots of soap operas about Rosas and Mariannas with their incessant lies. Why should we pretend to be more stupid than we really are? Why should we sacrifice our abilities and intellect to love, and adjust to family life by restraining our intelligence? It is suggested that there exist no mutual respect, love, understanding and trust. Our favorite newspaper teaches us to pretend, imposing the idea of an ideal woman in the family and the way she should behave.

I have given some examples of women in the family and business. Perhaps, things are different in the sphere of science, literature, or culture? Maybe it is where women's abilities are adequately estimated? Not in the least.

In Literaturnaya Gazeta poet Y.Kuznetsov argues that "women are performers rather than creators. Women did not create any great literary work. What women added to poetry is tinges of feminine mood affected by the mess and fickleness of their personal life. If a man is a unit, a woman is a fraction". We know, however, quite a few renowned women of literature, poetry and arts, who went down in history.

The role of the media in promoting negative stereotypes of women cannot be denied. Nor can this ideology, often unconscious, be ignored. You should always be aware of its influence. Luckily, we can see more men and women around with modern views, capable of comprehending, discussing and rising above the deep-rooted stereotypes.

Julia Stroikina

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