Whichever way you look at it, whether it is advertisements on TV, music videos we watch, movie productions that are popular, our television shows, newscasts and talk shows, women are portrayed in a demeaning manner. Carry the same over to social media especially on Instagram, and we see a trend where the most celebrated women are those who’ve reduced themselves to objects and instruments of seductive value. This is egregious, to say the leastI find this in bad taste and I suppose similar sentiments are echoed across the civilized world.
Has the way women are represented in media changed or improved over the last decade? I don’t think so. The majority of media coverage of women reflects a faulty picture and yet we have more women in positions of influence today. How is that so? Why is this not changing?
In Kenya, for example, some women who go to great lengths to expose their “cool” lifestyles on social media have become the butt of the joke on social media. They are known as slay queens and social media users have been having a ball trolling them. Sometimes you wonder how we got to this point.
Are there measures we can take to salvage this for our daughters, our sisters and our wives? Are there conversations we should be having to inculcate a culture of respect and understanding? I have observed some of the agencies that have taken the initiative to adjudicate over the issue and pass policy to regulate the same. Do you think this is a step in the right direction? Controlling what can and cannot be aired on national Television? How then do you handle social media? Any attempts to regulate this would be construed as censorship and infringing on personal freedoms and rights.
How do you suggest we address this menace? I would like to hear your suggestions below. Until we speak again, I am your host Mitchell Odhiambo. Welcome to a man’s world. To get a female perspective from my colleague Mercy, click HERE
