Thesis (M.J.) - Carleton University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 143-151). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A. (Population and Reproductive Health Research))--Mahidol University, 2006. / LICL has E-Thesis 0017 ; please contact computer services.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1989.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1989.

Thesis (M.S. )--Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, 2005. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, page: 2721. Typescript. Accompanying DVD entitled: A Woman's Place: a documentary to supplement masters thesis. Abstract precedes thesis as 2 leaves (i-ii). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 59-61).

Within the context of debates concerning the impact of media on audiences, this study takes the form of a qualitative audience reception analysis; to investigate how a particular group of female audiences situated in Zimbabwe interprets televised HIV/AIDS prevention advertisements. It examines the extent to which the social context influences the audiences’ acceptance or rejection of preferred readings encoded in the texts. The study is situated within the broad theoretical and methodological framework of both the communication for development and the cultural studies approaches to the study of the media. Data for the investigation was collected through the focus group and in-depth interview methods as well as through the websites and organisational documents produced by the encoders of the advertisements. The findings indicate that the female audiences’ interpretative strategies were informed by their lived experience as well as pre-existing knowledge. Based on the findings it can be deduced that, contrary to earlier beliefs and media theories such as that of the “hypodermic needle” theory the audience of public communication is not a passive homogenous mass that easily succumbs to media influences, rather the audience is active in the production of meaning, but under determinate conditions in particular contexts. The texts, the producing institutions and the social history of the audiences supply these conditions.

The media, specifically tabloids, have the potential to portray poverty-related issues in a manner that informs the public and government about the experiences of people living in poverty so that it can be tackled with urgency. Poverty has blighted the lives of many, especially women, children and widows in Cameroon. The role of the media in reporting the plight and suffering of the ‘masses’ potentially shapes the way in which these issues are handled by those in authority. The study notes that the tabloid press has the potential to expose certain experiences of ordinary people thereby constituting that alternative sphere for the disadvantaged. The study investigates the manner women are represented in The Post which is an English tabloid published in Cameroon. The representation of women in this study looks at the institutional policies which drive the representation of women in news constructs, analyses the news values which shape news production, and uses Thompson’s modes of ideology to unravel the underlying meanings in the reported stories. The study is inspired by the claims that since women make up the majority of the world's poor, so too would media representations depict them as such. It utilises thematic analysis to understand the manner in which women are represented in The Post. It also uses interviews with the regional bureau editor of the North West region to probe what news values and institutional policies drive the stories on women’s poverty. Document analysis is used to better comprehend the institutional guidelines which govern the representation of women during the month of March 2009.

M.A. (Communication Studies) / To firstly formulate, from the literary review, an integrated model which describes the mass communication process. Specifically the relationship between orientation needs, media usage and agenda-setting in the broader context of the individual, the media, and society. The model was delineated to define the woman as individual, Rapport as medium, and orientation needs and agenda-setting in terms of media figures. The second aim was to conduct an empirical investigation using 197 female subjects (99 Rapport-readers and 98 non-readers). Two factorial scales for personal and social orientation needs in respect of media figures were constructed. Media usage in terms of media ,figures was measured with frequency scores. The agenda-setting effect with regard to specific media figures were determined by means of the Kendall correlation coefficient and Spearman rank order correlation. Media usage of Rapport by Rapport- . readers was determined. In addition, a factorial structure of Rapport-reader gratification in terms of media figure representation in Rapport was measured. In this investigation the importance of information about media figures in orientation needs, media usage and agenda-setting has been reaffirmed. Specific orientation needs (personal and social) and their respective dimensions have been identified. A marked agenda-setting effect with respect to media figures was determined, and possible relationships between orientation needs, media usage and agenda-setting were pointed out. Certain areas do, however, require further research. One fruitful area for investigation is the explanation of significant relationships between individual orientation need gratification, media usage and agenda-setting (with regard to media figures) within a specific societal context

A dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of D. Litt. In Communication Science University of Zululand, 2001. / In this dissertation, I present the results of an analysis of the role of female body image in the promotion of commercial products in magazines that are available in South Africa at the beginning of the 21st century. The South African legislation is progressive towards promoting gender equality. But the central problem is that there are still gaps between the progressive legislation and the attitudes and beliefs of South Africans towards gender equality, particularly in the use of female body images in magazine adverts by the advertising industry. This gap between de jure and de facto is due to gender differences and stereotypes that have been entrenched in every aspect of our lives (for example, in language, culture, religion, and so on). According to Deacon (1997:376-410) and Pease and Pease (2000:60-61), because of the gendered social environment in the ancestral world, our brains (as females and males) evolved differently within the continuing gendered social environment. So, our fore brain, which is responsible for thinking, reasoning and planning processes, has helped us to reconstruct our gendered social environment by the formulation of legislation that promote human rights including the right to equality. However, the legislation on equality is not sufficient to reconstruct our environment. The evidence is that within the good legislation that has been made in South Africa, the advertising industry is continuing with the biased portrayal of female and male body images in the magazine adverts, in particular. Besides, the female body image is still portrayed in stereotypical roles. For example, the female is presented in passive roles and as objects as well as sex objects. However, the consumers do not adequately challenge the advertising industry about this gendered portrayal of the female body images in magazine adverts because the consumers themselves have a gendered view of the world. Therefore, other social programmes (in schools and communities) should supplement legislation that has been made in order to try and reconstruct the gendered social environment in South Africa. But, there are still areas for further research in the area of gender and body image to try and uncover the effects that the body image has on the consumers.

This dissertation explores how representations of women in the media function as heterodesignations in response to the current socio-economic cultural complex of globalization. In its merger with reality, the media has become the dominant discourse and the means through which prevailing modes of self-understanding are made available in postmodern society, of which the simulacrum is a key feature. Representations of women in the media in general, and in television advertisements in particular, are not, in any way, subversive of hegemonic discourse and, despite the prevalent ambiguity of these images, construct women in conformity with traditional gender stereotypes. Through practices of deconstruction, such as feminist counter-cinema, of which the film Female Perversions is an example, feminism has an important role to play in liberating women from the oppressive effects of these representations, even if these efforts are not, in themselves, free from ambiguity. / English Studies / M.A. (English)