Posted by: Sydney Griffin
As far as media is concerned, and through group research, we have determined that race and gender is easily misrepresented by the media in South Africa. The majority of reading content and advertisements in most popular magazines displays more white men and women than other ethnicities. Other ethnicities are rarely represented in these magazines. Females are also often portrayed as sex objects in the same media as well and most advertisements utilize the weaknesses of women to sell their products.
America and South Africa are similar in that they both contain a melting pot of many cultures, ethnicities and traditions. By just casual conversations every day, I have found that many of the “locals” are actually not locals at all. For example Pitcho, a bellhop at our hotel is originally from the “heart of Africa” also known as the Republic of Congo. Gamuchiral, who is currently a waitress at Crush Bistro traveled from Zimbabwe to work in South Africa. Both people moved to Capetown to find work and schooling. They now call themselves South African citizens because here they can create a better future for themselves. There are also many other groups such as black Africans and Africaans, as well as Indian, Native American and so on and so forth. Unfortunately in these magazines the majority of the people are white. This is a misrepresentation of South Africa because the actual population consists of the majority population of Blacks
Gender also seems to be an issue among the South African media. Many club, drink, and clothing advertisements objectify women and transduce their existence as property to be owned. For example, A few days after our arrival to Capetown, I noticed a large banner on the side of a building with a woman in a very revealing bikini. This banner was very much unlike the typical advertisements in the city in that there was so much reveled by the women. After reading the billboard in passing, I realized it was an advertisement for a beach club in the Cape of good Hope. By the use of her small bathing suit, the woman was easily objectified as an object of gaze or sale and worked as a method of attraction to male customers. In fact, her face did not appear in the picture but her body was oiled and most likely photo shopped.
During class time we were able to meet Nwaki Qeqe. Nwaki helps female refugees and has much experience dealing with women who have experienced domestic violence from their partners. In most African countries, men are expected to find a job and provide for the family. Women are expected to be in the house and take care of the children. Therefore little respect is given to the woman. Often women are exchanged for cattle or other types of property. We saw an example of this in our very own trip when Brittany was offered cattle in exchange for her hand in marriage. In our country, this is very strange but to Africans, this practice has been used for centuries and this is their sense of normalcy. knowing the traditions of courtship in South Africa Is this objectification of women appropriate?
When will this country as well as other countries such as America represent the correct population and values? Will we ever even reach this level of accuracy?
