31st Annual Student Research Conference
Hypersexualization and Representation of Women in Netflix Orginal Films
Rachel M. Smith
Dr. Victoria Mayer, Faculty Mentor
Streaming media services such as Netflix are growing in popularity. This media simultaneously creates and mirrors everyday culture allowing us to discover more about our society. Women have notoriously been misrepresented and underrepresented in media. Netflix Original Films are a very new form of media that has yet to be studied but provide insight to contemporary ideals. This research assesses 15 Netflix Original Films for sexualization and gender representation. The gender of content creators was also tracked to establish their overall effect on the film. Every speaking character was evaluated on sexual comments, sex, attire, and nudity. The films were disproportionately male speaking roles. Females were more likely to be depicted in sexual attire. Males were more likely to have sexual references, comment on someone's appearance, have lead roles, and to be named role within the film.
Keywords: women, media, sexualization, Netflix, gender representation, women in media, hypersexualization, Netflix Original
Topic(s):Sociology
Women's and Gender Studies
Interdisciplinary
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: 8-13
Location: GEO - SUB
Time: 3:30