Seeing how women and females are portrayed in the media, in the movies, and even in advertisements interests me because I myself am a female.  I want to see how different kinds of portrayals affect other women and girls.  This research question affects my view on how I see certain movies like the Disney princess films in which the females are always shown to behave the same way and have the certain qualities that are common in all the movies.  At the same time, it does not change my view on when I see how women are portrayed as to be thin, blonde hair, and beautiful in ads.  I don't ever feel the need to change myself to be more like them but I'm sure that there are other women and females that do get affected by that and they do feel the need to change themselves.  I do have a personal experience with this topic because I grew up watching Disney princess movies.  I personally love the movies and have watched a lot of them numerous times.  I had always noticed that the princesses in the movies always had the same qualities and were always portrayed as the damsel in distresses.  The princesses and princes are always shown to have vastly different characteristics.  I am not too qualified to write about this topic but I have grown up watching these movies and being surrounded by movies that always portrayed women in different ways.  Also, I know of other people that have been affected by how they view themselves.

I will use three sources to get an understanding of my research question and the get an answer for it.  Mia Adessa Towbin and few other authors call my first source "Images of Gender, Race, Age, and Sexual Orientation in Disney Feature-Length Animated Films."  In this article, the authors have analyzed all the Disney princess movies for all the characteristics that the princes and princesses have that are common throughout all the movies.  They talk about how the Disney movie franchise has not evolved in the gender images.  The gender images have remained constant over the past few years and have not changed to match the current view of society and the characteristics are still very stereotypical and similar to back in the day (Towbin).  Also they say that this affects how it influences children on seeing females and males in certain ways (Towbin).  The authors did an intense study on how the males and females are portrayed in the Disney films.  They found in the results that the males are shown to have non-domestic jobs, strong and heroic, and get physical in order to show their emotions.  The females however were shown to be doing domestic work, their appearance was valued more then their intellect, and they were always shown to be a damsel in distress (Towbin).  This article was published in "Journal of Feminist Family Therapy."  That could make the article a little biased but at the same time the article is credible because all the authors have written for the journal before and have had a few publications as well.

My second source is by Dawn Elizabeth England, Lara Descartes, and Melissa A. Collier-Meek called "Gender Role Portrayal and the Disney Princesses."  They did a study on nine different Disney princess movies from three different time periods.  They found that they all shared the same central female character that was paired romantically with a prince (England).  They did an in depth analysis study and found that all the males shared certain traditionally masculine characteristics and that all the females shared certain traditionally feminine characteristics (England).  The males were also found to be saving the females just as much as the females being saved or rescued.  Over time, the princesses showed more feminine that masculine characteristics.  The authors have written this article for a journal that published articles that had to do with research with sex roles.  This shows that the authors have established a credibility factor because the article was part of a credible journal.  Also the authors are also professors and they know a lot about this topic.

The last source that I used is by Kadinin Cinsel and titled " Using Women in Advertisement as a Symbol of Sex: Cosmopolitan Magazine Example."  The author had already written a few articles and was educated on this topic.  The article mainly focused on how women were shown to be certain images in different kinds of advertisements.  To be a good wife or a mother, women had to have a "well-kept body." (Gudekli)  Also how "thin, athletic, and beautiful women" are used to promote consumption products for more success (Gudekli).  In other advertisements about personal care, the women who want to get the attention of the men where shown to be very focused on their own sexual appearance.  The authors analyzed many different advertisements from the three different periods of times and found that women are shown in their sexual appearance and highlighted more then the actual product they are promoting (Gudekli).  In advertisements, the women were often used to show off their attractiveness and sexiness of the woman and use that to show that using the products will eventually lead the customers to the same results as shown.  

My research question is quite arguable because it has been a topic of discussion in some many articles and papers and it has been a hot topic recently.  Also, some people could argue that the way women are portrayed could be a positive affect because it helps women be more confident.  Others, however, argue that it has a negative affect in which women may feel they need to change themselves to fit into the "social norms."  My sources that I have so far all agree that the women portrayal in movies and media have not been a positive image.  Certain perspectives in these sources made me think more about how women are always shown in the same stereotypical roles or characteristics.  My sources helped in better understanding my research question and helped in refining it.  The portrayal in women in media is a very broad topic and I may need to revise it now to focus more on maybe how the portrayal of women has been constant and stereotypical as well as how it has affected other women and girls.  Or narrow it down even more to how Disney portrays females through the princesses in the their films and how it affects the other women and females.

