Feminist Critiques in Communication Studies Introduction/BackgroundFeminism is refers to a collection of movements that aim at protecting the social, political, economic and cultural rights of women. To a large extent, the movements have been focusing on fighting for equality of women in various aspects of life. In addition, the movements have been fighting against oppression and exploitation of women. The efforts of different movements to fight for the rights of women have led to the establishment of a range of theories focusing on gender equality and exploitation of women. When combined together, the different theories form the feminist theory. One of the areas in which feminists have focused on is the presentation of women by the media. In particular, the feminist movements have been concerned with how the media contributes to the exploitation of women in the society (Zhang, Miller, Harrison, 2008). As well, the movements have paid attention to how the media has been supporting the rights of women. Initially, the feminist movements mainly focused on the problems that faced the educated women, the whites and those in the middle class. In response, various scholars and activists emerged to criticize the strategy taken by the movements (Zhang et al., 2008).Different activists and scholars have given different responses to the presentation of women in the media, in their efforts to fight for the rights of women. However, they have generally been criticizing the manner in which the media presents the women, leading to the infringements of their rights (Bonnie & Zambrana, 2009). The main areas that the feminists have been focusing on include how the media presents the roles of women in the society and the impact of the media presentation on womenâ€™s autonomy, bodily integrity and reproductive rights. The efforts of the feminists in criticizing the media have helped to change many societies, especially in the western countries. Although not all set goals have been achieved, the media has responded to the criticisms through improving the manner in which the y present women in the society (Bonnie & Zambrana, 2009). In western societies such as the US, the feminist movements have influenced the media to be always wary of the rights of women when they are presented in films, televisions, advertisements or any other form of media. Importantly, the efforts have helped to enhance gender equality, rights to engage in different roles that were initially meant for men and equal pay at work. The efforts have also led to a reduction in cases of domestic violence against women, sexual assault and sexual harassment (Bonnie & Zambrana, 2009).The feminist criticism of the media has mainly been concerned with four categories of issues. Firstly, the critiques have been focusing on the roles allocated to women in texts and in everyday life. Secondly, the criticism has, to a great extent, focused on the presentation of women in the media. The critics have focused on the presentation of women in the media as objects of lust and of male desire (Ruether, 2012). In other words, the critics have focused on the exploitation of women through their presentation as sexual objects in the media. Thirdly, some critics have focused on the extent to which women are exploited at the work place. Lastly, the critics examine how women should respond to the exploitation through taking actions that can help to improve their situations (Ruether, 2012).Most feminists have criticized the manner in which media contributes to the exploitation of women in the society. For instance, Sut Jhally and Robert Jensen have criticized the media for promoting objectification of women during advertisements (Ruether, 2012). Laura Mulvey is well known for criticizing the way films present women as sexual objects. Also, Mulvey criticizes the media portraying the woman as only responsible for subordinate roles in the family (Ruether, 2012). Gan, Zillmann and Mitrook have criticized the manner in which black women are presented in music videos, leading to negative evaluation of a black woman. Dolf Zillmann focuses on pornographic materials, while Dawn Porter focuses on presentation of women in modeling. Other scholars such as Berl Kutchinsky have used counter-arguments to criticize the ideas and strategies of the feminists who criticize the media (Ruether, 2012).Aims/Objectives of the Study