RESOURCES
ISIS Boleti'n Internacional ISIS Italy Via della Pelliccia 31 00153 ROMA Italy. US$3.
No. 4 of our Spanish edition is entitled "Mujeres y Medlos de Comunlcacion" (Women and Media). Published at the end of 1980, it carries some of the same articles as this English edition, but with additional articles and resources on Latin America.
ISIS International Bulletin No. 16 "Feminist Press In Western Europe" ISIS Switzerland Case Postale 301 1227 Carouge, Switzerland. SFr. 5.
This number is entirely a resource Bulletin, listing more than 250 feminist publications, presses, bookshops and archives in 18 countries In Europe. It is a good testimony to the existence of women's alternatives to the traditional mass media.
International Women's Tribune Center Newsletter 305 East 46th Street New York, NY 10017 USA.
The Spring 1981 Issue of this useful newsletter will be dedicated to women and media. The Tribune Centernewsletters consistently list good resources - groups, projects and literature - so this next number promises to be a good complement to the ISIS bulletin
Unequal Opportunities: the Case of Women and the Media Margaret Gallagher UNESCO Press, 7 Place de Fontenoy 75700 Paris, France. Spring 1981.
An extremely important book. Based on worldwide analysis of research and action programmes in the area of women and media, this study examines the two very interrelated factors - portrayal and participation of women in the media - seeing them as mutually reinforcing elements of the wider problem of access to knowledge and control in society. The author shows that the overall picture is remarkable only for its consistency from one country to another, both in the lack of women's participation in media, and in the stereotypical portrayal. The author goes on to examine some of the alternatives women have started creating, in new communication patterns and media structures through which their authentic voices may be heard
The book includes a valuable reference section, with a very full bibliography and a long list of feminist publications, groups, journals etc. throughout the world.
Fraue-Zitig Nr. 21 (Dezember 1980/Februar 1981) c/o Angela Koller Spitalgasse 8 CH-8001 Zurich Switzerland.
This number contains various articles on women and film, and films made by and about women (mostly Swiss). The films mentioned are: "Regarde, elle a les yeux grand-ouverts" on abortion and birth, "II valore della donna e il suo silenzio" about migrant women in Germany and their problems in daily life, and "Dienstjahre sind keine Herrenjahre" about Swiss-German girls going to work for one year as au-paires in French-speaking Switzerland. There is an interview with four of the film directors.
Weibs-Bilder - Zeugnisse zum offentlichen Ansehen der Frau Bin Hasstiches Bilderbuch by Heide Herlng. Conclusions by Gisela Wild Rowohit Taschenbuch Verlag GmbH, Reinbek bei Hamburg (FRG), 1979
(Women's images — evidence about the popular presentation of woman — a horrid picture-book)
An angry booklet: in a Chamber of Horrors' style. The author illustrates, through a collection of pictures, how women's images are daily misrepresented and misused in the German press, in advertising and in not-so-funny comics. For example: women "wn-iters" are portrayed on the cover of a well-known weekly magazine: stark naked, halflying or sitting in front of a blank page or a typewriter. The book also contains a good bibliography.
Al-Raida Institute for Women's Studies in the Arab World P.O. Box 11-4080 Beirut University College Beirut, Lebanon
Frequently carries articles about women and media in the Middle East. Annual subscription L.L. 10.~ or US$5.
The Uses of IVIedia to Improve the Status of Women on an International Scale Linda J. Busby Telecommunicative Arts Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 50011
USA.
Presented at the Speech Communication Association (USA) meeting in December 1977, this paper looks at the different ways in which media have been used to help change attitudes towards women, in a number of different countries. Efforts to increase women's social participation and improve their daily lives through use of the media are also described. Most important is perhaps the bibliography of Films on Women and Social Roles which has 26 annotated entries from different regions of the world.
La culture de la opresion femenina Michele Mattelart ERA, Mexico D.F. 1977.
Three essays in Spanish based on the author's studies and experiences during her stay in Chile. The first essay entitled, "Remarks on modern life: a review of women's magazines", analyzes the image of "novelty" and "the modern" presented in these magazines and directed towards women. The author shows how these values only serve to obscure an ideology which they in fact sustain and which values. defends traditional
The second and longest essay, "Fotonovelas, reality pushed aside", is an analysis of this medium which is so popular in Latin culture. An examination of the contents of the "fotonovelas" (picture novels) reveals a message charged with the most conventional values and a constant polarization between rich and poor. At the same time it presents reality with conflicts only of an emotional kind, where injustice is something personal, without social dimensions.
The third essay, "When women of the bourgeoisie take to the streets", analyses the manipulation of women by dominant groups which use them as a reserve force, only to send them back to their traditional roles afterwards.
Media She Patricia Edgar and Hilary McPhee Heinemann Australia Ltd. 60 Inkerman Street, St. Kilda Victoria , 3182, Australia .1974.
Although quite old , this is still a useful and relevant resource. Outlines how both women and men are socialized Into sex roles in family , education and employment structures and goes on to show how significant the media's contribution to this socialization is. Reproducing newspaper titles and articles on women and a series of advertisements where men are depicted in usually female advertisements, the book demonstrates its points admirably. Good bibliography.
The Impact of Sex-role Acquisition : Mass Media Research Linda J . Busby Telecommunicative A r ts Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 50011 USA (no date).
Study on the role that the mass media plays in shaping individual sex roles. It particularly deals with the media in the United States, but recognises that media impact is world wide. It is particularly interesting for the information given on the role of children's programmes on television in sex role socialization of children. Has an extensive bibliography, divided i n to three sections: media effects — sex role socialization; media content; and personal and social impact of sex-role acquisition
Matrix 418 Cedar Street Santa Cruz, C A 95060 USA
Matrix is a monthly newsmagazine, distributed free. Collectively run on a voluntary basis, each issue is on a specific theme. Its November 1980 issue was on women and media and includes articles on sexism in print , television images, women and ageing
Feminist Japan International Issue, Feminist Inc., Seien Building No. 502 1-3-2, KIta-Aoyama, Minato - Ku , Tokyo , Japan 107
This is the international issue o f the bi-monthly which otherwise appears in Japanese. Issue No. 2 carries several articles on media and women in Asia and elsewhere. Each issue US$5.
" The Image of Women in Advertising" Lucy Komisar, in Women in Sexist Society ' eds. Vivian Gormick and Barbara K. Moran The New American Library, Inc.
1301 Avenue of the Americas New York , N Y 10019 USA
This is a chapter in which the author discusses how advertising " exploits and reinforces the myths of women's place", and how it "spews out images of women as sex mates, housekeepers, mothers and menial workers — images that perhaps reflect the true status of most women in society, but which also make it increasingly difficult for women to break out of the sexist stereotypes that imprison them "
Killing Us Softly — Advertising's Image of Women Jean Kilbourne Half-hour film , 16 m m , colour. Cambridge Documentary Films, Inc. P.O. Box 385 Cambridge, M A 02139 USA
Using hundreds of advertisements from magazines, newspapers, album covers and storefront windows, the author has produced a concise and important analysis of a US$40 billion industry that preys on the fears and insecurities of every consumer
" A Generation of Problem Pages" In Spare Rib No. 101 27 Clerkenwell Close London EC1R OAT England.
Witty analysis of the evolution of women's magazine mentality through the letters and answers of Woman's Own's "problem page" from 1960 to the present. Marriage, sexuality, abortion, women's work and later on social problems are the issues brought up by these letters, but in the answers the emphasis slowly shifts from finding the man (usually the husband) always in the right, to urging women to be more independent. A revealing approach to how women's roles are portrayed by the media.
"Femmes Suisses Mensuel Feminin Independant B.P. 194 tJ K 1227 Carouge, Geneve .B H H Switzerland ,%m. SFr.2.50 
Alas, nothing's new under the sun I Even if the trade-mark image of Swiss women is one of efficiency and prosperity, they are (mis)represented by local media along the usual lines of dumb-housewifery and eternal seduction. To those who want to know more on the subject, the issue of October 1980 of "Femmes Suisses", the oldest feminist newsletter in French, founded in 1912 in Geneva, will give some information about the image of Swiss women in their media and their participation as professionals in the news-making business
"Frau und Fernsehen — International" Fernsehen und Bildung - Internationale Zeitschrift fur Medienpsychologie und Medienpraxis. Jrg. 14 (1980) 1 / 2 Projectgruppe Sturm-Grewe am Bayerischen Rundfunk Rundfunkplatz 1 8000 MiJnchen 2 Federal Republic of Germany DIVi14.50
A realistic, if rather bleak, survey of women's position in the most modern of media — television. It points out the horizontal and vertical segregation women journalists are
submitted to, the way non-occupational factors (such as being mothers) interact with their work, the "quiet (and sometimes not so quiet) way" of assigning to the traditional stereotypes of "women's interests".
The articles collected in this issue are written by highly qualified women professionals and come from different countries of the world (FRG, U K , USA, Australia, France), but contents are similarly depressing and reach the same conclusion : the "symbolic annihilation of women", that is their systematic absence both in TV from the "serious" programs such as network news, and from the "hard news" section of newspapers.
Specialized bibliography, which lists a great number of titles, from around the world. Women's
Women's Press Bookclub 124 Shored itch High Street London E l 6JE UK
"The Women's Press Bookclub was launched to ensure that around 50 books a year — our own and other publishers' — reach readers at realistic prices and that worthwhile books can continue to be published. We offer savings of between 25 - 50 o/o off the published price. Through our quarterly catalogues we offer around 50 book choices each year. We concentrate on the areas of fiction, feminist politics, art history and physical and mental health, as well as offering books, posters and calendars from publishers outside the U K . "
Membership is available to people living outside the UK. Two selections from the latest catalog are Adrienne Rich's "Dream of a Common Language" and Anais Nin's Journal IVVI. Write about address for further membership information and current book list.
L'invenzione della donna — miti e tecniche di uno sfruttamento by Maria Rosa Cutrufelli - - Edizioni Mazzotta, Milano — 1974.
Written in 1974 by one of the most prominent and militant Italian feminists, Maria Rosa Cutrufelli, this strong political essay, now in its third reprint, can already be considered a classic of feminism. It demonstrates, through a series of examples referring both to European and American "imperialist" societies and extracted from the most popular media of the two continents, the "making" of woman, and the ways in which such image is exploited. Unfortunately, we must say, nothing has changed and the book is still very much up-to-date.
Image, role et condition sodale de la femme dans les medias — recueil et analyse des documents de recherche UNESCO, Paris, n. 84, 1979
Published in English, Spanish and French this global survey, by Unesco experts, of the image, the role and the social condition of woman as portrayed by media is very extensive, both for the different media considered and the number of countries, and therefore sometimes lacking in subtlety; but its value however, in terms of general approach, remains considerable, especially owing to a very comprehensive bibliography, including more than 200 titles (among them ISIS International Bulletin n. 2 — Women in the Daily Press).
Feminist Calendar 1981
A feminist group in India Reaching Out has as its first venture brought out a Women's Calendar for 1981, giving important dates of events in the feminist history of India, along with folk songs (in English) and sketches about women. Cost US$2 + $1 for airmail postage. Available at Reaching Out, No. 7, Manohar Mahal, New Moghul Lane, Mahim, Bombay - 400016, India.