Andsager J L, Hust S J, Powers A
Edward R. Murrow School of Communication, Washington State University, Pullman 99164-2520, USA.
Women Health. 2000;31(2-3):57-79. doi: 10.1300/j013v31n02_03.
Media coverage of some cancers in the past often equated cancer with a death sentence. Breast cancer coverage in 1990s magazines, however, has become less fatalistic, more frequent, and discusses a broader range of issues than before. This study examined whether the visual images accompanying magazine articles about breast cancer have also evolved. We used Goffman's (1976) rituals of subordination to measure patient-blaming and subordinating, disempowering images. We also analyzed race/ethnicity, body type, and age of females in the images to gauge whether these demographic risk factors were represented in a random sample of images from nine magazines over a 30-year period. Magazines analyzed represented three genres-women's magazines, fashion/beauty, and general news. Findings suggest that patient-blaming images have decreased in some categories and women portrayed are slightly more representative of risk factors of age and race/ethnicity. Magazine images tended to reinforce stereotyped portrayals of femininity to the detriment of cancer patients. Fashion/beauty magazines, aimed at younger women, were most likely to portray breast cancer images in stereotyped, patient-blaming ways, with the least representative images of risk factors. The social construction of feminine beauty seems to overpower accuracy in creating these images.
过去，媒体对某些癌症的报道常常将癌症等同于死刑判决。然而，20世纪90年代杂志上关于乳腺癌的报道变得不那么宿命论，更加频繁，并且讨论的问题范围比以前更广。这项研究调查了杂志上关于乳腺癌文章所配的视觉图像是否也发生了演变。我们运用戈夫曼（1976年）的从属仪式来衡量指责患者以及从属、剥夺权力的图像。我们还分析了图像中女性的种族/民族、体型和年龄，以判断在30年期间从九本杂志中抽取的图像随机样本里，这些人口统计学风险因素是否有所体现。所分析的杂志涵盖三种类型——女性杂志、时尚/美容杂志和综合新闻杂志。研究结果表明，在某些类别中，指责患者的图像有所减少，并且所描绘的女性在年龄和种族/民族风险因素方面更具代表性。杂志图像往往强化了对女性气质的刻板描绘，对癌症患者不利。针对年轻女性的时尚/美容杂志最有可能以刻板、指责患者的方式描绘乳腺癌图像，其风险因素的代表性图像最少。在创造这些图像时，女性美的社会建构似乎压倒了准确性。
