"Critical Readings: Media and Gender provides a lively and engaging introduction to the field of media and gender research, drawing from a wide range of important international scholarship. A variety of conceptual and methodological approaches is used to explore subjects such as: entertainment; news; grassroots communication; new media texts; institutions; audiences. Topics include: Gender identity and television talk shows; historical portrayals of women in advertising; the sexualization of the popular press; the representation of lesbians on television; the cult of femininity in women's magazines; images of African American women and Latinas in Hollywood cinema; sexual violence in the media; women in popular music; pornography and masculine power; women's relationship to the Internet."--Back cover.