Baldwin, Cecelia

Dr. Cecelia Baldwin is Professor of Journalism and Mass Communications at San José State University. She received her Ph.D. from Claremont Graduate University. She has taught at Cornell University, Syracuse University, and California State University-Fullerton. Dr. Baldwin co-authored Interaction of Race, Gender and Class in the Media, and she has written numerous book chapters and journal articles.

How the Media Shape Young Women's Perceptions of Self-Efficacy, Social Power and Class

2006 0-7734-5659-7
This book addresses the interaction of the media, sexuality and self-efficacy in teenage women. In doing so, it is also inclusive of class and power issues and the perceptual reactions of young women to an increasingly sexualized media. It includes a combination of qualitative and quantitative research examining the interaction of self-efficacy, as individual empowerment, with sexualized media imagery. It demonstrates how sexualized images projected by advertising, and the media in general, are perceived as power by adolescent females. Power is defined as self-efficacy or a personal power. Sexualized imagery proved to be an indicator of perceptions of both empowerment and a stratified class structure, with the more sexualized the imagery, the higher the perception of both self-efficacy and high social status or class. The book provides an in-depth exploration of young women’s perceptions of sexuality and power. Additionally, the book examines sexualized imagery from a historical standpoint and as a component in adolescent sexual development.