Academic
essay
Men and women are not as different as people;
despite of this fact there are still common personalities and characters which
are connected with each gender itself. People tend to agree to take the
stereotypes and roles which are connected with each gender because they help to
recognize differences between each group and also they makes human to feel
satisfy.
On the other hand, these believes about gender
roles are so established in human mind that they are so difficult to change and
people do not questioned them (media-awareness). In addition, most people do
not consciously notice them but they are still part of our belief system
because people are surrounded and attacked by messages about what it means to
be men and women today (media-awareness).
In society today stereotypes are shown especially on
women. Females are bombarded with various commercials especially focus on women
such as pills for losing weight and etc. The force to be thin, sexy and
attractive enough is stronger each day because of these types of ads (inforefuge).
Therefore, health clubs and fitness centers are crowded by those women who also
setting diets to combine with fitness exercises according to the media’s standards. In all kinds of media, women and girls are more likely to
be presented at home, doing domestic works such as cooking and cleaning.
Furthermore, they are likely to be shown as sexual objects for men’s pleasure
and as weak creatures who are victims of sexual harassment, murder and beating
(etfo).
It is need to be confessed that it is difficult to
avoid the situation of not being influenced by these messages because
television commercials and ads in magazines are full of half-naked female body
to sell for example perfumes, cosmetic products or underwear
(brennacoleman.suite101). Female negative stereotypes in media lead to consider
women as less valuable and drive them to the sexual object and passive human
beings. According to research done by Children Now, 38% of female characters
are wearing clothing which slightly disclose some part of their bodies and 23%
are exposing cleavage (brennacoleman.suite101). Furthermore, Disney movies such
as Beauty and The Beast or Aladdin show unrealistic life scenes where women are
depend on men because of power and survival. Media stereotyping makes society’s
girls to be less confident and have lower self-esteem (brennacoleman.suite101).
Generally, young children cannot understand the
difference between fantasy and reality, to know the irony meaning, recognize
persuasive intent and ignore stereotypes in the media. Due to media messages the
potential growth of a child could be slowed down (etfo). Moreover, media are
not the transparent technologies, in media events and issues such as
television, movies, video games and other is represented reality. Creators of
those messages have the opportunity to emphasize and show them and also they
possess the importance and value of a these information and ideas which are
often in connection with commercial view (etfo). According to research more
television children watch, more likely they keep sexist beliefs and ideas about
male and female roles which have been established and stereotyped for a long time.
Research also shows that media, especially advertising has a great impact on
gender stereotypes in our culture and children are one of many targets.
In advertising, for example girls are shown as
creatures that are preoccupied by the way how they look, concerned with being
popular and are less aggressive and competitive than boys. They are portrayed playing
with dolls and being interested in jewellery and make up. Boys are involved to
sport games, war games and technology; they are seeking for power, speed and
physical action. Moreover, children are harmed by these media messages about
gender because these ideas and mental pictures shape little girls’ and boys’
belief about who they should be and what they can reach in the future (etfo).
On the other hand, there is also the positive side of media stereotypes which
are found in television, movies and advertisements. Advertising provide many
useful information about products which we use, therefore, they are part of our
culture and they could not suddenly disappear. If advertising and the media
reflect the changes which encourage averting stereotypical gender portrayals it
could be a great tool to break stereotyping and discriminating among cultures.
Next good news is that parents and teachers could still have the bigger impact
on child’s development than the media. Real life modeling, solving conflict and
activities which show social values have bigger influence (etfo).
In conclusion, media stereotypes have a great impact to our culture especially to younger generation. Young children cannot understand the difference between fantasy and reality, know the irony meaning, recognize persuasive intent and ignore stereotypes in the media. Stereotyped gender roles are portrayed in all kind of media such as movies, television or magazines and etc. The great pressure drives especially girls and women to be more occupied by their appearance to attract men. This cause that females become sexual objects for men’s pleasure; which lead to be objects of sexual harassment as well. To reduce the influence of negative female stereotypes in media will help not only girls but whole society, then it is important to show children positive role models and let young girls know how gorgeous they are and they always will be (brennacoleman.suite101).
Sources:
"Exposing Gender Stereotypes | Lesson." Exposing Gender Stereotypes | Lesson. Web. 06 May 2012.
<http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/educational/lessons/secondary/gender_portrayal/exposing_gender.cfm>.
"Gender Roles and the
Media." – InfoRefuge.com. Web. 06 May 2012.
<http://www.inforefuge.com/gender-roles-media>.
Coleman, Brenna. "Media
Portrayal of Women." Suite101.com. 15 Jan. 2010.
Web. 06 May 2012.
<http://brennacoleman.suite101.com/media-portrayal-of-women-a189870>.
Brasted, Monica. "Care Bears vs.
Transformers: Gender Stereotypes in Advertisements | The Socjournal." The Socjournal. 17 Feb. 2010. Web. 06 May 2012.
<http://www.sociology.org/media-studies/care-bears-vs-transformers-gender-stereotypes-in-advertisements>.
Graydon, Shari. "Gender Issues
In The Media."
<Http://www.etfo.ca/Resources/ForTeachers/Documents/Gender%20Issues%20in%20The%20Media.aspx. Web. 6 May 2012.>
Luff, Lane. "Gender Roles and
Media Influence." Suite101.com. 24 Sept. 2009.
Web. 06 May 2012.
<http://lane-luft.suite101.com/gender-in-perspective-a152346>.
This is an obvious issue that we should be concerned with. Gender stereotypes in media are still overused and misused by media. As we already had two lectures regarding "Groups & Media-gender" and "Sex & Media", we know how serious the problem is. According to our course book "A Cognitive Psychology of Mass Communication”, there are so many stereotypes or gender portrayals in media. For example, Women should be beautiful and sexy-appearance; women are weak, so they should be protected by men; women are always victims of sexual violence. Even though women are getting powerful in the society such as in the business field, media still portray women with gender stereotypes. Moreover, nowadays media ask woman to be a "supermom". Thus, I feel like that the media order us "women should follow the portrayal of women in media". As majka mentioned, those portrayals made by media can influence the young generation and make them confused about the gender role. Therefore, all media should realize the possible problems of their gender portrayals and try not to use the image of women as product for money.
OdpovědětVymazatHello! Well I definitely think that gender stereotyping is not good, whether it is to do with looks of men and women or their behavior. It is true that women are usually portrayed as weak, sexual objects that should be at home taking care of their husband because they shouldn't go to work as they can't handle stress as well as men. I think that htis gender stereotyping effects women especially in the field of finding jobs. Nowadays it is very hard for a women to find a job and some women even give up because they know that even if they are more successful than a man that has the same post they will get a lower salary. Also the employers say that women can't handle stress as men can and that there is a risk of them getting pregnant therefore quitting the job meaning that the company would have to spend time finding someone else. However I think that this is nonsense I am not saying that men are useless I am just saying that women can be as successful as their male colleagues. However I think that this gender stereotype is rooted deeply in the minds of our and the previous generations as still a lot of men that I meet nowadays say " Oh you can't work in the business field because you are a woman." On the other hand I think that the situation now is getting a bit better than it was twenty years ago and we should continue on erasing these stereotypes.
OdpovědětVymazat