Introduction
Societies are awash with different types of
media that provide the public with diverse forms of entertainment. However, media has a potency to influence the
society’s way of thinking. Media can
manipulate information in such way that it influences the public’s attitudes
and opinion. For instance, the media is
responsible for fostering the stereotyping of gender. Men and women are
represented in different roles that foster stereotyping of their abilities and
overall perception. The paper below highlights three forms of media and how
they foster the stereotyping of women.
Magazines
There are different magazines in the market
that play a critical role in fostering stereotypical tendencies in the
society. The Cosmopolitan is an example
of a magazine that continues to objectify and sexualize the woman. The existence of a women-only magazine is a
demonstration of how far women have come to have their voice heard. However, the approach that cosmopolitan magazine
takes emphasizes on showing the body and curves of the women.
From the front page, the magazine carries
images of female celebrities that pose in a provocative manner. In most instances, the women are scantily
dressed in clothing that covers their basic privates. The models that grace the front cover of the
cosmopolitan magazine are often dressed in lingerie or figure hugging clothes
(Pittman, 2015). The content in the cosmopolitan magazine focuses on love,
marriage, divorce, beauty tips and gossip on different celebrities. The content
of the magazine gives the impression that women are drawn to trivial matters
such as celebrity gossip. Moreover, the
magazine gives the impression that women focus mainly on maintaining their good
looks.
Children’s Books
Children books also stereotype gender, and
most tend to present women as weak and helpless. Cinderella is an example of a children book
that highlights the life of a young girl who is rescued from poverty and
suffering by a handsome young prince.
Cinderella lives with her step mother and three step sisters who are
evil and mistreat her. The Fairy
Godmother comes to the rescue of Cinderella, and she can attend a ball hosted
by the Prince. The beauty of Cinderella
captures the prince who looks for her the whole city until he finds her.
The film industry has attempted to overcome
the portrayal of women as weak damsels in need of rescuing. To shift the perception of women from weak to
strong and independent women, movies such as the Devil Wears Prada have been
rolled out. Miranda Priestly plays the
role of a mean female boss that keeps all her subordinates on their toes. She is portrayed as callous and disconnected
from everyone around her. The film gives
women power but create the stereotype that women can misuse power if it is
given to them.
Stereotypical Portrayal of Women
versus Men
Media
continues to depict women as sexual beings.
Magazines such as the cosmopolitan focus on showing the women’s physical
features rather than their life achievements.
From the front page, the female model poses in seductive clothes and
poses thus drawing out the sexual view of the women. Women continue to be demonstrated as objects
of desire with an emphasis on their beauty and curves (Holtzman, & Sharpe,
2014). Cinderella is also demonstrated
as a beautiful princess who captures the attention of the prince. There is a general perception that women have
an irresistible level of beauty that needs to be publicized. Women are also portrayed as weak and in need
of rescuing.
The
story of Cinderella is a classic example of how women are portrayed as weak
while the men are portrayed as strong.
Cinderella is poor and destined to live in the kitchen cleaning pots and
pans. In contrast, the prince lives in a
castle with servants and has immense wealth.
Cinderella is thus rescued from her doomed and sorry life by the
prince. In the story, men are portrayed
as determined individuals while women are demonstrated as individuals who
resign to their fate. Cinderella
believes that she will never see the prince again while the prince moves from
door to door determine to find the princess who owned the glass slipper. The prince finds Cinderella, rescues her from
her deplorable conditions and they live happily ever after. The theme of bossiness is also demonstrated
in movies where women are given leading roles.
Traditionally, women are given supporting roles where they act as wives,
assistants. The movie The Devil Wears
Prada demonstrates women as individuals that can abuse power and authority if
they are given leading positions (Brzuzy, & Lind, 2007). The movie, through
the main character, portrays women as individuals capable of instilling fear on
their subordinates.
Purpose of the Stereotypes
Media is set to maintain the status quo and
retain the subordinate role of women in the society. The 21st century has seen
women rise and take up positions, jobs, and responsibilities that were deemed
to be for men. The woman is at a point
where she is almost on par with the man concerning their positioning in
society. Unfortunately, the media is
doing very minimal to help change the stereotypical perception of women. Children books and movies continue to portray
female characters as damsels in distress.
In the children books and movies, the weak female character is rescued
by the male character. The media
continues to give society the impression that a woman needs a man so that her
life is complete. Such books and movies
instill in children the impression that they need to be assisted by a man
anytime they are in trouble or when they experience any form of difficulties in
their lives.
Moreover, the emphasis on the female beauty
over any other accomplishment that the females have attained is also another
way to retaining the status quo and overall positioning of men and women in the
society. With an emphasis on their
beauty, society is drawn to look at the female as an object of sexual appeal
rather than a person that can compete and accomplish just like the man
(Polharel, 2015). Women also appear unwilling
to let go of the sexual appeal that they possess in society. It would be expected that an all-women
magazine would focus on content that aims to not only entertain but also
empower, encourage and motivate other women.
Films that show women as bossy and unapproachable individuals strive to
instill fear to the public and emphasize on maintaining the status quo. Movies such as the devil wear Prada aims to
emphasize how women need to be put in check as they can get out of control if
given too much control. Such movies
create the impression that the role of leaders should remain with the men
(Schneider, 2004).
Lessons Learned
I have learned that there is a need for media
to revise their representation of men and women. The 21st-century present men and women with
equal opportunities and today organization have female chief executive
officers. Moreover, countries have
acquired female presidents and prime ministers.
The perception of women as weak and in need of rescuing by male
characters is not only outdated by inapplicable in the 21st century. Today, children are trained to achieve
anything that they set their mind to achieve.
Therefore, the objectification of women as sex symbols confuses the
children. Children are innocent and can
wonder whether they have to show “some skin” so as to draw attention. The inferior and superior gender perception
needs to be eliminated. The media has a
strong influence on the perception of the public thus the need to eliminate the
stereotypical demonstration of either men and women. In conclusion, the class has enabled me to
understand how gender, race, class and sexual orientation are interlocked to
progress oppression in the society.
Individuals are stereotyped based on gender, race, class, or sexual
orientation thus resulting in the establishment of the opinion of the different
classes of people. The public can
acquire stereotypical perceptions such as women are weak, a specific race is
civilized, or a specific group of people with a unique sexual orientation are
drug users. Stereotyping is bad for the society as it encourages labeling of
people.
References
Brzuzy, S. & Lind, A. (2007).
Battleground: women, gender, and sexuality.
ABC-CLIO
Holtzman, L. & Sharpe, L. (2014). Media
messages: what films, television, and music teach us. Routledge Publishing
Pittman,
T. (2015). What 100years of magazine covers reveal about how we see women. The
Huffington Post
Polharel, P. (2015). Sexualization of the
female body.
Schneider, D. (2004). The psychology of
stereotyping. Gilford Press
Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in best custom research papers if you need a similar paper you can place your order from nursing paper writing service.
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