Media Representation of Gender
The media plays a crucial role in establishing social norms since all forms such as film, television and other forms of advertisement are found in any place around the world. For instance, the gender roles exist the way they do because the society has chosen to accept them and this has further been enhanced by the media (Baxter, 2017). They broadcast the information at a fast pace and provide entertainment to immense multitudes of people. Others may include the Internet, radio, books, television and the press. The Internet has been the fastest developing form since its inception, but however, the television still maintains the largest field of influence (Carter, 2008). Through the creation of a particular form of image and message, the media can affect the perception and the behaviors of the audience. This paper discusses how the media representation of gender influences the opinions and attitudes of the society and how it can be solved.
Research has abundantly made it clear that there is an underrepresentation of women in the media and in the cases that they are present they are given stereotypical roles (Gauntlett, 2010). However, the continuous emancipation of women has seen the traditional characters evolve. The media is the most potent and pervasive means that influence the perception and the behavior of the society towards men and women(Carter, 2008). The media are woven into all the aspects of the lives of people, and therefore, they insinuate their messages into their minds. All the types of media are responsible for communicating and releasing information that depicts gender in a particular way (Gauntlett, 2010). The images of the sexes as portrayed by the press enforce perceptions that are unrealistic, limiting and stereotypical. The first aspect is there is an underrepresentation of women, and this has the false implication that while men are standard and essential women are neither visible nor essential. The second concern is that both genders are represented stereotypically that give the perception and behavior which sustain social views that become endorsed (Carter, 2008). Finally, the way the media depicts intergender relationship promotes violence against women and emphasize the traditional roles.
People are under constant exposure to various forms of media with the most common being the television. Besides, the TV has the most significant influence. This press is central to the lifestyle of the American people. It is both relaxing and easily accessible. Children from as young as two years up to 17 years watch the television on an average of 25 hours in a week(Baxter, 2017). Adults, on the other hand, are estimated to spend about half of the amount of their leisure either watching television or some other forms of media. Everybody has continuously subjected to the media whether it is advertisement, billboards, newspapers or television programs. The media either consciously or unconsciously promote some perceptions and behavior of the society towards the gender.
Being in such constant exposure to all the forms of media and the opinions, beliefs and ideas that they perpetuate become accept them and affect their behavior and perception. This has more impact on the children, and young adults are who have not yet found their identity in the society (Hooverson, 2005). They are given the beliefs from a young age. This notion that is consumed by the young generation is the same one that they give out even in their adulthood. In most of the cases, the beliefs are common from one person to the other. Therefore, the young mind of the child which is still more susceptible is turned into a machine that releases anything that is given to it.
However, the ideas are in most of the instances false, and they play an important role in forming the opinion of the children. Their imagination is then shaped by the pictures that they see. Consequently, beliefs and perceptions that are hard to break are formed. All the information that a person learns must be derived from a different thing or another person. Considering that the media has a prevalent effect in the American homes, the young generation is extremely likely to take the depictions of lifestyle that they watch in their entertainments (Baxter, 2017). The images are responsible for shaping the imagination, opinions, and thoughts of the children concerning their beliefs and perceptions. However, children are not the only victims that pick the bad influences from the television since they also affect the kind of man or woman that the adults desire to become.
The media influences the kind of woman the women desire to become is one that is guided by their feelings, home-loving, emotional and caring (Carter, 2008). Women are required to take a back-seat when compared to the males. The television media commonly portrays women to be ready and willing to serve men. As an illustration, the television series Everyone Loves Raymond Marie Barone is depicted and shown to spend all her time taking care of her ungrateful husband and her son. Also, the media depicts the women to make many mistakes, and in such cases, they panic, become helpless and clumsy. For instance, the TV series I Love Lucy, Lucy is continuously shown to have a clumsy behavior. As a result of her clumsiness, dramatic failures occur making her to panic and become helpless.
The media also defines what a good woman should be like. For instance, a good woman should be domesticated, sensitive and submissive. A woman who desires to stand up for herself is considered as bad. Literature also plays a leading role in promoting the stereotypes. For instance, in the story of Snow White, the Snow White was loved, beautiful and had the good woman characteristics. Hence, she was more admired. On the other hand, the bad queen was unattractive and had features that were considered bad for women. Therefore, she was hated. This contrast in the representation of the two characters defines the beliefs and the perceptions that the young girls develop of themselves. Such image becomes embedded in the brains of the young children and makes them decide the character that they want to become (Hooverson, 2005).
On the contrary, the men are shown to be fearless, decisive and tough and appear as authoritative and commanding. As an illustration, the superheroes that the children are made to watch have Spider, Batman, and Superman (Baxter, 2017). They are men with superpowers and fight for the safety and justice that is dependent on them. The television shows make the public to believe that those abilities are universal, healthy and natural. Moreover, the men are given significant speaking roles while the woman hardly speaks to be heard. The men and their voices are depicted to be more authoritative. This depiction of men by the television changes the perceptions and the beliefs of the society.
However, this could be explained that most of the experts and the politicians are female. For instance, the US is a male-dominated society. This is illustrated by considering the number of women and men in Congress, Senate and the House of Representatives. This value is approximately 15% of women. Also, there is only one woman in the Supreme Court and no female President in the long history of the United States. This factor makes it easy for the media to portray men as the authoritative figure. Consequently, this affects the perception and beliefs of the American society on the genders and their roles.
Television is the most pervasive form of the media industry. 97% of the American families own a tv(Baxter, 2017). Hence, the viewers of such broadcasted content must examine whether the content that they are watching is appropriate or not. For instance, the television series The Big Bang Theory initially had only one woman who was playing a leading role. The character was Penny. Her role was that of a stereotypical female-an attractive, ditzy neighbor whose primary function was to cause a tension for sex with the neighbor who was a leading man in the show. It should be noted that as the television series progressed, more ladies were given leading roles. However, the stereotypical role of Penny in creating a romantic tension was retained.
Finally, the video games are a rising forming of entertainment among the teenagers and the young adults. Although most of the American society spends their leisure in watching the television, the video games are also becoming a popular form of entertainment, especially to the mentioned age group. Like the television, the video game has an impact on those that use it. In this case, the males outnumber the females with most of the leading mascots being male. For instance, Sonic the Hedgehog has Sonic while Banjo Kazooie has Banjo who are all males. This scenario is more worrying since this male characters have the roles of saving some girl. Also, Mario which was indeed very successful involves saving a princess. This gives the society and especially the users of the game the perception and belief that women are less critical, helpless and weak.
Consequences
There are several consequences of the media especially the television giving the wrong image of the gender. For instance, the images make the people perceive and believe that the standard bodies and shapes are problems. Therefore, the society desires that they could have less weight have no pimples and have muscles. However, it is neither healthy nor reasonable to consider bodies which are healthy as unacceptable and abnormal (Kosut, 2012). Unfortunately, this is the image that the media expresses for the two genders. This is done because one common feature of advertising is images that are erotic and sexual.
The portrayal of women and other minorities in the media and especially the television has been given sufficient attention as an opportunity to challenge the existing stereotypes (Kosut, 2012). The way in which the tv excludes this group and this an implication that they are powerless, inconsequential and unimportant. The inclusion provides particular examples whose effects are dependent on the way that they have been portrayed. It is the way that they are represented that can either challenge or reinforce the already existing stereotypes. Unluckily, most of these representations of genders portray reinforces the negative stereotypes. For instance, through depicting women to be powerless, and helpless, the negative stereotype is reinforced.
The cultivation theory argues that the media portrays the world including how it depicts the genders influence their beliefs and perception of reality (Croteau, 2017). For instance, the portrayals that are given will indicate whether people consider themselves that people who are like them are engaged in particular activities or the role that they perceive to be of self-efficacy (Croteau, 2017).
Research that has been done on the television commercials indicate that the women are not as likely as men to be portrayed as workers (Kosut, 2012). In fact, most of the ads have a significant exaggeration of the stereotypes that are based on gender. There is high concern that such stereotypes reinforce and perpetrates the existing biases. Moreover, the cultivation theory can predict the way in which people view risks once they have experienced them in a video game. Furthermore, when a female player plays a female character that has been highly sexualized, they self-efficacy feelings significantly reduce.
Causes
There are many causes of the media gender stereotypes. Firstly, the expectancy violation theory argues that stereotypes may occur as a result of a reaction to unexpected behaviors from the other groups (Kosut, 2012). In this theory, sometimes the characteristics of a person may violate the expected that are expected based on that particular group stereotypes. In such cases, extreme evaluations should be done in the direction of the violation. Secondly, the stereotype may result because of the assumed characteristics theory (Kosut, 2012). In this theory, stereotypes must occur so that the unavailable information is filled. Finally, the stereotype can result from the complexity extremity theory. This theory argues that since a population may have less contact with the other groups the population may evaluate them with less regard (Chan, 2014). In this case, the evaluations are extreme and may either be favorable or unfavorable.
Solutions
Most of the media such video games, books, movies and television series depict that the males have a higher presence even in the media decision making. However, this is soon ending because the industry is gradually changing the way in which they depict men and women. This development started in the late 1990s where it was realized the gender roles were becoming less and less stereotyped (Kim, 2005). In fact, it is now possible to find some television shows where men and women are considered as equals working side by side in various places such as police stations, schools, and hospitals (Baxter, 2017). For instance, the television series 24 have women and men working side by side as equals to help fight terrorists.
An example where the representation of women has increased is in the television show The Office. In this show, there are five leading females-Kelly Kapoor, Meredith Palmer, Phyllis Lapin-Vance, Angela Martin and Pam Beesly-Halpert. In essence, each of the departments of the fictional paper company Dunder Mifflin has an independent working class strong female character. Moreover, all the female characters are dynamic. Despite the fact that some of the leading female actors such as Kelly Kapoor being made with features that have been traditionally considered feminine some of them were developed and given a background that was more than just stereotypes. This is against the norm whereby the men outnumber the women twice. This gave the audience that the women can also have a strong character in the workplace (Lövheim, 2013). With this move, the media gave a more accurate representation of the real world where the women are 51% of the population.
Moreover, the video games which are also so prevalent among the children are incorporating more female icons. For instance, in the Tomb Raider, Lara Croft is a woman who is adventurous and involves herself in actions and over the top stunts. Moreover, in the Beyond Good and Evil, Jade works as an undercover agent to destroy the government conspiracy. This is made more positive by making the female characters to be unrealistically beautiful. However, this over portrayal causes concern in that powerful female characters are used. This makes it appear like a teen magazine in that the characters are difficult to be reached.
These issues described are some of the possible solutions to the gender portrayal by media. Other solutions can be used this gender bias. Firstly, there should be training across the industry to advocate for the unconscious bias (Lövheim, 2013). The only challenge with this approach is that it is difficult to create a movie that appeals to everyone depending on their gender, race, and religion. Such will result only in missed market opportunities.
Despite the high number of the stereotypes that are seen in the commercials and other media, the specialists in advertising are increasing their use of promotional products which are non-schematic (UNESCO, 2006). In growing adverts, the women are given a presentation of robust, liberated and socially independent views while men are shown cleaning or washing.
One of the most popular and an excellent solution to the gender stereotypes in the television and the commercials is the Dove campaign. This is a campaign that is aimed at all females of all ages and of any shape and weight (Baxter, 2017). The campaign stresses on the natural beauty of the women instead of perfect shapes. Usually, the female viewers prefer that they watch an advertisement which in which they can identify with the characters. Hence, the commercial that stresses on the natural beauty of the women is an excellent solution to end the media stereotyping of women.
Moreover, the gender stereotype of women and the portrayal of the women as a domesticated being while giving the men the role of workers can be eliminated by redefining the role of men in advertising (Carter, 2008). For instance, there was a British commercial whereby a handsome young man is shown cleaning the kitchen and the sink with the Ajax cleanser. Moreover, in another ad, a man strips for his girlfriend and removes his clothes before throwing them in the Ariston washing machine. This is a reverse of the conventional. Such adverts are important solutions for breaking the gender stereotypes not only in the advertising but the major media including the television.
Conclusion
There has been a significant improvement in the way the media portrays women. More women are gradually attaining the leading roles, and it is common to see instances where men and women are portrayed as equals that work alongside one another in same challenging settings. Though this has not been yet fully adopted in the entertain industry. There is still a lot of misrepresentation of the genders in the media. This stereotypic representation becomes embedded in the human mind especially those of those of children. This passes from one generation to the next and then becomes accepted by the society hence affecting the way people perceive the different genders.
The commercials and the televisions are one of the most influential tools that are used for the creation of the perception and beliefs of society. Moreover, they have a simple structure so that a mass audience can receive and understand them. They have dominant features of reality, and therefore stereotypes become the most accessible form of persuasion. The problem with this is that their description is about the whole and it ignores the individual differences that may exist among people.
However, the audience wants to gather the broadest possible audience because they desire to be universal and suitable. As a result of this, the television expresses itself as a reflection of the society. However, the culture is commonly represented stereotypically and this makes the mass media to ignore or leave out the groups that are underrepresented. For instance, the manner in which the television advertisements serve gender is in the traditional gender roles in which men are dominant.
However, the current situation can change, and there is hope for that. For instance, the viewers can become aware that stereotype exists. The children will, in turn, be taught essential skills for viewing the television and the commercials (Moinuddin, 2012). As a result, a large group of informed viewers will be formed while the ignorant consumers will reduce. Furthermore, the ads and the television series are evolving as the community is developing so that they become the solutions to the many societal problems in the areas of political and social transformations such as reevaluation of the social norms and patterns, globalization, growing function of individualism and the emancipation of women(Moinuddin, 2012). In fact, an increasing number of specialists in the media and the advertisement industry is producing commercials that are stereotypic. However, they are risks that they face in their attempts to break the stereotypes. In conclusion, the way that the media especially the commercials representation genders is a concern and can cause problems and hence, practical solutions should be implemented.