Gender Roles in TV Show Friends - Movie Review Example

s 6 March Friends is an incredibly popular TV show, it is watched by millions all across the globe. It is one of a kind of Sitcom which is well appreciated and followed by countless people. The show has had a very successful run, it is presently in its tenth season, this goes to show how popular the show has been thus far. “There are six main characters and each of them has their own traits. Almost all the characters have traits which would make them look funny, it is a sitcom and the characters must appear funny to be able to convince the audience.” (Television and Gender Roles) Dominant social values are more often than not presented on TV serials these days, traditions gender stereotypes are presented in almost every show, these shows reinforce the gender stereotypes making matters much worse than they actually are. This paper will juxtapose two very popular TV analyzing the gender roles presented in them. Girls are taught to be sensitive; on the contrary boys are made rough and tough. Parents play a pivotal role in passing their beliefs on to their children, the way they think matters the most and the same also reflects on the thinking of their children. We live in a society, in which sons and daughters are treated very differently, pink is considered feminine and blue is considered an ideal color for boys. Boys are given much more freedom than girls; this is often fought against by the mothers. Boys make their own groups when they reach infancy, such groups operate independently but when girls make such groups they have to be dependent on someone to operate effectively. A girl who displays masculine traits is considered abnormal and a boy who displays feminine traits is considered abnormal, this is very stereotypical thinking and something which must change very soon. Girls are encouraged to play with dolls and boys on the contrary engage in activities which suit their gender. “While both mothers and fathers contribute to the gender stereotyping of their children, fathers have been found to reinforce gender stereotypes more often than mothers.” (Ruble, 1988) These were some of the socio-cultural and biological factors which affect gender role development. Sexuality and Sexual Orientation “Sexuality has three stages: Desire is an interest in being sexual. Excitement is the state of arousal that sexual stimulation causes. And orgasm is sexual pleasures peaking. A sexual disorder occurs when theres a problem in at least one of these stages.” (Sexuality) Sexual orientation refers to the disposition of men towards women and vice-versa. This attraction gets redefined at times when men get attracted towards other men and women get attracted towards other women. Sexual orientation is very closely connected with personal identity; one chooses an ideal partner depending on their compatibility and gets romantically involved with that person. There are many factors that can easily influence sexual orientation. Loneliness and sadness is the most common cause of homosexuality, child abuse can also significantly alter the sexual orientation of a person. When peers reject a person during his adolescence, the person becomes lonely and starts seeking the company of someone who can help. Weak masculine identity is another cause of homosexual temptation, fear and mistrust is another common cause which can determine one’s sexual orientation. Some people become sexually compulsive and that is how their sexual orientation changes. Trauma during childhood is another common cause of homosexuality; other important causes include narcissism and anger. Our society is becoming more and more men-oriented society, women have never been given enough respect and this is perhaps why so many marriages never workout. In a relationship both the partners have to make sacrifices and both should complement each other but this can only happen when there is perfect understanding and coordination between the pair of them. Women have already proved their worth, they have absolutely nothing to prove but it is sad that they still have to struggle against the stereotypical behavior, this behavior should change and the sooner it changes the better. Very rarely do we see a man crying in TV shows this again is because the way men are perceived to be in our society. They are supposed to be strong and they are not supposed to react emotionally towards a particular thing, this is the best example of stereotypical thinking and the broadcasters only show what the audience wants to see. Audience would never appreciate a man crying in a TV show, it would hurt their stereotypical thinking and sentiments this is why we always refrain from calling a spade a spade. Inequality in our society is as old as the human race itself, there is a constant struggle of parity which is going on in our society. Gender conflict theory is mainly about giving women the equal rights as men. Women are considered the weaker sex in our society and they have been subjected to a lot of pain in the past, things are gradually improving but there is still parity to be fought for. The imbalance of respect and power is quite conspicuous in our society; women were not even able to cast their votes in certain sections of the world. This has however become much better than ever, women have started enjoying equal rights and have equal power as their counterparts. Feminism is a very important concept that must be thrown light upon when gender conflict is being talked about. Feminist aims at providing women more power and more rights than ever seen before. There are several feminists fighting for the rights of women all across the globe. Respect is also another important factor for which the feminists are consistently fighting. Gender conflict has made us understand how people enjoy preferential treatment and how the inferior strive for parity in the society. Race conflict is also quite similar to gender conflict, some people consider that their race is superior and others are inferior to them, this is certainly beyond the pale. Having a level playing field in the society is essential to facilitate growth; an ideal society always provides a level playing field. “Rae Lesser Blumberg developed a theory emphasizing women’s degree of control of the means of production and the distribution of economic surplus.” (Blumberg) Blumberg’s aimed at explaining the position of women relative to men in almost all types of societies. These societies included the earliest societies to the late twentieth century. This theory discussed some really important aspects like economic power of women, importance of women in the society, economic power of women in the society, sexual stratification so on and so forth. “Sexual stratification, Blumberg argues, is ultimately driven by the degree to which, relative to men, women control the means of production and the allocation of productive surplus or, in Marxian terms, “surplus value.” Such control gives women economic power that, in turn, influences their level of political power, prestige, and other stratifying resources. In Blumberg’s view, sexual inequalities are “nested” at diverse levels: Male-female relations are nested in households; households are nested in local communities; and if a society is sufficiently large to reveal a coercive state and a system of class stratification, household and community are nested inside of the class structure that, in turn, is lodged within a larger state-managed society. This nesting is important because women’s control of economic resources can be located at different levels, and the level at which their economic power is strongest influences the power that women can command at the other levels of social organization.” (Feminist Conflict Theory) Macro level control and micro level control are some important aspects which must be paid attention to. A woman is ought to enjoy power in a household if she contributes immensely to the income of a household, she will have a say in micro aspects of the household as well if she can contribute towards work and family income. Similarly a woman who is not able to earn and contribute towards the household income will not enjoy as much freedom and control as a woman who can earn and support her family. Financial freedom is extremely important for a woman to be considered powerful enough; only a powerful woman can make decisions and can stand against oppression. Economic power at a macro level facilitates women in getting political as well as coercive power in the society. The economic power of women is consistently on the rise; this is the time of transition. This period of transition is perceived as a major threat by men. Repression is inevitable; it may include political and physical repression. Women can change a lot of policies should they be able to consolidate their economic and political power. Once this happens women will surely abolish political laws working against them. Male violence against women will no longer go unnoticed and men will have to face serious ramifications for their inappropriate actions. Fertility Pattern and Economic Struggle Women who are not economically strong have little say in their fertility pattern, how many children would a woman want to have? This question can only be answered by a man if a woman is not economically strong. This is a real pity; economic strength also provides a lot of other powers. A woman is denied honor and prestige is she is economically weak; a woman has very little say even when it comes to her marriage. On the contrary, a woman who is economically strong can make her own decisions. She can remain unmarried for the rest of her life, she can marry and if the marriage does not work out, she can remarry to give herself another chance. Rights to seek divorce also comes with economical power, a woman who is not economically strong can never afford to hire a lawyer who will fight for her divorce, in which case she will just keep getting tortured day in, day out. Marxist feminism states that all women who do domestic labor should be paid for their efforts; the importance of domestic labor has been underestimated. Domestic labor requires time and time is money. Women who work all day long in a house are considered worthless and ineffective, on the contrary, a man working in an office might be doing absolutely nothing and yet is considered productive and hence powerful. This is unjust and it is about time to make the field a level playing field. Conclusion To conclude it is very fair to say that women must be respected and we must shed our stereotypical thinking for the best. This is the need of the hour and we must put an end to this forever. Once this ends we would stop seeing stereotypes in TV shows and even the TV shows would become much better than ever, it will benefit each and every one of us. Works Cited Rae Lesser Blumberg, “A General Theory of Gender Stratification,” Sociological Theory 2 (1984), pp. 23-101. Ruble, D. N. (1988). Sex role development. In M. H. Barnstein & M. E. Lamb (eds.) Developmental psychology: An advanced textbook, 2nd ed. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Feminist Conflict Theory (2006). (Accessed on 9 March 2013) Sexuality (2013). American Psychology Association. Retrieved from (Accessed on 9 March 2013) Television and Gender Roles (2013). Gender and TV Production. Retrieved from: (Accessed on 9 March 2013) Read More