Gender Stereotypes as Portrayed on Television - Essay Example

Gender Stereotypes as Portrayed on Television Introduction The advancement of media since the last century has been remarkable. Even more so would beits influence in our daily lives. These days, almost everybody around the world has access to newspapers, magazines, the radio, television and of course, the internet. And it is from such mediums where we gain most of our information about the world today, and also where we draw our entertainment from. This paper would like to focus the power of television and how it has influenced our way of thinking. Moreover, through this paper, the writer would like to investigate and focus on the gender stereotypes that are portrayed through commercials, movies and television programs, all of which have successfully shaped the minds of people into forming stereotypes about the male and the female sex, often misrepresenting both genders. Television is mostly blamed for transmitting stereotypical messages and beliefs to children and adolescents, who may carry these beliefs into adulthood. Furthermore, messages about gender are not only stereotypical, they are also harmful. Children learn from what they see on television since a large part of their education does not only come from school. Therefore, it is through television where their expectations about men and women, and they build their own stereotypical view of both sexes and the world around them through this form of media. It is also through television where other forms of media get their content from. The Internet for instance, gets a large portion of their content from television, as well as magazine and newspaper content. Billboards and the models that they put on them are also all from television, and the gossip talk shows to be heard on radio programmes are also influenced by this form of media. In addition to this, media, particularly television, has been regarded as the outlet where children and adolescents gain their knowledge about controversial issues such as sex. These days too, the message of sex is a whole lot less conservative than it was decades ago, when it was still quite a taboo topic to be broadcasted widely. The danger of television stems from the fact that young people spend more time watching television than they normally do with their peers, their school and even with their parents. Reports from teenagers claim that they extract most of their knowledge regarding sexual and romantic guidelines from media, especially television. On a further note, television appeals to this young age group because of the lack of embarrassment that is involved. With television, there is no interaction with other people. It is easily accessible and convenient, thereby making censorship quite difficult. (Powers, 2004). Advertising through television Television has been known to probably be one of the most effective forms of advertising, which explains the thousands of commercials that are streamed through our television sets every day. Reports have shown that children as early as three years old, are able to form their own stereotypes about gender from the family alone, namely the child’s mother and father (Diskin, 2008). It is of no doubt that television also forms a large part of most children’s lives. In fact, the exposure of issues and images such as violence, sex and advertising are inescapable. In a year, a child has been known to have been exposed to an estimate of around 40,000 advertisements a year from television alone. Thus, through television, a child’s values, beliefs and actions may be moulded into a certain way, often negatively, especially if the parents of the child are not always around to guide them (Rayuso, 2008). An average of 150 commercials are watched by a typical television viewer, who may not be aware of the subliminal messages shown through his/her television set. Despite the fact that most of the material shown through television is supposed to be for pure entertainment, it appears to be educational without ever intending to be. The term ‘stereotypes,’ would be, to put it simply, the images of certain things, situations or people we keep in mind, and hence, stereotypes are cognitive structures that help us process information. Out of the three types of stereotype approaches, namely, the psychodynamic orientation approach, the cognitive orientation approach and the sociocultural approach, it is the latter that media exhibits. By this approach, the different roles within the family and among various professions contain specific stereotypes that are directly related to one’s gender. Since the 1970’s research has been done regarding the characteristics that are associated with gender stereotypes, that have been portrayed through television. For instance, in the United States, common stereotypes for the male sex would be that they are ‘useful’ in society and the workplace, as compared to the female sex, who have been mainly portrayed as communal. Most advertisements have also portrayed men to be assertive, stable, independent, rational, and having less concern for other individuals in their corporate environment. This has also led to the conclusion that masculine characteristics have included men to be arrogant, autocratic, conceited, confident, cynical, independent, objective, dominant and competitive. Women on the other hand, differ from men by being portrayed as appreciative, contented, cooperative, dependent, emotional, excitable, fearful, feminine, fickle-minded, considerate, tactful and sensitive. Research has shown that it is the men who are usually the stars of most television commercials, except when it comes to health and beauty products. This has led to individuals to think that women are very much underrepresented in television as the main characters, therefore adding to the fact that it is the men who are the dominant members of society. The women are also usually portrayed as fixtures in a home setting, or in a family setting, while the men were mostly represented to be in the business setting, the show business industry or the media industry. Women were mostly given labels as wives, girlfriends, or parents, while the men were labelled as the professionals, or the celebrities. Men are also found to be featured more in food commercials than women, despite the fact that women are actually the main consumers of food products. Women are usually depicted in commercials as the product users of beauty and health products, while the males are usually cast as the product experts. Research has shown, however, that in the real world, an almost equal number of men and women belong to the profession related to product expertise and marketing. The battle of the sexes then, begins with the women being typically shown as the weaker sex, who lacks in credibility when marketing a product, while demonstrating a dependent role such as a housewife. This is in contrast to the male commercial models who are, in turn, typically portrayed to be credible product sellers, who belong to a respected profession, and are powerfully independent (Waters, 1997). Furthermore, the female models who had to play school stereotypes, often found themselves playing characters in rock bands, and cheerleading squads, as opposed to the male characters, who typically played the athletic roles, or the role of being the ‘geek,’ who was a member of the debate team or the science team. This stereotype basically implies that women are not as active in their academics and there is a lack of importance placed on this (Stern & Mastro, 2004). Other countries have their own version of gender stereotypes by way of advertisements. In Japan for instance, young and beautiful female Japanese models are chosen to play the role of the young and beautiful housewife, or the young and beautiful celebrity. The men, on the other hand, are usually given the roles of middle and old aged individuals who either enjoy their leisure time, or are always hard at work. However, the majority of gender stereotypes present in Japanese commercials are quite similar to the gender stereotypes of the United States. The stereotype of the female homemaker and the male worker are also common, which contradicts the real and modern world, where a large population of women are capable of juggling housework with their professional lives. In addition to this, the younger generation have started to believe in the equality of the sexes, wherein the men should be able to share or undertake household responsibilities as well. All over the world, it is also quite common for the women to be depicted as sexual beings, or objects to behold. Although it is clear that advertisements use the beauty and youth of the women to sell their wide range of beauty and health products, the message being depicted here is that the female sexuality is being commercialized, making it come off as a sexist move. Contrary to what would be thought to be a move that attracts the male population into thinking of women as ‘objects,’ the usage of young and beautiful female models in commercials would be to attract the rest of the female population into thinking that just like the models they see on the screen, they too can be young and beautiful by purchasing the products advertised. Therefore, the probability of men being influenced by these commercials into degrading women has been discovered to be quite small, as compared to the number of other women who are influenced into purchasing products to look and feel desirable. An interesting fact about Japanese commercials is also that women are normally found to be smiling in the ads, while the men are not, therefore portraying the competency the gender of the product seller. Women, dressed in company uniforms are usually the ones who are portrayed to smile at male guests or customers, which again gives off the stereotypical message that women are intended to help men. All of this basically means that gender stereotypes are used as a marketing strategy by showing socially accepted and desired traits of the sexes, which, in turn, appeals to the audience (Arima, 2003). The multiple facets of gender stereotypes in television programs There exists a theory known as ‘cultivation theory,’ that explains television’s effects on their audience by influencing them. According to the theory, cultivation theory is related to the cumulative process where television gathers general facts about social reality and passes it onto its viewers, despite the fact that this so-called ‘reality,’ is not always accurate especially with rapid changes happening in society today. Cultivation theory also refers to heavy television viewing and how television programs are able to distort reality into influencing the viewer’s own perception of it. Studies on the cultivation theory have exhibited a relationship between the representation of gender by media and the attitudes of individuals, particularly children regarding gendered behaviour. Part of the reason for this is due to ‘gender constancy,’ where genders are depicted to act and be a certain way. Characters on television are thought of to be good gender learning tools, particularly for young boys who internalize these stereotypes and reinforce stereotyped gender in their lives. To illustrate this, it is also a known fact that children and adolescents are most likely to consider movie stars as their idols. Television programs, like television commercials discussed about earlier, also show similarities with regards to gender stereotyping. The underrepresentation of women as compared to men is a common characteristic, with the men naturally being portrayed as masculine, and the female as naturally feminine, even though individuals exist who are an exception to this rule. Reality television programs, for instance, while coming off as ‘real’ to its viewers, is actually an illusion to make the audience think that the characters’ behaviour on television is the same as how they would really behave in real life. Viewers may also believe that they are watching episodes of these reality television programs at the exact time of their occurrence, when the ‘reality,’ is that an editor has managed to use months of footage and compress it to make up an episode that fits its time slot. It is these editors who also decide on what events should be deleted and what should be shown. Thus, the producers are successful at making it seem that the characters that appear on television are ‘ordinary,’ people, just like the audience themselves, but the reality is that, the entire program is actually scripted. In 1992, MTV aired a reality show known as ‘The Real World,’ which had repeat reruns being aired throughout the week. Episodes could also be viewed through the show’s website, and the contestants of the show also appeared on spin-off shows such as ‘The Real World/ Road Rules Challenges,’ which are similar to the popular ‘Survivor’ television show. The prolific nature of ‘The Real World,’ together with its popularity among individuals whose ages ranged from 12 to 34, means that viewers are constantly exposed to the characters and the roles that they portray. This means that if gender stereotypes were portrayed in the show, reruns or spin-offs that an average viewer may be able to watch, would make the occurrence of cultivation a real possibility. ‘The Real World,’ was touted to be the first reality television show ever, and opened the door to other reality shows such as ‘Big Brother,’ which has been extremely popular in Europe, and has also proliferated Asian television screens (Biondi, 2007). Women are normally categorized into four major stereotypes, namely, the sex object, the child, the mother and even the iron maiden. Studies have demonstrated that women who appear on television or film fit these four categories more often than not (Wood, 2003) Qualitative analyses of other reality television shows such as ‘Blind Date,’ and ‘The Bachelor,’ normally categorize women to be of the sex object type, on a regular and yearly basis. The female dating partner’s hair, makeup, and even her breasts, are normally focused on, while the programs rarely bring attention to the male’s physical appearance. Through this, the women’s attractiveness is spotlighted, while the men’s physical attractiveness is downplayed, clearly highlighting the fact that men do not need to focus on their physical appearance so much, or at all. For such shows, men who are unemployed or lack in their earning potential are the ones who are usually contestants. This implies humour in the fact that the men fail to exhibit traits that are stereotypical of his gender, that of being the primary provider in society (De Rose et al. 2003). Research has shown that among the various television programmes that are shown, it would be sports programmes and music television that show high sexually objectifying content. The present objectification of men and women is actually disconcerting as women in the media are often reduced to be decorative objects to be able to catch the viewer’s attention. The same can be said about the men, who are often shown to be muscular and athletic and are portrayed in sexually explicit ways. For instance, hip-hop music videos often consist of rappers with beautiful women by their side, therefore reinforcing the stereotype of women as sex objects to be used for the men’s gratification. Sports programmes, on the other hand, further under represent the women, and the women get significantly less television and media coverage as compared to their male counterparts. They are also often associated with ‘feminine’ sports such as figure skating, gymnastics and synchronized swimming, while the men are casted as dominating players of key sports such as basketball, football and baseball. Furthermore, sports programs focus on women in terms of their aesthetic appeal more than their athletic abilities. For instance, tennis player Anna Kournikova is more widely known for her beauty than her tennis capabilities and achievements. Moreover, studies have shown that media’s effect on both men and women differ from each other. For instance, it has been found that men and women are influenced in a different way from watching sexually objectifying music videos. The men are not affected from watching such material, while the women are more likely to accept the sexual objectification of the other women that they see in these videos. Therefore, men and women were found to think of women as sex objects after being exposed to sexual media content (Hust & Lei, 2008). Ally McBeal, a television drama that aired during the late 1990’s and the early 2000’s had a female lead character who was a lawyer and had an Ivy League education. Her character was intentionally portrayed to be the strong female who embodied the typical female stereotype. For instance, her thin figure, dangerously bordering on being underweight, depicted the stereotype of women’s obsession with their bodies. She also wore miniskirts at work, and often thought of and troubled herself over typical ‘women issues’ such as dating, men and relationships. The women at the office also exhibited the same characteristics physically, and they also stressed about their own relationships. Two male characters, who were partners at the law firm were typically portrayed to be comical characters, who were physically unattractive and quite insecure, and yet were the dominant forces in the firm, holding high positions. There exists a stereotype, as mentioned earlier, for women, who are portrayed to be a child. This stereotype basically implies the perceived ‘reality’ that women are dependent on men, and cannot be taken seriously. They are also thought to be incapable of making decisions, and therefore must leave the decision making to their male counterparts. Teen films typically showcase such stereotypes of the men being the breadwinners and the women being the homemakers, who are financially dependent on their husbands. Studies on a series of shows have also been done to find that women are typically portrayed to be four years younger than the men. In primetime television programs, the men are also likely to be depicted as the bosses, while the women are stuck with the roles of the nurse or the secretary. The top professions of men roles were typically doctors, lawyers, and police officers (Glascock, 2001). This further reiterates the underrepresentation of women in professional positions when it comes to television programs. The ‘mother’ stereotype, on the other hand, typically implies women to be the emotional supporters of individuals who do need such emotional support. For instance, mother roles usually consist of the mother being the ‘listener,’ and always being available to reach out and help others (Wood, 2003). The stereotype of a woman, then, is that she is a mother, who does not really offer contribution to the workforce as an adult who is also part of society. Men are the ones who are most likely to be the ones working, and the women are the ones who are always busy with domestic activities (Stern & Mastro, 2004). The ‘iron maiden,’ which was the last of the female stereotypes, defines the woman as the opposite of the typical stereotype, where the woman is depicted as ‘unwomanly.’ The intention of such a stereotype is that the woman is independent, ambitious, directive, competitive and tough during most situations. Here, it is seen that women are penalized for showing certain traits that would otherwise be considered as a positive thing. For instance, on ‘The Real World/ Road Rules Challenge,’ one of the characters, named Ruthie, who was the strongest of the bunch, was actually a female. In one of the episodes, the men offer Ruthie to join their team, since she is ‘different from other women.’ This statement and act just maintains that the possession of strength during competitions is a trait that only belong to the men, excluding the women who do not possess similar masculine traits. Furthermore, African women are the ones who are mostly portrayed to play the stereotype of the iron maiden. In an episode of ‘The Apprentice,’ Manigault-Stallworth was seen on television to portray negative behaviour typical of the angry, black woman stereotype. She was portrayed to be quite rude and was not compassionate. The same can be said of ‘The Real World,’ where Omarosa, another African-American woman, was portrayed to be aggressive and somewhat rude as well, whenever she felt the need or want to be (Wiltz, 2004). Stereotypes in movies Despite the fact that gender stereotypes also exist in movies, the reinforcement of these stereotypes are not the same as compared to television. This is because of the fact that television programmes are streamed more frequently than movies, thus allowing for more stereotyping exposure. Movies that have been released in the late 20th century and the early 21st century have received good reviews from critics and viewers, particularly if the stereotypes in these movies are challenged. The movie released earlier this year, ‘Sex and the City,’ was a hit among women all over the world. The movie, based after the top HBO television series, is about four strong female characters who resist traditional stereotypes about their gender and live their own lives according to what they want. For instance, the typical stereotype of a man being a womanizer and sleeping with different women every night, is a trait typical of the show’s female character Samantha, who is against the idea of marriage and enjoys dating a string of different men every night, on her search for ‘the one.’ These four characters are all independent women who have their own respective jobs and do not depend on men, for their needs and wants. Carrie Bradshaw for instance, the lead character in the series, is a column writer for a top newspaper in New York, while Miranda, is a lawyer, and is also a single parent. Samantha, on the other hand, is a publicist and she owns her own PR company. Charlotte, who is portrayed to be the most innocent of the group, gives up her successful life as the owner of an art gallery and decides to be a stay-at-home parent once she got married. These women are all quite happy and successful, whose bonding moments consist of the stereotypical favourite female hobbies- shopping and gossiping. It seems then, that there is no escaping from the stereotype of women always wanting to look beautiful and elegant, as is portrayed in this popular show. The show, popularly known as a ‘fashion inspiration’ for all women, see their characters toting the latest bags from Louis Vuitton, or walking around the streets of New York in their Manolo Blahniks. Aside from their differences from most of the women in society, these ladies still engage in talking about relationships and also trouble themselves over finding the right man for life. In addition to this point, it must be noted that such storylines that focus on relationships in female dominated films are quite common (Monk, 2008). Conflicts between societies Stereotypes have caused conflicts between societies, often to the detriment of the affected nation, area or community. For instance, television news reports shown in the Middle East last year, showed images of Faye Turney, a leading seaman, and the only female among the British marines and sailors. Apparently, was among those arrested for being caught invading Iranian seas. In the news reports, attention was brought to the role of women in the armed forces, especially those who risk their lives by being placed in the front-line position. According to the review, only 0.1 percent of female applicants and 1 percent of trained female soldiers are able to pass the standards of physical fitness. One of the instances required a woman having to carry an injured comrade off to safety. Reports released about the small inclusion of women in such male dominated professions means that it becomes difficult for groups to create ‘cohesion’ within their members. Gender stereotypes, particularly against women, has affected group dynamics and also group effectiveness and efficiency (Sengupita, 2007). Despite the increasing numbers of women characters shown in television, networks still continue to over-represent men and their masculinity. Census data has proven that women are very much underrepresented in television compared to their demographics. In this light, sociologists have appealed for television to be more reflective of their demographics. Gender ambiguity has proven to make viewers feel somewhat uncomfortable. In fact, people will go to great lengths in their daily lives to figure out what gender an unidentified person fits into. This fact is quite understandable since it is through a person’s gender that enables a person to judge the individual he/she may be interacting with. These roles determine the behaviours, attitudes, emotions and personality traits a person may possess, and traditional gender stereotypes are closely related to the various social roles that are present today (Pierce, 1989). Often, genders are presented as complete opposites when it comes to personality, emotions and familial status. For instance, the representation of males as physical aggressors, who have the potential to be violent are very common. They are normally shown to be emotionless, and these emotions that they should have exhibited are usually passed onto the females. In addition to this, the men have little involvement with the children at home, while the women are normally portrayed to have no escape from this responsibility, Furthermore, women, are reputed to be quite aggressive when it comes to their verbal behaviour. Protests have been going on about television always portraying women as categorized in such a way, where their beauty is always the trait that is emphasized the most. This appears to prove the discrimination against women, because of the fact that attractiveness fades with ages, and so do the female roles that are available on television today. This is in contrast to the males, who seem to get the same number or television roles when they are older, as when they were still younger. The portrayal of television of both genders as sexual objects have proven to be quite misleading for teenagers who are constantly on the lookout for a certain form of ‘inspiration’ by which they should act. This makes television viewing more complicated, and more confusing, giving parents and other members of society something to complain about (Powers, 2004). Furthermore, aside from the fact that gender stereotypes do exist and prevail in society, they are not the most offensive kind, although conflicts do arise from such stereotypes. Studies have shown that offensiveness is not a static construct. In fact the most offensive products that are included in television are probably condoms and no product identification. The most offensive forms of media are also not television, and are namely the Internet and billboards that have proliferated societies and communities today. Out of all the stereotypes that exist through media, it would be racial stereotypes that come off as the most offensive and scenes of violence would probably be the most damaging influences and the most offensive as well. Lowest offense scenes are surprisingly, nudity. It is the audience who represent a significant contextual element in such studies, and it has been found that surprisingly, liberal groups place more offense regarding gender and racial stereotypes, as compared to the conservative group (Christy, 2006) Conclusion Clearly, it would be hard to pinpoint who should be blamed for reinforcing gender stereotypes. Individuals who work behind the scenes influence on-screen characters and roles, but it is the recent and ongoing television content that influence the kind of content that writers and creators produce and show the public. Industry norms dictate that television and movie characters, with more emphasis on television characters, should be likeable by its viewers (Lauzen et al. 2008). Since prime-time characters are seen through televisions in bedrooms and living rooms on a daily basis, it is somewhat crucial that the characters have traits that are not only interesting enough to entertain, but also familiar, recognizable and comforting to the masses (Sconce, 2004). This means that the audience demands characters that they can relate to, and these characters are usually of the stereotypical kind. In this light, it is difficult to pinpoint whether stereotypes are generated on television because of demand, or it just becomes a product of what society is already used to thinking. This writer thinks that television shows that contradict or challenge stereotypes can either be a popular hit among the masses, or a phenomenal flop because stereotypes have been somewhat reinforced as ‘reality,’ in people’s minds. In some way, this writer thinks that television cannot be blamed for being responsible for the generation of gender stereotypes, because such stereotypes have existed for centuries. What television basically does is that it reinforces this stereotype and it therefore becomes a fixture in television shows and movies. In turn, the reinforcement of such stereotypes permeate real life, and influence people into generalizing individuals to play the same roles and behave a certain way, as was seen on television screens. Although this is not always a negative fact, stereotyping has caused conflicts within societies and between nations, especially if individuals are portrayed to be false ideals. At some point, stereotyping can be seen as a form of discrimination, or in this case, a form of sexism. From this writer’s own opinion after going through the number of sources found on this paper, television is indeed a culture in itself to be reckoned with. What with the advent of the Internet, there is no stopping negative and positive content from being broadcasted and shown through all media forms. The accessibility of the television and the notion that it has been somewhat incorporated into our lifestyles, makes it the King of media, with the Internet being a close contender. Stereotypes will always be present, and may never go away. Therefore, the best way to trump these stereotypes would be to educate the young people into believing and understanding that the television is not the real world. As hard as this solution may be, it seems to be the only solution. References 1. Diskin, C. 2008, ‘Gender stereotypes get ingrained early and often,’ The Record, Bergen County, NJ, p. 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DeRose, J., Fursich, E., & Haskins, E. 2003, ‘Pop (up) goes the blind date: supertextual constraints on ‘reality’ television,’ Journal of Communication Inquiry, 27, pp. 171-189. 9. Wiltz, T. 2004, ‘The evil sista of reality television.’ Retrieved on December 30th 2008 from http://www.msnbc.com/id/4365789 10. Sconce, J. 2004, ‘What if?: Charting television’s new textual boundaries,’ In L. Spigel & J. 11. Olsson (Eds.), Television after TV: Essays on a medium in transition (pp. 93–112). Durham, 12. NC: Duke University Press, pp. 93-112. 13. Sengupita, K. 2007, ‘Should women in the armed forces be allowed to serve on the front line? The big question,’ The Independent, London, UK, p. 53. 14. Lauzen, M. Dozier, D. Horan, N. 2008, ‘Constructing gender stereotypes through social roles in prime-time television,’ Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media. 15. Biondi, O. 2007, ‘Gender stereotypes in reality TV: an investigation of the real world,’ University of Nevada, Reno. 16. Christy, T. 2006, ‘Females’ perceptions of offensive advertising: the importance of values, expectations and control,’ Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising, 28 (2), 15-32. 17. Hust, S. & Lei, M. 2008, ‘Sexual objectification, sports programming and music television,’ Media Report to Women, Winter 2008, 36, p. 16. 18. Monk, K. 2008, ‘Movie as deep as a designer handbag,’ Nanaimo Daily News, p. C. 3. 19. Pierce, K. 1989, ‘Sex-role stereotypes of children on television: a content analysis of the roles and attributes of child characters,’ Sociological Spectrum, 9, pp. 321- 328. 20. Powers, K. 2004, ‘Gender and sexuality in teenagers: a content analysis of prime-time television,’ University of Texas, Arlington. Read More