Children start learning about gender roles at a very young age. Gender role association is a complex process involving an individual’s family experience, cultural conditioning, and education. It is this association that shapes how people cognitively assess and create social reality and also highlights the male-female differences in the way people dress, express emotion, sexual desire, generally the way they view their role in society.
Media plays a large role in gender role association. In a study that applied the cognitive heuristics theory to the study of gender role stereotyping it was seen that advertising is one of the many contributors to gender role association. Research shows that while female stereotypes may not enforce the sale of a product, it does they encourage females to relate to these socially constructed images of females by creating the acceptable female role. This psychological identification process also happens when females look at gender roles occurs in textbook and literature role models but even more so with role models in television shows and movies.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
Disney Princesses
This video highlights the case study of Disney's use of gender stereotyping in particular with female characters. Disney Princesses tend to be females with slim, slender bodies with ever flowing hair. The always have to depend on men to save them, not relying on their own sense of empowerment.
Snow White
Snow White takes on a motherly role to the seven dwarves. She saves them from a messy house but when she is poisoned by the Queen, she can only be saved by a kiss from the Prince.
Cinderella
Cinderella, another young, thin female, is a servant in her own household until her fairy godmother transforms her rags into a beautiful dress so she can go to the Prince's Ball. At the Prince's Ball, she meets Prince Charming and he automatically falls in love with her. He then saves her from her terrible home life and she becomes the princess.
Sleeping Beauty
Aurora is already a beautiful princess, but is hidden in a cottage in the woods with three fairies to save her from the wicked fairy Maleficent's curse of death. On her sixteenth birthday she fulfills the curse and is only saved by Prince Philip rescuing her with "True Love's Kiss."
The Little Mermaid
Ariel is also a princess. She is the musically talented, red-headed daughter of King Tritan. She gives up her voice to the sea witch Ursula after falling in love with human Prince Eric as she would give anything to be with him. Ursula's curses are defeated when after a large struggle Prince Eric destroys her.
Beauty and the Beast
Belle, yet another attractive, young and slender female is a young woman living in the French countryside. She is a free-thinker but must trade in her freedom to save her father from the Beast. After spending a few days with the Beast, she realizes she no longer needs to have her childish dreams as the Beast has introduced her to a new life.
Aladdin
Princess Jasmine is the only princess who has a slightly darker skintone, yet still is young and slender with ever flowing hair. Aladdin falls in love with her and throughout the story she must depend on him to get her out of sticky situations as well as save her and her father from Jafar.
Mulan
The most empowering of the female Disney Princesses was Mulan. She had to hide her beauty and disguise herself as a man to save her father and even still needed the help of an all male team in order to defeat the Huns.
Women Portrayed in Television 1950s- Present Day
In the early days of television, women were portrayed as the perfect housewife. Characters such as Donna Stone in “The Donna Reed Show” (1958-1966) and June Cleaver in “Leave it to Beaver" (1957-1963) epitomized the American housewife as the “supermom” who participated in community events as well as doing household chores, such as vacuuming and making her husband and family dinner, all while wearing heels, chic frocks and a set of pearls. It was this characterization of women that led to Betty Friedman stating in an article for a 1967 issue of "TV Guide" that television has represented the American woman as “stupid, unattractive, insecure little household drudge who spends her martyred, mindless, boring days dreaming of love- and plotting nasty revenge against her husband.”
Around 1964 the femme fatale stereotype became popular with the characters of Samantha on “Bewitched” and Jeannie on “I Dream of Jeannie.” Jeannie was an unmarried woman who was only allowed to be portrayed as living with a man only because she slept alone in her bottle. The revealing “Jeannie” costume caused some controversy at the time but was allowed as long as Jeannie’s navel was not seen. Samantha, more like the female characters before her, was a typical surburban housewife. The main difference between her and her predecessors was that she was a witch and with a twitch of her nose magic happened. It was the magical powers of these characters that gave them the femme fatale persona. They both had a mysterious quality about them that led their male companions into various supernatural situations.
The sex kitten stereotype became even more popular in the 1970s with “Charlie’s Angel’s.” This series was about three attractive women who worked for a private investigator agency under the direction of the never seen Charles Townsend, or Charlie. Going under-cover, the women often wore provocative outfits to fit the part of their undercover character that showcased the figures and/or sexuality of the actresses.
In the 1980s and 1990s the female role shifted again with shows like “Roseanne,” and “Golden Girls” featured women in the working world. These shows did not represent the traditional “TV family” such as its predecessors. Roles shifted so much that many of the sitcoms of the time began to feature single-father families, such as in “The Nanny,” “Full House,” and “My Two Dads.”
In current broadcast network programming there is a greater representation of the different lifestyles of women in society due to the changes in gender role since the women’s movement as well as because the “new woman” is being recognized and networks are breaking down cultural stereotypes.
Around 1964 the femme fatale stereotype became popular with the characters of Samantha on “Bewitched” and Jeannie on “I Dream of Jeannie.” Jeannie was an unmarried woman who was only allowed to be portrayed as living with a man only because she slept alone in her bottle. The revealing “Jeannie” costume caused some controversy at the time but was allowed as long as Jeannie’s navel was not seen. Samantha, more like the female characters before her, was a typical surburban housewife. The main difference between her and her predecessors was that she was a witch and with a twitch of her nose magic happened. It was the magical powers of these characters that gave them the femme fatale persona. They both had a mysterious quality about them that led their male companions into various supernatural situations.
The sex kitten stereotype became even more popular in the 1970s with “Charlie’s Angel’s.” This series was about three attractive women who worked for a private investigator agency under the direction of the never seen Charles Townsend, or Charlie. Going under-cover, the women often wore provocative outfits to fit the part of their undercover character that showcased the figures and/or sexuality of the actresses.
In the 1980s and 1990s the female role shifted again with shows like “Roseanne,” and “Golden Girls” featured women in the working world. These shows did not represent the traditional “TV family” such as its predecessors. Roles shifted so much that many of the sitcoms of the time began to feature single-father families, such as in “The Nanny,” “Full House,” and “My Two Dads.”
In current broadcast network programming there is a greater representation of the different lifestyles of women in society due to the changes in gender role since the women’s movement as well as because the “new woman” is being recognized and networks are breaking down cultural stereotypes.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
An Examination of Gender Stereotypes in Media
Television is not the only place where gender stereotypes are found. Movies, commercials and magazines are also guilty of using gender stereotypes.
Conclusion
It is important for women in the media to be portrayed as strong, intelligent women. Their main goal in life should not just be to find a “prince charming” to cook dinner for every night. It is important for women of any age to see empowered women in the media that they can look up to and model themselves after. It’s not a bad thing for little girls to want to be like Cinderella at the ball, but they have to think about what to do after the last dance. Media should compel females to find more than just a glass slipper that fits. For years women have fought for their rights from the right to vote to the right to have equal pay and the struggle to rid media of female stereotyping is just another fight in this same battle. It is about time the media showcased more of those types of women to make an example of females society can be proud of.
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