Preview

Cool

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1441 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Cool
Analysis

It is becoming common practice to note how gender is presented in the media. Nowadays media is so much more accessible than it has been in the past because more people are being exposed to it. In lecture, Dr. Lovas spoke about how we learn gender roles through experience and what we witness; and in turn influence our gender role norms. In their study of gender in Disney movies, Towbin, Haddock, Zimmerman, Lund, and Tanner (2004) said, “The accumulated experience [of media exposure] contributes to the cultivation of a child’s values, beliefs, dreams, and expectations, which shape the adult identity a child will carry and modify through his or her life.” With this in mind, it is reasonable to assume that media has a grave effect on how we construct our own behaviors. I found it very interesting that the programs that many kids of my generation grew up watching contained many examples negative gender stereotypes. Some of the representations of women in Disney movies are that a woman’s appearance is valued more than her intellect, women are helpless and in need of protection, women are domestic and likely to marry, and that overweight women are ugly, unpleasant and unmarried (Towbin et al., 2004). We know this to not be true because of the experiences we have every day. We see many women who are very intelligent and are responsible for major inventions and discoveries of our time. In the United States there are also a very large number of women who work outside of the home and are not bound to only domestic work. We also see overweight women who are very nice and happily married.
These stereotypes that are placed upon us as children are negative because in many ways we make them true. For instance, Hilary Clinton is a very intelligent woman and successful politician, but in many cases the things that she is challenged on have absolutely nothing to do with politics. Reporters ask her questions about her hair, wardrobe, and whether or not raising a



References: Galliano, G. (2003). Gender and the media. Gender: crossing boundaries (pp. 283-304). Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth. Lauzen, M. M., Dozier, D. M., & Horan, N. (2008). Constructing gender stereotypes through social roles in prime- time television. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 52(2), 200-214. Towbin, M. a., Haddock, S. A., Zimmerman, T. S., Lund, L. K., & Tanner, L. R. (2004). Images of gender, race, age, sexual orientation in Disney feature- length animated films. Journal of Feminist Family Therapy, 15(4), 19-44.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Best Essays

    Gauntlett, David. "Media, Gender and Identity (David Gauntlett) - Extract." Media, Gender and Identity (David Gauntlett) - Extract. N.p., 2002. Web. 26 Sept. 2015.…

    • 1648 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Media plays an important role in the depiction and construction of gender. Several studies exist which have focused on gender role portrayals and gender stereotyping appearing in the media. Considering this phenomenon, gender stereotyping is not only displayed in commercials or other television programs, but these can also be found in media products directed towards children. One of the issues , which is of great interest to many researchers is that even fairy tales, like cartoons and animation films, present male and female characters portrayed stereotypically (Robinson et al. 2006:203). Fairy tales have been the first kind of literature with which children…

    • 103 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Disney Gender Roles Essay

    • 555 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The media plays a major role in portraying what society deems appropriate when it comes to body image and gender roles. Children, specifically, are more vulnerable to these messages due to their high consumption of media and their cognitive development (Agarwal). This has led to a large debate amongst a lot of parents as to whether or not their children should be allowed to watch certain shows and movies. The problem is that while certain media genres are obvious choices to keep away from young children, others are not as black and white.…

    • 555 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    cool

    • 1062 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Many people would find shocking because George killed his best friend Lennie. I think it was selfless the thought that life without Lennie would be easy might have crossed Georges mind but I think he kills Lennie mainly because he dont want Lennie to suffer from Curley.…

    • 1062 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Miss Representation, the 2011 documentary about how the mainstream media depicts women negatively in the United States, educates the viewers on the harmful media representation that is brought upon women. Females who are featured in the media are often depicted as a sexual image to men. When the film states that “the media is selling young people the idea that girls’ and women’s value lies in their youth, beauty, and sexuality and not in their capacity as leaders.” it informs the viewer that the media is a dangerous tool used to explicitly demand what women should do, say, buy, and look like. The audience is directed towards anyone who is interested in learning more about the ways the media adversely portrays women. The tone of the film alters…

    • 166 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    cool

    • 343 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Manifest Destiny was mainly a selfish and egotistical ideal that inspired Americans to flock westward during the 1840s. The term is defined as the belief that westward expansion was the God-given right of Americans, even their duty, to spread their population to the West all the way to the Pacific Ocean. It was extremely damaging to several parties who found themselves in the path of the hordes of migrants, yet Americans came to be pompous and arrogant, considering their democratic lifestyles better than any other in the world. Blinding themselves to the injustices of their expansion, America spread west.…

    • 343 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Gender socialization is defined as the process in which societal factors such as school, family, and the media, teach children their gender roles at an early age and those roles are continually reinforced throughout their lives. Boys are raised to adjust their behaviors and actions to the male gender role, while girls are raised to adapt to the female gender role. Schools reinforce such roles by enforcing uniform policies; for example, in some schools, girls are required to wear skirts while boys are required to don pants. Children are also segregated through lines by their gender. Family members have a big impact on gender socialization, since gender roles are imposed as early as the infancy period. Also, girls in the family are taught nurturing behaviors, things such as cleaning and cooking; while boys in the family do not exercise nurturing behaviors, but are rather encouraged to go out and be adventurous. Many forms of media such as advertisements and television shows often portray men as the bread-winner and show women in more of a domestic role. In commercials, men typically advertise things like tools; while on the other hand, women would be advertising household cleaning devices. I will be explaining how another form of the media—specifically Disney movies, also influences the construction of gender roles in society. I chose to explore Disney movies, because a lot of people have watched Disney films while they were young. Many girls, such as I, wanted to be a princess living in a beautiful castle, while many boys wanted to grow up to be strong and muscular, and to be a leader. While many see no harm in Disney films, they actually perpetuate…

    • 1249 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The most powerful form of mass media that we enjoy in America is the television. What we see on our T.V.’s can have very deep and profound effects on our beliefs, our life-styles and our needs and behaviors.…

    • 960 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gender stereotypes need to be stomped out and vanish. Everyone is who they are for a reason, and that’s because no one else is like you. But today, everyone goes with what’s in through the media. Being thin, having a lot of makeup caked on and doing your hair all the time, and men be super manly on tv/commercials. Cooking, beauty, and masculinity are three of most likely hundreds of more stereotypes that have been addressed in not just my paper, but…

    • 573 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The most sensitive and controversial topics from time to time is gender representation. Gender representations in media often portray male and female stereotypically, in which they are depicted differently (Doring 2006, p. 173). Even though the representation of gender in media has already been developed lately, but women’s representation in media are still portrayed stereotypically in various ways. According to Amancio (1993), he stated that gender stereotypes are seen as social representations or collective ideologies defining model of behavior. Media do not simply reflect the reality in society about the gender stereotypes; it supports the ruling class’ ideology of patriarchy which controls the issue of gender all over the world by producing…

    • 189 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    It is well understood that the mass media holds the power to reinforce dominant social…

    • 1636 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In today’s culture gender stereotypes and biases are created on the daily and children learn to adopt their gender roles based on these stereotypes. As children grow up they are exposed to factors that have major influences on their behaviors regarding their gender roles. During children development, children’s surroundings shape them into who they are. School, television, advertisements, friends, parents and many others impact these children and brainwash them into following these gender stereotypes. A study found that kids at the age of two and a half use gender stereotypes in negotiating the world, therefore in a number of activities they generalize these stereotypes to apply (Witt, 1997). For instance, girls are encouraged to play with dolls and engage in feminine activities, boys are pushed to play with cars, trucks and be involved in sports. From a very young age these children are experiencing these stereotypes first hand being that they are so vulnerable and are much easier to shape. Television also plays a huge role in children developing gender roles. Disney Channel is only one of many influences on children about male and female roles in society. It has been found that preschools spend nearly 30 hours a week, on…

    • 1585 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    4. Which sociological perspective is most likely to be concerned with television distorting gender roles and stereotyping, which is often rooted in the media’s willingness to promote more traditional views?…

    • 820 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Gender roles, or stereotypes, have formed a central part of humanity since the beginning of human existence. It assists…

    • 7986 Words
    • 32 Pages
    Powerful Essays

Related Topics