Essay on Feminists, Stereotypes and Stereotyping in the Media

Some people believe that equality has been reached, or that because women have obtained more rights than they had, the feminist cause is done. Contrary to this belief, feminism and equality have not been obtained. The media is a symptom of the disease, and if we continue at the pace we are at, women will continue to be degraded. Others are afraid to be labeled as a feminist. In America, 85% of people believe women and men should

How does one identify as a feminist? Chances are, many might not understand what the term or group that is based around it truly means due to the obscurity it has faced throughout its growing popularity in recent years. Social issues in the United States are increasing in importance, especially with various groups of people feeling underrepresented in their country that stresses the greatness of the freedom and rights promised to its people. The issues with the feminist movement have always felt pressing and proved to have a large impact in a society that is striving to reach their goals no matter the cost. Sadly, their perseverance results in a loss of credibility, misandrist ideals, and struggle to differentiate from their radical counterparts.

Feminists today are viewed as raging, man-hating bitches, but feminism in its true sense simply advocates women’s rights. While there are extremes on either side of the scale, most feminists fight

Gender stereotypes are everywhere. Even before we can understand what this means, people are constantly exposed to them through advertisements, toys, clothes, and the media including television shows and movies. To evaluate the prevalence of gender stereotypes in television programs targeted towards young children, I chose to watch four different shows called Phineas and Ferb, Little Einsteins, Horrid Henry, and Sofia the First. When picking what shows to watch, I intentionally selected at least one that looked targeted towards boys, another that appeared to be targeted towards girls, and finally one that seemed gender neutral. I also made sure to watch at least two episodes of each program to determine whether the themes I observed were

Initially, the word feminist weighed heavy on my tongue, foreign and full of skepticism because at sixteen I had a fallacious view of the girls who wore the title like a homecoming crown. My APUSH class proved me wrong. The girls at my table taught me that feminism was far more than unshaven armpits and misandry as society so often reduced it to; instead I learned it to be about empowerment, the uplift of women to rightful equality. That was a value my mother instilled in me from early childhood --- that I, a woman, am invariably equal to a man so the incredulity

I, personally, dislike the word feminism. I like the word Egalitarianism. Rather than fighting for women specifically, I would rather everyone fight together for the sake of equality. No one type of person, Christian, Muslim, gay, straight, male, female, or any other type, deserves anything more than the other if they don’t earn it. Merit-based credit should be given, not credit based on how one looks.

Feminism began way back in the early 1800’s with a realization that gender roles limited the sexes. From the very start, there have been many male feminists, even if they are not spoken of often. In the 1830’s, William Lloyd Garrison emerged as one of the first men to openly believe in women participating in the abolition movement and other political issues. During that time, it took mounds of courage for a male to stand up and say that women could do something just as well as men. Fast forward over many years of history, and even in modern day America, men are still looked at strangely when they say they are feminists. One male feminist shared on CNN.com in 2013, “My feminism is a simple belief in equality. I’m a feminist because I believe that men and women are and should be equal, but we’re not treated equally right now” (Brougher 1). He shared his ideas of all the reasons women need to be given equal rights, but

The world today has become quite a diverse place. People of any color, race, or ethnicity, can go to the same school, restaurant, bathroom, and even date one another. The world is constantly changing and learning from its diverse inhabitants, so why hasn’t¬¬¬¬ the media been up to speed with the rest of the world? Race has increasingly become this social concept that the media has embraced and ran with. Inspiring millions, the media constantly transforms assumptions about particular groups of people into “realities.” (Media Stereotyping) The Media often inadequately represents minorities in television shows or movies, which most of the time are demeaning to that particular race or ethnicity. This inferiority put on the shoulders of colored

Feminists are also seen with many stereotypes. The most common is that a feminist is a man hating, angry, ugly woman who can't get a man. It's very simple to see that they are hit with a lot of stereotypes, and why. Feminism doesn't have many fans, especially among the male population. A lot of common rhetoric is thrown, such as feminists are all the same, feminists are all angry... etc... According to Rockler-Gladen, “People imagine a stereotypical image of an angry, man-hating, unattractive woman with hairy armpits screaming irrationally about imagined insults.” (Stereotypes about Feminism, 2008 p1) Because of this, a lot of women won't identify with feminism, so they end up not being accepted as women who want equality, but instead as not having backbone. These are obviously untrue stereotypes, since nobody of any belief system is exactly the same as another.

“I am so sick of being placed into a little box based upon people’s inability to think beyond stereotypes” (All Diva Media, 2009, p.9). Throughout the various waves of feminism, feminists everywhere have unintentionally accumulated a negative connotation for themselves. When a feminist is mentioned in conversation, some people tend to picture a man-hating, angry, lesbian with hairy legs who employs a sadistic attitude towards the rest of the world. While this might be true for a small percentage of the feminist population, feminism can benefit and support both genders, as it has for quite some time now. Activists have made great achievements starting in the 19th century, allowing women to become better integrated into society emotionally

The Feminist Movement is all about spreading and generalizing equality for both women and men in society concerning their equal rights. Feminism is advocacy for females to have the same rights as men, and this should be a positive movement and development across the world. Knowing what the real definition of being a feminist is I asked Kenzie if she felt there was a stigma around this word and the movement. Kenzie expressed that there was absolutely a negative stigma around the word feminist. She stated that many people view feminism as a cult of opinionated man-hating lesbians that think they are better than men. When asked about her opinion on this “new definition” Kenzie frowned and declared “it makes me very annoyed, because I feel like

The judgments we make about people, events or places are based on our own direct impressions. But for most of the knowledge, we rely on media. The media actually re-present the world to us. However, the media only shows us some aspects of the world, ignoring the rest. So basically, the media chooses what is to be shown and what is to be discarded (Andrew Pilkington and Alan Yeo (2009)). . In this essay, I will explain what stereotypes are and primarily give an example of a famous men’s magazine called ‘nuts’ and explain how these stereotypes are created by print and the digital media and what are their impacts on people.

The media plays an extremely important and arguably the most powerful role in shaping the perception individuals and members of the public holds towards themselves and their surroundings. This therefore makes it extremely difficult for one to maintain his/her unique self identity or perception of others without the influence of the media. People will define themselves and others based on the messages insinuated by the media. The problem hence emerges when the media insinuate the wrong and negative messages, consequently leading to unwarranted stereotypes. Particularly, the media can lead to gender based stereotypes when to communicate the wrong type of messages (Wood 31). On the contrary, there are certain scholars who

Feminists were once thought to be “hairy, ugly, man-hating, angry women” (Costello, 2014), but as times changed, the idea of who these feminists really are have changed. The connotation of feminism has changed because it was originally considered a dirty word, and something you did not want to be. Today with the help of celebrities, including Beyoncé, feminism is no longer dirty, and a lot of both females and males around the world identify as a feminist.

Every second of everyday people make choices, they decide if they are for something or against it. Most decide to keep it to themselves but the ones who decide to voice their opinion are the ones who are persecuted the most. Feminism is a touchy subject to most people; generally males find it obsolete and women find it valuable to keep alive. There are a handful of males who are in favor of feminism and a good portion of women who are against feminism. There are different types of feminism such as the over the top all males shall die and the equal rights, equal pay. Those who are opposed to expressing feminism commonly believe it is out of date and that women are already treated equally; but those who are for expressing feminism spot the differences that can be hard to recognize to someone who isn’t looking.