Gender In Communication

Gender stereotypes in the media are an example of some of the negative stereotypes the media pushes on society. They use advertisements targeting males and stereotyped female parts is in movies and shows to constantly reinforce the message “that a woman’s value lies in her appearance and sexuality”(Berland). This is detrimental to our society because all

Gender Stereotypes are everywhere in the world. This paper will focus on the formation of Gender stereotypes through different media sources. The media sources that will be used include television shows, movies and magazines. Thus the paper will also explore the effect that gender stereotyping may have on development of a person’s social and individual identity.

Gender stereotyping is used in media to build up and magnify character traits and bring humor to situations. Keeping that in mind stereotypical characters portrayed in popular movies and television shows allow viewers to internalize those messages of gender thus making it difficult to argue stereotype behaviors in the real world.

Male gender roles in contemporary media that are negatively portrayed through masculinity greatly effects the physical, psychological, and behavioral image of men. The social construct of masculinity in society and its relationship to males is generally reflected in male media consumption. The popular concept of women’s feminine image in the media is vastly overshadowed and more predominantly acceptable in subtle society in comparison to male’s image of masculinity.

We are living in a world where your identity is influenced by the media. Media is involved in our daily lives. Media has represented on what people think about topics, one of the most common ones is gender roles. Media indicated their messages into our consciousness at every opportunity that it had. Gender roles are a set of norms dictating the personality and actions of people based on their biological sex or what they identify. Gender roles in media are used in delirious stereotypes can cause self-image in young adults, causing loss of confidence, mostly in women. Many authors had expressed their opinion about gender roles in media through non-fiction articles. For instance, Katty Kay and Claire Shipman, who wrote, “The Confidence Gap,” confronts the lack of woman’s confidence impacting their performance. Another example is given by Cordelia Fine, who wrote, “Why Toys so Gendered?” in which she says that gendered toy marketing doesn't create gender stereotype, but it reinforces them. Lastly, Allison Lantagne, who wrote, “Gender roles in Media,” says that is up to the individual to decide what type of role they are going to adopt. She also includes that media reinforces social norms because the public accepts them. I agree with Allison Lantagne says that the media has an influence on our beliefs and attitudes toward gender because of its perfected image of genders, projects what a woman and a male should do, and what abilities each

Gender roles plays a very significant part in society and the way people are portrayed in the media. Men and women are portrayed differently in the media specifically based on how they are perceived in society. Men have a more predominant role in the media. Women are presented as delicate individuals with less predominant roles. There are stereotypes of women and men, especially those seen on television. “Virtually all groups of people suffer from stereotyping and men are no exception. Stereotypes are powerful because they affect our expectations of what men should and should not be like. They are damaging because they narrow our notions of what men can be and do.” (Femiano & Nickerson, n.d.)

Media affects how we shape the way we view and understand the gender constructs. It gives us an outlet that we are surrounded with during our everyday lives. Whether, it is on film, in a song, or through the radio. They are all able to construct this mold of what society wants us to believe about gender. You will notice things like ads directly targeted certain genders, and in movies girls being unable to do what men can, men needing to be a hero, women looking for the affection of a man, or even the girl needing to be saved by the male character. A way to view media’s use of normalized gender roles is through Feminist media criticism. The piece of media I wanted to take a look at a movie that I had grown up watching called She’s the Man. A movie about a girl named Viola who’s High School women’s soccer team gets cut and she was not allowed to join the men’s because girl’s are not as good as boys. Viola then decides to take her brother’s spot at his boarding

The construction of gender stereotyping of females in the media is based on outdated and unfounded beliefs. Therefore it has had, and continues to have, a detrimental impact on our society.

You know the old saying “boys will be boys and girls will be girls?” Well, it’s true to an extent. The fact is men and women communicate differently, leading to the phrase “boys will be boys…” Although men and women speak the same language, we have differences in priorities, internal processing, and behavior patterns when it comes to communication (Hill, 2015). The idea that men and women speak a different language is well-known in regards to personal relationships, but John Gray, author of the famous relationship guide Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus says the same communication difficulties we struggle with in our personal lives are also a factor when it comes to our societal roles (Griffin, 2009).

The media’s misrepresentation of the fluid nature of gender archetypes with rigid, limiting and immutable stereotypes constructs a distorted view of reality.

Have you ever taken a moment to analyze the way in which humans communicate? Have you ever stepped back and thought critically about the effectiveness of your own communication and how it relates to your gender? Many of us are not quick to analyze our daily lives, our actions and certainly not individual conversations. But, if for a moment, we act as a third party and critique the ways we communicate, we will likely see a pattern. This pattern has been studied for over a century and it explores the idea that the way we communicate is influenced by the chemical make-up of our gender. The most crucial part of our DNA sets the tone for how we will communicate for the rest of our lives, from our relationships to our workplace. This dissertation

Media is a powerful resource, reaching vast audiences by means of television, radio, press and Internet. Its purpose is to broadcast information and entertain the target audience. It plays a significant role in social and cultural interpretations because it can influence and manipulate the audience’s views by broadcasting a certain message. In order for the media to get a message across to a wide variety of cultures they use stereotypes, which evoke certain associations and are usually universally understood and accepted. Nowadays the media uses traditional gender stereotypical roles that suggest how males and females should behave in society.

Fraternity parties are an every weekend occurrence here at UT, in my efforts to study gendered communication I decided to attend an event. Outside of my routine activities, in this situation I would take two roles; play participant and observer. The gendered communication styles are in full effect at fraternity parties, and the examples are clear as day.

Beliefs about the typical attributes of males and females are Gender Stereotypes (Deaux & Kite, 1993). Gender labeling is frequently used in global broadcasting to boost characteristics of how a certain people; those in control of the broadcast- view gender roles and how they want society to view them also. Stereotyping is prevalent in popular television shows, music videos, the workforce and various other advertisement billboards in the U.S. It is difficult to oppose the stereotypical behavior that is displayed in the media that supposedly mirrors the actual behaviors of the different genders due to the overflowing, constant reminder of what each gender looks like and how each should act.

As a Communication major, I spend a lot of time studying the human communication process, which is the exchange of verbal and nonverbal messages between a receiver and sender. This communication process does not only apply to face-to-face interactions but also includes mass media, rhetorical, and technological communication. Through these various forms of communication, the sender not only expresses his/her message but also expresses power hierarchies about race, gender, and sexuality that are present in society. Mass media has a significant impact on socializing gender roles and perpetuating gender stereotypes, and to prove that, I am analyzing mass media messages, such as television shows, movies, and advertisements.