Gender Roles In Society

The media plays a major role in creating our social norms, whether it be through advertisement, television, film, newspapers, or magazines. From a young age, gender roles are taught to both boys and girls. Young girls are given dolls, carriages, and easy bake ovens, while boys are given action figures, toy soldiers, and cars. Once those same young girls and boys get a bit older, the messages send through the media change. For females, these ads seem to focus on physical appearance, during a time when self-esteem is most important in their lives.

There is constant pressure that is put on women through advertising, internet, television, movies, and other media to be attractive or look good and be physically fit. Most would argue that many strides have been taken in how women are portrayed on the internet, television and magazines, and in film. In the last few years there has been growth in the number of women in media behind the scenes and their influence is growing. However, female stereotypes still flourish in the media we consume every day, on the internet, in print media, and on television.

Over time, the perfect body image has changed in many ways. This is very evident in the female sex, especially through media. “Americans spend about 68 hours per week exposed to various forms of media” (US Census Bureau 2009). This media exposure through outlets such as t.v., radio, music videos, movies, and the internet, all influence the way people think about gender. The media influence is very evident in the way people view women and think about women in different cultures. Media influence on women creates negative viewpoints with how women view themselves and even how men view themselves, in turn making it hard to break certain beliefs and stereotypes instilled on society.

In a systemically patriarchal society that encourages and enforces the gender binary, we as a public are conditioned to accept and cooperate with the heteronormative paradigm. Pop-culture and the media are large contributors in the ways in which the gender binary is perpetuated. Gender norms are constantly marketed towards

Historically, social and feminist scholars have focused on media representations of gender roles and how they affect the lived experiences of women (Green, 2013; Soulliere, 2006). Gender is widely considered to be a cultural rather than strictly biological creation, and it is often constructed and represented through popular culture media such as advertisements, magazines, and television (Soulliere, 2006). While women have made great strides in expanding the culturally acceptable definition of femininity (or femininities), masculinity continues to be narrowly defined and policed by society (Soulliere, 2006; Tragos, 2009). This evidence of asymmetrical change in popular culture gender role portrayals suggests that more effort should be given to examining the representation of men and masculinities in media, and its influence on the lived experience of men.

From a young age, people are taught to behave according to their gender, often through media such as television and film. The portrayal of both men and women on media would influence people to have the mindset that there is only one certain way to act for each gender, therefore altering the behavior of the viewers, making them think that they should behave according to media’s depiction of their gender.

When I was assigned this essay, I thought I don’t know anything about Western tradition. I decided to do a little reading and ask a few people their perspective. I then decided that I would write about the gender roles in Western society and how they are different from gender roles today. So, what is the West? According to our text, the West refers to the Greek, Roman, Hebrew, and Christian traditions. I’m going to explain how in each of those traditions gender roles were influenced. “In Western society, to be ‘feminine’ is to be nurturant, expressive, cooperative, and sensitive. To be ‘masculine’ is to be active, aggressive, dominant, and ambitious.” (Basow, Susan. "Gender Roles." In Women's Studies Encyclopedia, ed. Helen Tierney. Greenwood

Common female stereotypes found in the media have a powerful influence over how society views women and how women view themselves.

Despite nearly all forms of modern media readily available at all times in the pockets of our jeans and hoodies, influences from media on how people perceive gender and its surrounding issues is often overlooked or ignored under the premise of normalization.

The harmful implications of ongoing exposure to these unattainable ideals, such as low self-esteem, eating disorders, unhealthy body image, and increased acceptance of violence, make urgent the need for change. How does a society go about changing such long-standing norms? In light of its pervasiveness and highly influential nature, the media may be the proper place to begin changing gender stereotypes.

At a young age, children begin to comprehend gender roles, which are a set of societal norms that determine what is considered acceptable, desirable and appropriate based on an individual's sex. We obtain these gender-associated roles from various places and one dominant source with direct influence is the media. Media plays a critical role in influencing gender roles through impacting the career choices we make, the behavioral patterns we implement in our lives and the sexual stereotypes we have been conditioned to accept.

The roles of males and females in society have significantly changed, as opposed to the predominant roles in our history. In the modern culture of today, women have begun to break out of the mold that which society has placed her in. This much can’t be said when it comes to modern gender representation in mass media advertising. It can be safe to state that woman are seen as sexual, fragile, exotic—whereas men are portrayed as tough, in control, and aggressive. This trend can be one seen as an inhibitor to the advancement of our culture, because especially for women, it is hard to pull away from the stereotypes that are continuously represented. As examples of the given trend, the following

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.

Gender stereotyping in media has existed since the beginning of media itself. From newspaper ads to billboards to movies, men and women have been put in certain molds that have proven consistent over time. Gender stereotyping, however, is no longer relevant in today's society. In the 1950s, making women gentle mothers or secretaries and men strong builders or businessmen may have sold, but it is becoming more and more common for these stereotypes to be less than sufficient. In media, stereotypes are becoming more subtle, but are still there; it is not surprising that a war has been waged against these stereotypes and any perpetuators who seem insistent upon keeping them. Gender stereotypes are outdated and not relevant to today's society.

Today we live in a world that continually stresses to us that, "All men are created equal." While this sounds great at face value, further inspection tells us that this is far from realistic and sadly may never be. One can examine any aspect of society whether it be race, religion, language, level of education, sexual orientation or economic status and notice that there are numerous characteristics and factors of identity that enable others to treat others differently. This truth may not be pleasant or make one feel all warm and fuzzy inside, however it is our society’s reality, however dismal it may be. Even if the statement above as to the equality of all men were true, how about women? Clearly women have made tremendous strides towards