Media Symbols Have Minimal Effects On Individuals

Media enforces the social-cultural standards, which women are required to follow in order to look and behave in a manner that society considers acceptable. Newspapers, commercials, posters, magazines, fliers, reality shows, and cartoons only name a few of our everyday interaction with the media (Scholar, C.2011). However, these standards presented by media send a false perception of women, thus portraying women in a negative and disrespectful manner. Society views woman as mentally, morally, and physically inferior to men, and media is only highlighting this idea (Scholar, C.2011). In fact, media represents women in a stereotypical form of beauty, they display women as sexual objects, and create the illusion that women are ignorant.

In the 21st century, America is a melting pot of diverse cultures and races. Because of this, girls from different backgrounds react differently to these images seen in media. In a study with sixty white and minority girls, they found the reactions to these beauty ideals to be quite different. One thing they did agree on was, “most girls see the images as unrealistic; many prefer to “see” real girls.” (Milkie). They knew these photos were unattainable and also had been photoshopped. However, even though the white girls knew these images were unrealistic, they still strived to be like them “because they believe that others find the images important and that others in the local culture, especially boys, evaluate them on the basis of these images.”

Educators need to be aware of the gender stereotypes that their students are exposed to. The articles and book chapters that were assigned, give the reader an insight to how the media shapes the views of gender and how they can influence children as young as six.

“Beauty Whitewashed: How white Ideals Exclude Women of Color”, by Lindsay Kite, opens the unknown door to the inequality of black women. Lindsay Kite brings to light the Media portrayal of all women, especially the negative portrayal of black women by giving an unreachable standard. The standards set by the Media, under represents women of color, sets white women as a standard, change colored women to look white, and prefer black women that

This annotated bibliography focuses on topics related to gender roles and media, specifically how female portrayal within media affect life concerns of women. A major theme discussed in many referenced sources is the emphasis on appearance and beauty in female audiences. Traditional female gender roles have an underlying focus on what is considered the ideal image, and it is apparent those concerns are still a major topic of discussion. Conducted surveys and online media exposure studies indicate that not only is media heavily saturated with emphasis on female appearance, but that the content exposure is affecting certain female demographics. My literature review will focus on how the exposure to appearance ideals affects women success in other

According to Shaw and Lee (2015), in our culture, the manufacturing and consuming of products and the fashion industries create the beauty standards (pg. 191). Commercials, billboards, magazines, and other advertisements enforce these definitions. Therefore, beauty ideals reflect what the white, abled, and middle-class feel is beautiful. Even news journalists such as the women who report the newscasts are still “beautiful” women who fit the dominant ideology’s definition of beautiful.

Women have been misrepresented in the media for many years. Stereotypes have been around forever in media, but were portrayed more visibly in the earlier years. Although this misrepresentation of women is less subtle, the outcome of this issue is extensively impacting consumers and women in general. The impact of these stereotypes discourage women to pursue their goals, cause self-esteem issues, and hurt their chances at bigger roles in the business and political world. This also gives others false ideas and expectations. Some primary examples of concern include the value of women and girl’s looks over their personalities, the false imagery of the LGBT community, and society not taking women in politics and news seriously.

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.

The theme of this paper is gendered stereotypes in the media.This paper will investigate the question, “To what extent are females stereotyped more than men in the media in the U.S.?” while looking specifically at examples from movies, music, and advertisements. To begin, an overview of history was given to provide insight on the progression of gender roles and the expanding media. Viewpoints on both male and female stereotypes in the media were investigated and analyzed to determine if females are, in fact, stereotyped more. The sources used in this investigation were evaluated to determine their credibility and what support, if any, they offered to the argument. After analyzing the information and sources, it was concluded that women are stereotyped more than men in the media based on the societal norms developed throughout history.

In “Gendered Media: The Influence of Media on Views of Gender”, Wood writes: “…media insinuate their messages into our consciousness at every turn. All forms of media communicate images of the sexes, many of which perpetuate unrealistic, stereotypical, and limiting perceptions.” (1) This illustrates just how influential the media can be in American culture. Many people immediately internalize everything they hear from any source that they see as trustworthy. If the media is filled with negative gender stereotypes, then Americans are at risk of internalizing negative gender roles. In the same journal, Woods also explains the three main ways that media influences gender identity:

The portrayal of women in the media affects women and young girls but this issue can be solved. In many movies, music videos, ads, etc. we see sexism between males and females. According to Gender Issues In The Media, “There are many fewer females than males in almost all forms of mainstream media and those who do appear are often portrayed in very stereotypical ways.” This shows that if women are seen in the same position as men they are stereotyped and

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.

According to Forbes et al, in this aspect, beauty standards and practices, such as the thin-ideal, are seen as vehicles for the oppression of women. This oppression is complex and multifaceted. Among other things, beauty ideals and beauty practices signal women’s inferior status and identify their differences from men, shift social awareness from women’s competencies to superficial aspects of their appearance, undermine women’s self-confidence, dissipate their emotional and economic resources, and reduce them to sex objects (Jeffreys, 2005). Murnen and Seabrook (2012) continue that beauty ideals are functionally and symbolically disempowering to women, who are vulnerable to these ideals due to their lack of economic power and their sexually

This source argues that we live in a culture of misperception because of how women are represented in the media. I chose this source because it pertains to women instead of girls. I want to tie into my research how the media affects young girls and how it also affects them going into adulthood, which can lead to serious issues such as an eating disorder or suffering from depression.

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