Politics And Gender Roles

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

“People learn more from media than any other single source of information” (Missrepresentation). This quote exemplifies how society learns and creates their standards about people, places, and things. All sources and mediums of media impact billions of lives every day. The media holds this power over society and it’s time to change that; especially when it comes to the media’s view of women. Women are constantly being misrepresented. This misrepresentation of women in the media is negatively impacting America by corrupting both the youth and adults. This is occurring because of the hyper-sexualization of women, wrongly portraying women in leadership positions, and creating stereotypes of women in movies and television.

In our contemporary American society, gender and gender roles are topics that can be contentious depending on the person’s point of view. Gender and gender roles come with an array of expectations formulated by society and highly influenced by the mass media. These expectations and roles that both males and females are expected to adhere to have become the social norm. Consequently, gender and gender ideology have been passed on from one generation on to another and reinforced by the mainstream media. Since most people rely on the media as a viable source of information, they begin to develop a misapprehension about gender and gender roles. The continual growth of mass media and its endless capabilities to effectively spread information has

The link between feminism and voting is strong, as it should be. For this reason, it is crucial for women to exercise their power to vote. This is important because today, even after women’s suffrage was achieved, the woman’s right to vote is still in question, and for these some, it is still not enough to justify this right. These advocates believe that even though women may legally have the right, they are not competent enough to engage in such activity. To say that the vote of women means nothing and that they lack the competency is by far asinine. Women are not inferior to men no matter the circumstance, but evidently some need a little reminder. It is because of such blatant attempts to prove that women are not capable that the fact that they are needs to be revisited, regardless of how many times, long as this still is an issue and a barrier of discrimination that women face daily.

"The media is the single most powerful tool at our disposal; it has the power to educate, effect social change, and determine the political policies and elections that shape our lives." (Womensmediacenter.com n.d.) . Although there is significant growth in women representatives, not long ago women were vastly underrepresented at all levels of government across the world, however being made to go through the election process makes it no shock why women are less likely to want a career in politics as Adewunmi suggests. "Who but the most thick-skinned would willingly go through a cycle that so closely scrutinises female politicians’ fashion choices, sexual pasts and even their childcare arrangements?"

While both of these chapters make compelling arguments supported by studies and experiments, neither focus on gender outside of the candidates. The authors simply lump all citizens into the overarching category of “voters.” It is my belief that voter gender also impacts views on female

Men and women differ greatly in many aspects of life, and voting is one of them. In the 1992 Presidential elections, women were found by the U.S. Census' Current Population Reports to have voted two percent more than men did. Of the 62% of women who did vote, more were found to have supported Bill Clinton rather

Reading Chapter 11: Gendered media reminded me why I majored in communications. The media has such a significant influence on all our lives. I wanted to be a part of that influence and to ultimately help turn the way society portrays people. The media’s influence can get into a person’s subconscious, and unwillingly it will control how we think and what we view as important. I would like to think I am not effected by the media, but I am. I tend to not settle for local news, I always make the effort to stay current on what is going on a global scale through different media outlets. With the rise of fake news I am constantly forced to question these sources and the agenda behind these new stories. It hurts me that in the United States we focus

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:

Women have always had so many different and interesting behavior patterns; whether they are patterns at home, at work, or even at the polls. Choosing this topic was easy, women are very unique about everything, and I was curious to see the differences in the way we vote compared to men, the gender gap. With the help of peer reviewed articles and other research, I am planning to explain the gender gap as well as other voting behaviors that women perform. The peer reviewed articles that I chose will be discussed in the following order: “The Gender Gap: When an Opinion Gap is not a Voting Bloc” by Linda Bennett, “How Do Female Spouses’ Political Interests Affect Male

When I was young I was told I should not like the color blue because it was a “boy” color and that I should prefer pink instead. I was told I should not like pokemon because only boys should play it. Growing up I was always given dolls to play with while my brother received legos. It is scientifically proven that giving dolls to children allow them to have more nurturing skills and giving legos allows to kids develop problem-solving skills. However, parents are more reluctant to give dolls to boys even though it can benefit them greatly. Young boys and girls are separated so much that they aren't even allowed to play with the same toys or like the same colors. What children experience in their childhood subconsciously

It is important to have a positive relationship with our bodies in order to have a positive relationship with ourselves as a whole. However; there are many biological and societal factors that can derail that. These roadblocks include: social media/societal pressures, peers, culture, and last but most importantly not least, gender. Gender plays a pertinent role in how an individual may view their body. Prior research suggests that a disparity exists between how men and women view their bodies. Women are reported to struggle more with body appreciation, which means the way in which an individual views their body and how they feel others may view it (citation), than men do.

As a child I never really knew much about gender roles and stereotypes, I just went with it. As I grew older I was forced to face reality and deal with the gender roles and stereotypes. I wasn’t a masculine kid and always had feminine features and attributes. I never liked playing rough, I didn’t like to get in trouble or cuss. This resulted in me being teased and called gay in elementary school. I had to fake a persona in order to not be bullied and teased everyday. The bullying and teasing came from the viewing of stereotypes at a young age in my peers homes life. For girls it’s the opposite, if they enjoy playing rough, getting in trouble or cursing they’re called tomboys. From a young age as well it’s evident that we’re given these

From a young age, people are told who they must be and how they must act determined by their gender. Gender roles are a set of societal norms that dictate a person’s behavior based on the appropriate and acceptable rules for their gender. This notion derives from the assumption that girls favor dolls and dress-up, while boys prefer toy guns and trucks. These instances contribute to the concept that those of male and female gender must fulfill a specific ideology. These societal standards are ingrained within us as children and we are taught to become exceedingly aware of them. Girls are trained to become vessels of unstable emotions with an excess amount of vulnerability and sensitivity. Females must be the picturesque embodiment of

When I was young, I always wondered why girls get to wear pink, purple, and flowery outfits while boys are given blue and gray ones, or why the man’s surname is adopted by the woman upon marriage and not the other way around. Gender roles are the acceptable and expected behaviors of men and women and these ‘rules’ of behavior were passed from generation to generation. Over the length of time, this mentality eventually led to the birth of feminism which is the belief in the social, economic, and political equality of the sexes as the dictionary defines it.It has ranged from letting women work in the late 20th century to not needing a husband just to get a credit card in the modern times. A feminist is someone, regardless of gender and age, who do not acknowledge sexism by recognizing both men and women with full equality and humanity.