Stereotypes In Desperate Housewives

Since the beginning of time itself, Television has been one the most influential pieces of media that the world has ever encountered. The beginning days of television depicted stereotypical mothers cooking and cleaning their homes for their husbands and children. Yet, as the decades passed, television took a dramatic turn, leaving the days of drama free entertainment as a vast memory. Now a day, however, when one hits the power on button to Bravo, the screen lights expand to ritzy socialites dealing with their everyday lives as “housewives”. Bravo TV’s hit number one reality television show, The Real Housewives of Atlanta, deals with the everyday lives of modern-day housewives. When speaking of these women and their family life, the

I only viewed two stereotypes in the shows I watched. The first stereotype is that In Grey's Anatomy they made women seem hysterical and clueless when it came to a pregnancy. They also made the dads seem useless because they were hardly in the room. In the show they also made The Doctors look arrogant and selfish because as if every doctor only believes in experimenting instead of truly helping a patient. In the commercials there were a lot of stereotypes.

The stereotyping of women is quite common in today 's society and throughout history. In the past, women have taken the full time job of being a mother and a housewife. The 1930s initially started the ideal image of a woman. A woman was often represented as a maid-like being who would serve to their husband and children. In Richard Alleyne’s article, “Advice for women in the 1930s: Nothing Destroys the Happiness of Married Life More than the Lazy, Slovenly Wife,” he discusses the frequent expectations of a housewife. Common assumptions included; “Don’t argue with your husband; do whatever he tells you and obey all his orders” (1) and “Nothing destroys the happiness of married life more than the lazy, slovenly wife” (1). These rules have often been published into past newspapers that were

At the start of the decade, society and the way people lived changed drastically. Women specifically were viewed in a different way. Before the 1920s, women were portrayed as the “typical housewife”. Women were supposed to stay home, cook, clean, and raise the children. During the 1920s, women were changing the culture and the stereotype of a “typical housewife”. Women began to go

Taking a look into the ways of her household solidified the fact that housewives were set apart from their counterparts because of their responsibilities. Their knack for multi-tasking and running a home efficiently was never held to very high standards. Now, with a look into these three women’s homes, it seems that everyone should take with them the notion that no matter the woman’s wealth or social status, her work in the home is pivotal to the success of her family.

The suburb was a major contributing factor to the women’s return to normalcy. The increase of baby booms and the return of men into their jobs seemed to fit women perfectly into the “home life” (“People & Events: Mrs. America: Women's Roles in the 1950s”).

housewives versus the lifestyles led by other women. The last line of the poem (?Wait ?til they

Nancy received her bachelor’s degree and is now working full time as a social worker, Evan is a full time furniture sales man. Hochschild argues that “most women work one shift at their office or factory and a “second shift” at home” (Hochschild 4). This is supported with what the Holt couple does when they return home from work, Nancy cooks, does housework, and cares for Joey, while Evan usually goes to the basement and works on his hobby. This is not uncommon for women to experience this “second shift” the gender system that is commonly practiced among American families is domesticity. “The ideology of domesticity held that men “naturally” belong in the market because they are competitive and aggressive; women belong in the home because of their “natural” focus on relationships, children, and an ethic of care” (Williams 1). This also relates to the gender norms placed on men and women. This leads to turmoil in the relationship causing both the man and woman

For most shows, the LGBTQ characters either a) get written off, or b) fall into heteronormative gender ideals. When a writer does decide to add a queer character seen beyond the use of the “one time experiment” episode, these queer storylines that end up formulaic and lacking substance (Kessler, p.1). These queer characters are usually depicted as either Lesbian or Gay, thus leaving the Bisexual and Transgender characters much harder to come by. In most situations characters and audiences react to bisexual characters just as Erica Hahn did with Callie in season 5 when she said, “you can’t ‘kind of’ be a lesbian.” (GREY’S ANATOMY SEASON 5 EPISODE 7). These were some of the last words that doctor Erica ever said on the show. Ironically this was

The roles and expectations for women in the 1950s differed in many ways from today’s society. “Society placed high importance and many expectations on behavior at home as well as in public” (Colorado.edu). In the 1950s women were considered “housewives”. Women’s sole purpose was to maintain the home, take care of the children, provide meals, and be obedient wives. “Good wives” listened to their

The media has set the view of women being the ones to stay at home and take care of house chore while men become the bread maker of the house. She features different women from Japan and America; Akiko Ueno, Jane Takagi-Little, and Suzie Flowers. Ueno is a traditional Japanese wife that’s shy and does women dutie of house chores. Flower is an American housewife starred in the

Gossip Girl is a tv show about a group of four rich, snobby Upper East side teenagers and how a nobody from Brooklyn gets involved with them. Chuck Bass, whose father, Bart, is the owner of the New York Palace hotel and a self-made millionaire, is the manipulative, “bad boy” of the group. Nate Archibald, also the son of a successful businessman, is considered the “golden boy” and best friends with Chuck. Blaire Waldorf is the “Queen Bee” of the Upper East side and is best friends with Serena van der Woodsen, who is the “it girl” that everyone wants to be. These four characters are socialites and can’t hide anything from the relentless blogger whose identity is unknown until the series finale. Dan and Jenny Humphry, from a middle-class family in Brooklyn, are forced to fight for what they want and obtain their goals through hard work and dedication, unlike the rest of the privileged characters. Whenever something scandalous happens, a mass text message is sent out to all Upper-East siders that always ends as “You know you love me, XOXO Gossip Girl.” It is found out in the last episode of the series that Gossip Girl has been Dan the whole time, and he used this blog to work his way into the Upper East side to eventually win Serena’s love.

The aim was to study how women are portrayed in “Desperate Housewives” and how the modern women have similar identities as traditional housewives.

What do Betty from "Pleasantville," June from "Leave it to Beaver," and Donna Reed from "The Donna Reed Show" all have in common? They all represent the image of the perfect housewife in the 1950s. They represent women who gladly cooked, cleaned, dressed in pearls and wore high heals while waiting for their all-knowing husbands to come home. They represent women who can only find fulfillment in male domination and nurturing maternal love. Tillie Olsen, as a single mother with four children (204), provides readers with another view of women. Through the representation of the narrator in I Stand Here Ironing, Olsen contradicts the image of the 50s ideal woman, a happy housewife and a perfect mother.

The era of the housewife usually paints a rosy mental picture; a white picket fence, a large house with a big yard, a beautiful family, and homemade goods. However, as seen in Betty Friedan’s article “The Problem That Has No Name”, describes the turmoil experienced by housewives of the 1960s. The problem was described and become popularized in a variety of ways by media outlets, such as ungrateful housewives that had too much education to realize “how lucky she is” (52). The women who experienced the problem described the feelings of inadequacy and frustration such as “I feel empty some how” or “I feel as if I don’t exist” (50). Although Friedan does not clearly state what the exact problem is it is apperant that these women want more from