The Theory Of Social Scripts

The media is such a large part of the United States, and the world in general. The media and all of its components can be a rewarding part of society, like entertainment and staying well-informed, but it can also paint a stereotypical and degrading image of women. In the early 1900's, around the 1920's to be more precise, women in movies and on television did not have the creative boundaries they have today. Women were able to control their own sexuality, but in the mid-1900's Hollywood set up two major roles women could portray; the “innocent ingenue or the threateningly sexual vamp (pg 18).” Although media has changed over the years since 1950, the limits still remain. By today's standards, women typically play the love interest of the protagonist who can be used by the antagonist as leverage.

As previous research shows, culture and media have an immense impact in our lives. Since mass media exposes current societal issues while reinforcing stereotypes about women, news coverage of female’s sexual violence becomes extremely vital. Even more so when

Mass media has influenced gender norms in the United States since the 1950’s when television became a household phenomenon. Per Jacqueline Coombs in an article titled Gender Differences in the Influence of Television on Gender Ideology, she asserts, “television is a powerful source in disseminating information and shaping opinion, exposing people from many different social settings to the same messages” (207). These messages can influence gender norms and reinforce personal gender identity. Throughout the evolution of television, gender roles have expanded portraying women as leading character. However, there is still an undercurrent of patriarchal ideology.

After viewing only a few hours of television I asked myself, “How is it that people can spend as many as 20 hours watching television per week?” A whole day wasted, and what has come out of it? More garbage that will further distort any real comprehension held about what it means to be a male or a female. What it means to be male or female in the American culture cannot be defined with simple words, but yet can be easily distorted when viewing any commercial on television. It is amazing how a story about an entire culture’s views about sexuality can be told in only a small portion of the day. This story about sexuality was unraveled as I forced myself to watch something I have absolutely no interest in and

There has to be a reason as to why some films can have controversial language, physically inappropriate gestures, sexist comments are exceptional. In a recent research it gave a simple explanations towards why this is. Modern sexism is a multidimensional construct comprising covert attitudes supporting the unequal treatment of men and women(65) Most of what humans are taught in their morals is during childhood. In this chapter 3 called Gender roles, describes that humans are taught to stereotype gender since birth. an educational film about parenthood describes how to handle an infant differently because of the sex. A female infant is picked up automatically once she begins to cry compared to a male infant.

The average person spends a good portion of their day on social media or watching television. Furthermore, the new era of adolescents is even further exposed than the average person. This exposure can have many positive influences in a Child’s life; open new doors to meeting new people and having straightforward access to personal wants and needs. Unfortunately, this media can very well be a tool used to manipulate the tender minds of adolescents and open doors to self-hatred along with depression. Young girls tend to generally struggle far more than boys due to the social norms and societal pressures. The media can set unrealistic or inappropriate

An average 6-11 year old watched 22 hours of TV a week and a combined average of 28 hours a week is spent on multiple media outlets. A tremendous climb of sexual content on TV has been occurring since the 1970’s; currently 70 percent of all TV programming includes sexual material increasing to 77 percent on prime time TV. Around 30 percent of the most watched child and teen programs contain sexual language, body attractiveness, and objectification of women’s bodies (Starr, 2012). The media outlets display popular culture that scream unhealthy messages to girls, burying healthy images instilled by parents that might be trying to break through. Girls are exposed to the messages so frequently that they cannot help but to absorb them and crave to become like the popular images. This leads to unhealthy values, attitudes, and thoughts held about oneself and

“Media stereotypes have extra impact because they create images based on these assumptions, helping to shape men's own views about how they should act and how successful they are as men. Sexual stereotyping begins early in men's lives. Boys learn what it means to be a man from family and peers. These ideas about approved behaviors and modes of thought are focused and

From a young age, girls are put under pressure to be sexually appealing for those around her. But women, being people who still have biological needs and desires to be fulfilled, have rarely been offered a direct but safe pathway into sexual self-discovery other than through experience, which carries the risks of sexual assault, unwanted pregnancy, and STI acquisition. Men have an entire industry dedicated to fulfilling their sexual desires—the porn industry’s treatment of women is nothing to bat an eye at. Off screen, girls grow up being treated as sexual objects from a young age, surrounded by sexy women in advertising, movies, and TV. Having to deal with others’ “schoolgirl” fantasies and the idea of being “jailbait” make it hard for a woman at the apex of puberty to safely explore her developing sexuality. Girls also grow up with a ridiculous double standard telling them to avoid being sexy while avoiding prudishness: to dress conservatively if they don’t want to get assaulted, but to show some skin because nobody likes a bore. Speaking from experience, it gets tiring being told to be two things at once in order to please somebody else, and media has a powerful effect on how women see themselves, as stated by Katie Barnes in her piece, On The Importance Of Media Representation

Another way that young people may be influenced or educated about risk taking behaviours is through television programmes. Al-Sayed and Gunter (2012) found that television programmes over a 4 week period presented many opportunities for teenagers to learn lessons about sexual experiences through what is shown on television. Also, it has been found that male characters on television programmes are often proud of their sexual activity, with no conversation or regard for the risk of their behaviour or the consequences (Batchelor, Kitzinger and Burtney, 2004). This is important as Batchelor, Kitzinger and Burtney suggest that males are portrayed as more responsible for their sexual behaviour than women, who are not expected to be proud of their sexual behaviour. This may be influential at a time when young people are starting to become sexually active. It has been found that television is a key source for young people aged 14-18 to obtain their information about alcohol (Atkinson et al, 2011).

Acceptance is the key to a successful society. Acceptance of gay rights and gender roles are constantly changing. Over time new problems are introduced to the world and new solutions will be developed to solve the problem. The solution, to the problem, will be given through the media. Media is classified as books, newspapers, radio, television, and the Internet. Authors of different media devices try to send a message to society through media. The way individuals interpret the information is based on individuality. The intent of the author is to influence society. In the article “A Simulation of the Impact of Media on Social Cohesion” explains the different behaviors and attitudes media can influence, “Time spent watching television influences pro-social and anti-social behavior, racial and gender attitudes and ideas about appropriate sex roles by providing compelling messages for children about social approval for roles of males and females of all ages” (Stocker, Cornforth, and Green 349). When trying to understand the message of media one should ask what is the author’s intent of producing the media?

Media has long been a way to send specific messages to a selective audience. Magazines, television, movies, ads, and even video games have become a way tell people how they should appear or behave. While not all media influences are negative, most are not positive. Some television shows or movies have programmed gender roles into society’s minds. Also, magazines especially, advertising has distorted impressionable men and women’s body image. These are only two of the many influences the media has on human behavior.

Research has greatly indicated and proven that media exposure has an impact on the normative perceptions of substance use and relationship behaviors among adolescents. Studies have shown that media content and patterns of usage are considerably related to adolescent perception of gender roles, romantic relationships, and sexual behavior. Repeated contact or subjection to sexualize subject matter on television or different forms of media has been related to individuals perceived normative gender roles (Herrett- Skjellum & Allen, 1996). Negative and socially impaired beliefs about relationships, for example such as ‘‘fate brings soul-mates together, disagreement is destructive to a relationship, partners should be able to sense each other’s thoughts and feelings’’ (Holmes, 2007). Also with persistent disclosure to sexually explicit content related with more positive attitudes or norms toward “uncommitted sexual exploration” as well (Brown and Bobkowski, 2011).

Our sex saturated media is also generating conflict in young girls’ development. The portrayal of women as sexual objects is discussed in the article “The sexualization of Girls is Harmful” by Olivia Ferguson and Hayley Mitchell Haugen. The article cites statistics of “prime-time television shows popular among children” remarking that “12% of sexual comments involved sexual objectification toward women” and “23% of sexual behaviors involved leering, ogling or catcalling at female characters”.(par 6) The feature provides www.aboutkidshealth.ca/ as an “online resource for information about areas of children’s health and family life”. (Par 1) This web site states “depression, low self-esteem and eating disorders” as consequences for media sexualizing women. (Par 2) The research defines “the objectification theory as a psychological theory explaining the

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.