Media Project

Introduction

            Mass media plays a significant role in the modern world by broadcasting information and giving entertainment. However, various gender stereotypes have been used in advertising as a persuasion method. The stereotypes are associated with women or men and those associated with specific groups of men or women by race, class, ****** orientation and physical ability as discussed in the research paper. Much of knowledge and experiences acquired by children is obtained indirectly, usually from the media. As such, the by creating a particular type of message, the media tend to manipulate people’s attitudes and opinions. The media emphasizes and reinforces values and images of the people who create the messages and also own the channels of distribution. Thus, the viewpoints of other people are left out and in some instances shown negatively. The term paper offers a discussion on how the popular media portrays gender in stereotypical ways.    

            The selected media that help to investigate the methods in which the media portrays gender in stereotypical ways include video games, commercials on television, and music videos. Gender stereotypes portrayed on TV commercials have been discussed by Wolska (2011) in his text.  A striking example of gender stereotypes in TV commercials is the depiction of women as housewives, ****, and objects of desire of every man. In most instances, women have seen advertising cosmetics and also those directed to men. Whenever a lady accepts and gives praise to a male cosmetic; men treat it as a guarantee of quality. For men, they are depicted in commercials as successful, professional and seducers with beautiful women beside them. They are shown to own branded cars and smart phones. The advertising firms also use the stereotype of male friendship where they are presented to act together.

            Regarding video games, Mou and Peng (2009) provide a comprehensive discussion on the gender and racial stereotypes in popular video games. Video games are popular forms of entertainment media in U.S and are associated with stereotypical content that has a significant impact on players. In most video games, women are portrayed as *** objects or prizes, victims, and in feminine roles and rarely as heroes. It is by their physical appearance and the sexually-oriented actions. In comparison to men, women are shown to have more clothing that exposes more skin than the male characters. Female characters are likely to have low-cut clothing having bare arms compared to men characters. There is a significant *** bias in female characters in video games.

            Video music also practices gender stereotypes in various ways. A focus on videos produced by hip hop artists and especially rap music reveals that women gender has been shown in controversial and negative ways. According to Tyree (2013), many youths learn about gender roles, sexuality, and social relationships from hip hop music videos. Women and men have been stereotyped in particular ways such as under-representing women and leaving men as the cultural standard thereby portraying women invisible and unimportant. Many hip hop videos show women playing a supportive role in a music video, are sexualized and dominated by men. Women are also depicted to dance in a provocative manner having revealing clothes which are not the case for men. They are also fond of close-up shots that reveal their body parts and sometimes shown touching them and dancing sexually (Aubrey, 2011).  

            The various gender stereotypes portray women and men differently based on their behavior and what people perceive them to be. Men are overwhelmingly shown as stronger than women and with a higher social status in various media platforms. Whether in music, commercials, or video games, women are shown to be subjective to men and easily influenced by various issues. It appears that women need to be rescued from the gender stereotypes that have depicted them as inferior and only involved in lowly activities. The stereotypes tend to portray particular groups of women and men as subordinates of individuals from the dominating groups. Race, class and ****** orientation among other groupings are evident in gender stereotypes (Frisby, 2012). For instance, male artists of African-American origin are associated with the dark skin color in videos which sends a message to the viewers. Female artists are associated with features of light skin color that accord them beauty. Different stereotypes apply for the various groups of people. For instance, Caucasian women and black women take different roles in music videos, video games, and commercial adverts since they are depicted differently due to stereotypes.      

            The purpose of the stereotypes is to enable the world population to learn how to interact with others and decide what is good or bad and the appropriate response to them. The stereotypes help individuals to agree on how to behave towards other groups of people in a consistent manner (Wood, 1994). I think that the mass media attempts to portray what the society is like and also to maintain the status quo. The portrayals of the various stereotypes tend to benefit certain groups, but also disadvantage others since some are regarded as superior to others. For instance, the depiction of women as subordinates, ****** objects, and supportive to men has made the society operate like a man’s world. Also, the use of skin color to classify groups of people has led to the segregation of some groups of people in the society and cannot access quality services as others who are regarded highly. The dominant and powerful groups do not want any changes since it is likely to neutralize their influence and power. It is widely accepted that stereotypes maintain the gender system since the society has accepted them to exist and continues to be practiced. Stereotypes serve a broad set of social and psychological functions that sustains the perception that inequality in the society is justified. Stereotypes seem appealing since they satisfy the desire to portray certain forms of social and economic arrangements as fair and legitimate and those who fail to conform are treated negatively.  

            The different issues I have learned helps to understand the meaning and effects of stereotyping in the mass media. I learned that stereotyping is an inherent aspect of the society and what the media portrays is a reflection of the society. However, there are other stereotypes portrayed in the media that influence how the society handles various gender stereotypes. I think that gender is more complex than simple norms of femininity and masculinity since it operates as a stratification system where there are not only differences between men and women, but also status and classes. This class has helped me to understand gender, race, class, and ****** orientation as interlocking systems of oppression since they are practiced with the intent of creating divisions and classifications of social status, either to glorify or demean a particular group. The various oppressive institutions such as classism, gender, ****** orientations, and races are interconnected and require a comprehensive assessment and not as single entities.          

References

Aubrey, K. M. (2011). Check That Body! The Effects of Sexually Objectifying Music Videos on College Men’s ****** Beliefs. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 55(3), 360–379.

Frisby, C. &. (2012). Race and genre in the use of ****** objectification in female: Howard Journal of Communications 23(1), 66-87.

Mou Y. & Peng W. (2009) Gender and Racial Stereotypes in Popular Video Games, Chapter LIII, 922-937

Tyree, D. T. (2013). Gender and Sexuality Representations in Hip Hop Music: Howard University.

Wolska M. (2011) Gender stereotypes in mass media. Case Study: Analysis of the gender stereotyping phenomenon in TV Commercials.

Wood J.T. (1994) Gendered Media: The Influence of Media on Views of Gender. Chap. 9, 231-244

Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in best custom research papers if you need a similar paper you can place your order from nursing paper writing service.