From the earliest stages of the media, stereotypes of men and women have been shown to extremes. Men are shown to be strong providers for their family and women are shown to be delicate supporters. Although that might've been somewhat true many decades ago, we all know that this has drastically changed in recent years. Women are rarely stay-at-home moms, and family dynamics have also changed just as much. What used to be a typical American family consisted of a married man and woman and about 2-3 children. Today, there is no "typical" American family. The reality is that many, if not the majority, of families are separated. It is just as common to have a divorced couple splitting time with their children as it is to have a married couple with children. Because family dynamics have changed so much, there are not many conventional gender differences anymore. There are no longer "norms" for women and men. Yet, the media still portrays men and women to be this way for the most part. There are a few exceptions, for example, the show Modern Family portrays three different unconventional families, much like how family dynamics are today.
Here is an example of gender bias in early media where women are portrayed to be weak, delicate, and dependent on men.
While this stereotype has faded a bit in today's media, a more shocking one has appeared. The media today portrays women as sexual objects. This is seen not only in visual media, but is also completely blown out of proportion in so many different types of music. For example, the song "Wildflower" by Ghostface Killah is absolutely horrific that I will post the link but do not even wish to type the lyrics out. They are located at the bottom of the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPLOI0PFoF8
The sad part is that is was so easy to think of a degrading song to use as an example. They are everywhere and even on the radio stations that I grew up listening to. You can find women being called b****es and other names in so many songs, especially rap music. Almost any song by Akon, Lil Wayne, or other rappers includes horrifically degrading lyrics.
Women are also portrayed as sexual objects in advertising. Since advertising is absolutely everywhere, men expect women to look like the models in the ads do in real life. The reality is that the models in these ads are so photoshopped, they can't even live up to the standards society has set for them.
There are a few companies today trying to change this issue. For example, the following Dove and Aerie campaigns have been met with such positive feedback that I predict many more companies will start to follow their lead. They feature average-sized women and little-to-no photoshopping. I would love to see more of this in the media so that the images we see today will not be so harmful to men and women.
No comments:
Post a Comment