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Social changes in our societies today on women
Gender roles in today's society
Gender roles in today's society
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Recommended: Social changes in our societies today on women
In America women have gone through so many social norms that has affected them throughout a lifetime. Since then with the changes, mass media got involved in this type of movement. American culture shifted where women where becoming professionals in the work force, more independent and less likely to marry. As a result, television networks created a series of shows to expose and associate the female audience to the TV shows. From Charlies Angels to Sex in the City and for our present time Nashville show, incorporate feminism to be shown in the small screen, in every decade shows exhibited the 3 feminist movement waves. For instance, during the 90s the 3rd wave of feminism was represented through Television by revealing female sexuality …show more content…
Ultimately, Sex in the City is a television show offering a significant portrait of the new millennial of women in attempt to expose the reality women face the challenges of gender roles, gender inequality and race. Up to the present time women face many obstacles in order to get to where they want to be in life especially in gender roles because women are constantly having to compete with men. Another circumstance when dealing with gender role is to proving to men, women can handle a male dominated job or career. For instance, in the work force men and women often compete for the top position, keeping the job position others want, or getting credit for their accomplishments. Sex in the City has 4 main characters that go through this type of situation in the work force, for example; Cynthia Nixon who portrays a lawyer in this show is always having to compete for Jr. Partner or simply keeping her job because she is also a mother. To emphasize, the majority of lawyers are men because aren’t given the chance to represent take on a case. According to USA Today "About 30% of …show more content…
In the past American society and culture has set social norms for women to keep acting and doing things that a proper lady should do. However, women rebelled and changed the rules of what was expected from the past towards their own set of guidelines, because women didn’t want to follow the old rules of American culture anymore. Once women where liberated from some of the rules the “double standard” continues to follow women around especially when it comes to sexual actions. On the subject of this Sex in the City is a show all about sex the 4 main characters dialogues in the show. For illustration, Kim Catrall’s character in the show demonstrates she has quite an appetite for sex and men. The characters stigma affected her profession because the companies she wanted to work with knew of her reputation, as a result, she would lose clients due to being slut shamed. In this case there was the injustice of the double standard and affecting her livelihood because she is a woman. But when a man has this type of behavior whether he’s a prowl to sex in a social environment or at work, he doesn’t have pay the consequences of his sexual actions. For example, Donald Trump was exposed for his behaviors he did in the past, but it only affected him now because he is running for president but was
...ults in body shame, and because these women view themselves as less, they are treated as such. Sexually objectified women are “dehumanized and seen as less competent and less worthy by men and women”. This causes men to be “more tolerant of sexual harassment and rape myths”. This is evident in the Pilot episode of Gossip Girl. Serena is known as the “it” girl and because of this image her male peers believe her to be sexually available to anyone at anytime. Chuck attempts to coerce her into having sex because he knows that Serena has had sex with her bestfriend’s boyfriend. Boys quickly adopt the hypersexualized images of females and apply them to girls. As a result they lack respect for girls, and when they make sexual advances on them they are deemed as harmless. Rape and sexual violence becomes normalized, and sexual predators go unpunished in mainstream media.
In "Where the girls are: Growing Up Female With the Mass Media," Susan Douglas analyses the effects of mass media on women of the nineteen fifties, and more importantly on the teenage girls of the baby boom era. Douglas explains why women have been torn in conflicting directions and are still struggling today to identify themselves and their roles. Douglas recounts and dissects the ambiguous messages imprinted on the feminine psyche via the media. Douglas maintains that feminism is a direct result of the realization that mass media is a deliberate and calculated aggression against women. While the media seemingly begins to acknowledge the power of women, it purposely sets out to redefine women and the qualities by which they should define themselves. The contradictory messages received by women leave women not only in a love/hate relationship with the media, but also in a love/hate relationship with themselves.
In both of these series, representations and meanings of masculinity and femininity are affected by the ideology of patriarchy. Even though it is true that these shows tried to fight back against stereotypical representations of men and women, the subtle textual evidence in these shows show that there are limits to how gender norms can be represented on television, especially in the Classic Network
On September 20, 1984 a show aired that changed the way we view gender roles on television. Television still perpetuates traditional gender stereotypes and in reflecting them TV reinforces them by presenting them as the norm (Chandler, 1). The Cosby Show, challenged the typical gender stereotyping of television, daring to go against the dominant social values of its time period. In its challenge of the dominant social view, the show redefined the portrayal of male and female roles in television. It redefined the gender role in the work place, in social expectations, and in household responsibilities. The Cosby Show supported Freidan in her view of “castigating the phony happy housewife heroine of the women’s magazines” (Douglas 136).
Women’s equality has made huge advancements in the United States in the past decade. One of the most influential persons to the movement has been a woman named Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Ruth faced gender discrimination many times throughout her career and worked hard to ensure that discrimination based on a person’s gender would be eliminated for future generations. Ginsburg not only worked to fight for women’s equality but fought for the rights of men, as well, in order to show that equality was a human right’s issue and not just a problem that women faced. Though she faced hardships and discrimination, Ruth never stopped working and thanks to her equality is a much closer reality than it was fifty years ago. When Ruth first started her journey in law, women were practically unheard of as lawyers; now three women sit on the bench of the highest court in the nation.
In American culture today, women continue the struggle of identifying what their roles in society are supposed to be. Our culture has been sending mixed messages to the modern day female, creating a sense of uneasiness to an already confusing and stressful world. Although women today are encouraged more than ever to be independent, educated, and successful, they are often times shamed for having done just that. Career driven females are frequently at risk of being labeled as bossy, unfeminine, or selfish for competing in many career paths that were once dominated by men. A popular medium in our culture such as television continues to have significant influences as to how people should aspire to live their lives. Viewers develop connections with relatable characters and to relationship dynamics displayed within their favorite shows. Fictional characters and relationships can ultimately influence a viewer’s fashion sense, social and political opinion, and attitude towards gender norms. Since the days of Bewitched and I Dream of Jeanie, where women were commonly portrayed as being the endearing mischievous housewife, television shows have evolved in order to reflect real life women who were becoming increasingly more independent, educated, and career oriented throughout the subsequent decades. New genres of television are introduced, such as the workplace comedy, where women are not only career oriented, but eventually transition into positions of power.
Due to the idealization of domesticity in media, there was a significantly stagnant period of time for women’s rights between 1945 and 1959. Women took over the roles for men in the workplace who were fighting abroad during the early 1940s, and a strong, feminist movement rose in the 1960s. However, in between these time periods, there was a time in which women returned to the home, focusing their attention to taking care of the children and waiting on their husband’s every need. This was perpetuated due to the increasing popularity of media’s involvement in the lives of housewives, such as the increasing sales of televisions and the increase in the number of sexist toys.
Female attorneys have a great deal of pressure from their male counterparts. As women, not only do they have to balance work and family, they also have to deal with 80 hour work weeks, numerous cases, and mountains of paper work. It becomes a burden when work has to go home. Although some law firms offer a part time schedule, most women refuse to take one. Women feel reducing hours will jeopardize any chance of advancement at the firm. Women are expected to be flexible and able to adjust their priorities. They tend to get less “valuable” cases when they work less hours. In an article written by Vanessa Lloyd Platt, Platt states:
‘gender’ which is a word defined as cultural codes and regulation of human sexuality. Genre is constructed through the use of gender codes. Essentially involving both how women and men are represented through specific genres and the diversity between other genres that gear more towards men or genres that are aimed to women. Ultimately, genre is used to try and define ‘proper’ gender (Giannetti & Leach, 2011,p. 53). The Wolf of Wall Street’s use of gender prescribes the narrative film to specific gender roles that are associated with the films close ties to drama, comedy and crime genres. As a black comedy film often takes a stab at making light of dark subject matters like sexism, rape, drug abuse, etc. The Wolf of Wall Street tells a tale of Jordan Belfort a successful stock broker building his empire on deceit and lies and his excessive use of drugs and exploration of women.
The influence of the media on women is not unknown, but it was especially prevalent in the 1960s. According to David Croteau and William Hoynes, both professors of sociology, “Media images of women and men reflect and reproduce a whole set of stereotypical but changing gender roles” (quoted in Mahrdt 1) and, as society changes and opinions are altered, television shows adapt. However, the television show Mad Men is unique because it does not show life today, but the life of the 1960s. It shows what life was like for the women who lived during a time when the “feminine mystique” controlled society.
She claims that at the core of it all, Grisham is enforcing the stereotypical belief that women’s nature and genes are “the force which prevents them from becoming fully integrated individuals and attorneys” (78). There are several ways in which Grisham stereotypes women, but Coffman points out the main categories that spawn throughout his legal fiction writing career regarding depiction of women: “’In the workplace, women remain constricted by men’s images of them: the ‘good mother,” the ‘superwoman,’ ‘the frivolous uncommitted professional,’ or the ‘temptress.” (80). There are also other types that we can see in the books The Client, The Pelican Brief, and The Partner such as the chameleon type (Eva Mendez), victim (Darby Shaw), and nurturer (Reggie
Sexism is a major factor in the workforce.Today male and female have a hard time breaking into the opposite gender dominated fields. This has happened because of the media, it has showed us that male have certain “right” jobs, as well as female. Female still dominate traditional female professions like cosmetology jobs are 92.9 percent women working them(Wolfe). If a man were to get into cosmetology they would most likely be judged for having that job, because we stereotype that they can't have a feminine job. Women have a harder time getting into high level positions. “Women make up only 21 of the S&P’s 500 CEOs,” (Berman). This has happened because the media has set in place stereotypes that it is wrong for women to have high level positions. It is getting better, in 2013 women chief financial officers increased 35 percent at large U.S. companies from 2012 (Frier and Hymowitz). The job market for men and women is still unfair but it is starting to get equal.
Social media, television and newspapers portray women in stereotypical ways and third wave feminist are against the viewpoints of the portrayals. They work on self-respect, self-control, and the mental and physical aspect of what it is to be a woman. Third wave feminists are modern and their viewpoints differ from first wave feminists in a plethora of ways. Today, third wave feminist face more internal problems because of the advancement of socialization sites, advertisements and television. Stereotypes of women have increased because of the widespread social media, news, television and advertisements. IN contrast, they have created their definition of a woman. Feminists disagree with the representation of women and accept the name of being a feminist. Nowadays, feminist wear provocative clothing and expresses their feelings through their unique, trendy styles as a symbol of the rebirth of feminism. According to Rampton, modern feminism is girlie and subject themselves with having beauty and brains
Media representation of what being feminine is can be persuasive and potentially harmful. Femininity and masculinity are spectrums, not categories that people simply fall into. However, this is how a lot of our media, stemming from the cultural norms of American culture, portrays them. They are cut and dry, simple definitions, and easy to recognize. Though since these ideals are only a representation of a small population of the public, this can become harmful when individuals feel as if they are outcasts.
A television is defined as “a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic (black and white) or color, usually accompanied by sound” (Webster’s). Since the invention of this device in the 1930’s, people have been able to be entertained by various television shows in the privacy and comfort of their own home. Although each of these shows relate to different age groups, nationalities, race, and genders, they all seem to have one thing in common. They all act out and portray the stereotypes placed on people because of their age, sex, job, culture, race, look, and position in the household. Due to these different categories being presented in the media pre conceived notions are formed about how people should behave, specifically men and women. Women generally take care and men take charge. But why does the television represent this “take care” and “take charge” image of women and men? In this paper, I will focus on one of the highly popularized television shows that viewers watch today; Desperate Housewives. Using this television show, I will be able to show and analyze how women are represented in the media and why they are represented this way.