Family Guy Gender Roles

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Recommended: Representation of genders in media

Michelle Johnson Mpj5106 SCA # 2 Family Guy is an animated television show that follows the life of an American family. This show depicts its characters in a gender stereotypical way. Peter, the father, acts typical to his gender role. He is the “man of the house”, working at an assembly line job to bring in money for the family and then coming home to watch television and drink beer for the rest of the day. Peter’s wife, Louis, is portrayed as a nagging housewife character. The family also includes 3 children and a talking dog character. Notably, the teenage girl character, Meg, is presented as a character that everyone constantly tears down. The other characters consistently make fun of her and treat her as though she were incredibly ugly. This show enforces gender …show more content…

This contradicts the reality, that men and women are more similar than different, as well as movements such as Liberal Feminism. Liberal Feminism posits that men and women are equals in society. A significant example of inequality in the show is Meg’s treatment by the other characters. In the episodes where she appears, Meg is punished for her plain looks and is constantly made the butt of the joke. However, she is never allowed to make any jokes of her own. Many of the other men on the show are also implied to be average looking yet they are allowed to create jokes while Meg can only be made fun of. This has several implications. First, that beautiful women have value, while average or unattractive women do not other than being an object to ridicule. Further, that men, regardless of looks can be successful and funny while women cannot. Even the women characters that are considered more attractive still cannot reach the same level of the men. Lois is one of the better represented women, but still does not get to make many jokes and is portrayed as nagging while characters like Peter are

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