Gender Roles In Sister Television

The hit show "Sister Sister" aired between 1994 and 1999 starring Tia and Tamera two twins who were separated at birth and adopted by a different parent. The twins meet shopping at a clothing store in the mall; this encounter leads to the two families becoming one and living under one roof. Despite being fraternal twins, Tia and Tamera are completely different. Tia is extremely literate and from inner-city Detroit, while Tamera is mostly concerned with attractive males and comes from the Suburbs. The sister 's differences are magnified throughout the entire series. Typically, people expect those who come from well-educated and affluent households to be more literate, "Sister, sister, instead debunks this through challenging the influence of

According to Rebecca Feasey a lot of research has been done on gender roles in television, but when examining gender roles, male stereotypes are evaluated less. “The topic that has dominated and continues to dominate the burgeoning field is that of gender roles and sex role stereotyping… However, if one considers that the term ‘gender studies’ has until very recently been synonymous with women’s studies, and that literature on the representation of sex in the mass media tends to focus on an examination of femininity and a woman’s role in film” (Feasey,2008). Tamera’s father, Ray is a successful business man who own a limousine company and has pride in living in an affluent suburban area. Ray speaks in proper English, avoids sentence brakes, and speaks in an accent that isn 't connected with the African American community, unlike Lisa. As well as, displays blatant male dominate characteristics. In (season 6 ep.11) Ray says "...now red wing tickets, it 's obvious what she 's after, me." Ray suggest that he finds himself as alluring while suggesting that Lisa 's club, the professional black women of Detroit, is

The inability for others to distinct them from each other is emphasized in many episodes more prevalently the first. While shopping at the same store the sales clerk has issues pleasing both twins not knowing that they aren’t the same person and the girls being unaware of one another 's presents. Once, together the girls are unable to separate themselves enough from others to distinct the two despite having different personalities. "One’s own face is the most distinctive feature of the bodily self, and people typically show a clear advantage in recognizing their own face even more than other very familiar identities...monozygotic twins represent a unique model for exploring self-face processing." (Peter James Hills, 2014). Identity development begins with distinct knowledge physical self. Identical twins may seem to be at a slight disadvantage when beginning to formulate self because of extremely similar physical characteristics. However, twins can develop this a little better than others. The issue with identical twins lies with getting others to distinct them. In “Sister Sister” the girls struggle to develop separately as they age because despite recognizing the need for separation themselves others weren’t able to. The fight to set their selves apart from one another to others further pushes Tia’s more intelligent behavior; Tia reads more and pushes to achieve more so