Gender Stereotypes In The Media Essay

The way media displays gender stereotypes affects the development of children. Children grow up watching television and listening to music. These factors lead children to act and behave a certain way in what is displayed. For example, if a show demonstrates a young girl acting dumb in her class, a young female viewer may believe she is dumb since it is how her gender is displayed. Furthermore, these gender stereotypes in the media can lead to identity crises, lower self-esteem, and issues in relationships. Thus, children should be educated on gender stereotypes that exist by family and peers while others as a society try to omit these stereotypes.

Gender stereotypes starts back when Elvis Presley, an American icon that sang and acted ("the king"), performed his signature move thrusting his pelvis. According to "'Shake It Baby, Shake It': Media Preferences, Sexual Attitudes and Gender Stereotypes Among Adolescents", the performance of Elvis was seen

as inappropriate for children to watch and thus, "Worried parents, educators, and entertainment industry executives, pressured TV channels to have him filmed from his waist up, when performing on TV" (Bogt, Engels, Bogers, and Kloosterman 14). Clearly, parents did not appreciate the form of sexualization shown from Elvis for their children to watch.
Also, we date back to when feminist upraised and demanded equality. For example, we can date back to when the iconic poster "We Can Do It" was shown in the media. The poster is seen as the beginning of feminism. When in reality the poster is built on misconceptions it is still widely used today in our media to illustrate feminism. According to "Visual Rhetoric Representing Rosie The Riveter: Myth and Misconception in J. Howard Miller's 'WE CAN DO IT!' Poster", is poster's view today may be different from before as stated in the following: "his prints strongly suggest the women's loyalty to feminine domesticity and presentation of self that are not even close to what modern thinkers would consider feminist" (Kimble, J. J., & Olson, L. C.). Either way, many women began looking up to this poster portrayed in the media and realized that change needs to be done and thus, feminism rose.
Moreover, gender stereotypes are not an issue of the past, but one that still affects many people today, including students.

For example, in The Harms of Crime Media: Essays on the Perpetuation of Racism, Sexism and Class Stereotypes discuss the issue with gender and school shootings stating, "However, gender-oriented dialogue will never be integrated into the media’s discourse about this issue if the media do not even recognize school shootings as a gender-specific problem — one that is perpetrated almost exclusively by boys and young men"(Bissler & Conners 54). Today school shootings are a huge problem in the United States and is a problem because of the media showing most of these school shooters to be male can be a motive for it. Clearly, one should not state that all men are potential "school shooters", but to bring awareness that the gender bias can influence the youth. Gender bias meaning to be in favor of a certain gender. Gender stereotypes in the media lead children to the discussions based on what is

shown.
As a result, the issue of the media impacting young audience with gender stereotypes has a negative effect on a child's self-esteem. In "Media’s Influence on Gender Stereotypes", advertisement of young women is discussed saying "If most images present passive women, rather than smart, capable women, then young girls may think that they will be rewarded for mimicking the media’s representations" (Goodall 2). Thus, these advertisements affect young girls on how they should look and act according to the media. This can lead to viewing themselves less and becoming insecure of their image. Also, Julia Wood, a professor of humanities and an author, considers how the media damages the view of men in society. For instance, she states "television programming for all ages disproportionately depicts men, particularly white heterosexual men, as serious, confident, competent and powerful”, thus teaching, “boys and men that to be a ‘real man’ means to be powerful and in control (Goodall 3). By the media showing young boys that is how an adult male should act, they will believe white heterosexual males are superior and they must always be incontrol. This affects minorities and boys discovering their sexual preferences. In Aging, Media, and Culture, it is discussed how "Most Western cultures connect 'successful' aging to consumerism, so that people literally buy in to the need for products and services designed to hide signs of aging. A youthful appearance’s value connects to a heteronormative standard of attraction"(Harrington 146). Hence, many young females may fear aging or believe they should look a certain way when older. For this reason, many children discovering themselves may fall into the negative gender stereotypes showed in media impacting the way they think of themselves and how they should be because of what is showing in the media. The way media illustrates gender stereotypes will lead to children to have lower self-esteems growing since, they will believe they have to look a certain way. Thus, parents will need to discuss the negative feelings that may come from gender stereotypes displayed in the media to their young viewers. They can explain that some people want to act/ be a certain way and that is what they may show in the media, but their kids are always open to choose the gender that will make them feel best and avoid the media that negatively affects them.