Grey's Anatomy And Gender Roles

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Medical dramas have been around a long time and changes have been made to recreate and reinforce our society. Women and people of color could not and were not physicians on television, film and in the Western world back in the less progressive years. Now there are women, gay people, African Americans, Asians, and many more minorities playing doctors. Television has certain portrayals of femininity and masculinity, even if it has come far. On the episode of Grey’s Anatomy, “Rise Up”, Dr. Owen Hunt asks Dr. Callie Torres about two female surgeons and who he should chose to participate in the solo surgery. One of the candidates, Dr. Cristina Yang, comes into the room to explain the charts to both doctors. She later leaves when asked to go update …show more content…

The reason it is a barrier for women is because Grey’s Anatomy is likely to be perceived as an accurate representation of a hospital by viewers of the show (Quick, 2009, p.50). Dr. Hunt’s line after places Torres in her place and shows women inability to adapt to a man’s field. A male physician only needs to be competent unlike the female physician who has to be competent and physically attractive (Chory-Assad & Tamborini, 2001, p. 516). It seems like the woman has to be more than the man to stand out and she can only do that if she is beautiful. She looks down like she is being scolded. The shift in power can be heard with his dialogue and seen with her non-verbal …show more content…

As Yang pulls up the information Dr. Hunt is waiting behind and he is towering over her frame. He is showing his masculinity through his words and his physicality. He further displays his dominance over both doctors by talking down at them. He talks to them almost like they are nurses or a toddler. Jain and Slater (2013) said, “It appears that female doctors were included more to be seen than heard, at least in their professional roles…” (p. 713), which says that women need to let men do their jobs and not get in the way. The creator of Grey’s Anatomy, Shonda Rhimes, is known to change the status quo with her shows. She has a diverse cast and strong, intelligent women as the leads of her show. They are not only women, but people of color. According to the Bureau of Labor (2016), 31.2 percent of physicians are people of color and 37.9 percent are women, so white men are the majority for this career. Shondra’s shows give the minority their voices. This particular scene overshadows her diverse cast by both Yang and Torres are intelligent surgeons, which is not the status quo, but have the dominant ideology hold the

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