In the essay “Your Princess Is in Another Castle: Misogyny, Entitlement, and Nerds,” Arthur Chu argues that society forces the practice of competition between “nerds” and men to see who can prove their masculinity by “winning the girl” (5). Failure to obtain “entitlement” is followed by mockery, leading to misogyny and spiteful acts (32). Chu redundantly lists the television shows and movies that incorporate the idea of competition as their main point of focus. He uses Steve Urkel from Family Matters to provide the reader with a visual image of what the media is promoting: nerds “fixating” on unattainable women only to be shot down once again (6). Society uses the media to spread the illusion of competition that always has the same, perpetual
outcome. These subliminal messages formed an “entitlement culture,” thus making the media an advocate to the idea. (32). Chu successively lists six different characters/actors, which are also victims of misleading competition to show the consistency in the plots. He deliberately organizes this to illustrate how both are identical: they are consecutive and publicized without hesitation. These series have the same storyline and character roles time after time. He uses this feature to display the constant real-life situational outcomes. At one point Chu asks, “What the fuck is wrong with us?” (30). He is eager to know why “nerds” fall for the same hoax repeatedly just as the shows reiterate the constant plot. It is an ongoing cycle produced by the foremost factors in life, humanity.
In the article “Male-Bashing on TV,” published in PopMatters (2003), the author Michael Abernethy, wants gender stereotypes to stop. He mentions how most of all these television advertisements and shows put men down, and how men need the help of a women. Abernethy starts off with a short anecdote of when he had a hard day from work and sits down to watch some tv. Over the next two hours of watching a television show he notices that there are four men who are nothing like him, because the show portrays them as selfish and lazy, inconsiderate husbands and poor parents. Not only does Abernethy see male bashing on television shows but also on tv ads. For instance on a digital camera ad, it shows a man looking for items in a picture that his wife
Misogynistic Confinement Yellow Wallpaper depicts the nervous breakdown of a young woman and is an example as well as a protest of the patriarchal gender based treatments of mental illness women of the nineteenth century were subjected to. The narrator begins the story by recounting how she speculates there may be something wrong with the mansion they will be living in for three months. According to her, the price of rent was way too cheap and she even goes on to describe it as “queer”. However, she is quickly laughed at and dismissed by her husband, who as she puts it “is practical in the extreme.” As the story continues, the reader learns that the narrator is thought to be sick by her husband John, yet she is not as convinced as him.
Since the dawn of man and women, the issue of gender role has existed. Throughout history the norms of each gender have shifted. The two texts of Beowulf and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, both support a single sex, but are on opposite sides of the spectrum. Beowulf, written in around 800 AD represents the time of men superiority over women, who were the dominant figures in society and their families. On the other hand, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, depicts the contrary, the time of the 1960’s where women’s power grew stronger in contrast to men. In each test the power of each gender is perceived as threatening to the opposite sex, to keep in place, the supremacy of their own gender.
In this paper I argue that self-objectification is created and perpetuated by the mass media through the critiquing of mainstream films and television shows: Clueless and Gossip Girl. These forms of media glorify the dominant culture’s forms of capital that produce the thin, white, rich, feminine female protagonist. I will analyze how mainstream white male producers prioritize the white narrative and exclude girls of color from mainstream media through the internalization of the thin white image.
Michael Abernathy’s article “Male Bashing on TV” uses many television sources and percentages to explain how men are treated like idiots inside of the media. Abernathy is a television reviewer, cultural critic, and queer culture commentator (350). While Heather Havrilesky's article “TV’s New Wave of Women:Smart, Strong, Borderline Insane” is the opposite and uses television sources to explain how women are treated as smart yet crazy inside of the media. These two articles describe how men and women are portrayed differently in television shows and the media. The articles have smaller subtopics in common which are the portrayal of men and women in the media, the comparison of men and women in each article, and how Abernathy and Havrilesky want
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.
Everyone follows certain rules and acts a certain way. Simon says your Princess Peach or Mario and you can only have the green property if you’re Mario. The question though is where do we learn these rules? Who tells us how to perform these gender roles? We learn about gender through many different sources, but most prominently is media. In American culture, media constructs gender roles through the submissive and objectifying portrayal of women in television, the rendering of masculinity as violent, and the gendered consumer image created by magazines. These aspects show us how to play the game; they set the board for us to traverse.
The Ugly Truth, a film which was released in 2009, displays many particular stereotypes and gender issues which we find within American society. Gender is made up of socially constructed ideas which are reinforced by society in regards to what it means to be masculine or feminine. We first learn gender from our parents; however they too had to first learn it from their families and society. Within the American society, the media takes on a large role in creating gender norms. The media is made up of films, magazines, television programs, and news papers. The Ugly Truth, although a funny film, perpetuates these stereotypes and ideas of gender provided by our society.
In today 's society, women have been getting more attention on important issues that affect their lives. Feminism is becoming more popular and people are starting to realize the inequality that woman face is more than just a small scale issue. The sexism and oppression that are the result of living in a patriarchal society, play a large role in how women in our culture are treated. The effects that living in this society have had on the individuals that take part in these societies, are very commonly highlighted by the media. The objectification of women in the media has become a very serious issue. Although at first glance this may not seem to be such a problem, but these constant objectifications in the media subliminally become an acceptable reality for men and women alike. “Conflict theorists argue that gender inequality
Gender stereotypes and biasses exist in media. In most situations, women are associated with more negative stereotypes and their portrayals can “undermine their presence by being “hyper-attractive” or “hyper-sexual” and/or passive” (Smith, 2008). In The Wolf of Wall Street women are objectified. They are treated
A number of popular television shows and films filling mainstream media today have taken a spin to promote women to main character roles of power and command. The traits of these female characters, however, become illusionary as plots thicken to reveal their status to be subordinate to leading male character roles; of which are typically controlling or manipulative over gender stereotypic female traits within the script. While media is being blindly applauded for their newfound glorification of women in power, there remains an underlying message of male supremacy in more than many broadcasted portrayals. Today’s mainstream television media delivers a notion that only a man can pave way for the merit of a woman.
As more people are claiming their rights and being accepted by society, the media is forced to reach the obedience in a modern way. Women are fighting for they equal right and starting to play leading role in movie and TV shows. For example, not so long ago, I watched “She’s the Man” a movie played in 2006 by Amanda Bynes and Channing Tatum. Byrne’s character, Viola been playing soccer in place of his brother who didn’t want anything to do with soccer or any other sports for that matter. Bynes is really good at soccer and loves sport. She didn’t let herself brake by the tough guys in her team who think she was a man. She subsequently shows the absurdity of gender biases by being the best at what she loves. This type of movie prove there is nothing abnormal to our behavior and it do not make us less of a person when do not conform to norm of
“Girl fights” became an expectation on reality television (Isaac). Much like a child, adults learn from what they see. Television shows show successful, skinny, beautiful women fighting over unnecessary subjects. The women on television trigger drama and unfortunately, that is what keeps viewers entertained. Most women complain about having too much drama, but they religiously tune into their favorite reality television shows to keep up with their drama. Somewhere along the years "successful" turned from happy and healthy to skinny, popular, and rich, and "beauty" turned from genuine and kind to thin and fashionable. Ironically, these perspectives changed as the entertainment industry evolved to portray these norms.
Gender stereotyping has been ongoing throughout history. The media has been distorting views by representing gender unrealistically and inaccurately. It created an image of what "masculinity" or "femininity" should be like and this leads to the image being "naturalized" in a way (Gail and Humez 2014). The media also attempts to shape their viewers into something ‘desirable’ to the norm. This essay will focus on the negative impacts of gender-related media stereotypes by looking at the pressures the media sets on both women and men, and also considering the impacts on children.
Society has stamped an image into the minds of people of how the role of each gender should be played out. There are two recognized types of gender, a man and a woman, however there are many types of gender roles a man or a woman may assume or be placed into by society. The ideas of how one should act and behave are often times ascribed by their gender by society, but these ascribed statuses and roles are sometimes un-welcomed, and people will assume who they want to be as individuals by going against the stereotypes set forth by society. This paper will examine these roles in terms of how society sees men and women stereotypically, and how men and women view themselves and each other in terms of stereotypes that are typically ascribed, as well as their own opinions with a survey administered to ten individuals. What I hope to prove is that despite stereotypes playing a predominant role within our society, and thus influencing what people believe about each other in terms of their same and opposite genders, people within our society are able to go against these ascribed stereotypes and be who they want and it be okay. Through use of the survey and my own personal history dealing with gender stereotyping I think I can give a clear idea as to how stereotypes envelope our society, and how people and breaking free from those stereotypes to be more individualistic.