This document discusses several key concepts related to gender representation in media, including stereotypes, hegemonic norms, and the male gaze. It provides examples of how women and men have traditionally been depicted in stereotypical ways on television through housewives and sex symbols for women, and courageous risk-takers for men. While progress has been made, primetime TV and films still disproportionately portray male characters and underrepresent women and minorities. The media plays a role in socializing viewers and normalizing certain perspectives.

1. Gender
-Hamzah Ehsan

2. • Gender- the state of being male or female (typically used
with reference to social and cultural differences rather
than biological ones).

3. • Mediation- refers to what media do, and to what we do with the media. It is a
term that defines the media, both the media of mass communication (radio,
television, the world wide web, but also the press) ... as actively creating a
symbolic and cultural space in which meanings are created and
communicated beyond the constraints of the face to face ... Readers, viewers
and audiences are part of this process of mediation, because they continue
the work of the media in the ways they respond to, extend and further
communicate what they see and hear on the world’s multitude of screens and
speakers.

4. • Stereotype- A stereotype may be defined as a popular
belief about specific social/ethnic groups or types of
individuals and it is broadly standardized or simplified
conceptions of groups based on some prior assumptions.
The stereotypes sometimes can have negative or positive
impacts on individuals

5. • Archetype- A universal type or model of character that is
found in many different texts, e.g. ingénue, anti-hero, wise
old woman, hero-as-lover, hero-as-warrior, shadow
trickster, mentor, loyal friend, temptress

6. • Hegemonic norms- In Marxist philosophy, the term
cultural hegemony describes the domination of a culturally
diverse society by the ruling class, who manipulate the
culture of that society — the beliefs, explanations,
perceptions, values, and mores — so that their ruling-
class worldview becomes the worldview that is imposed
and accepted as the cultural norm

7. • Male Gaze- The male gaze is a concept coined by
feminist film critic Laura Mulvey. It refers to the way visual
arts are structured around a masculine viewer. It
describes the tendency in visual culture to depict the
world and women from a masculine point of view and in
terms of men's attitudes.

8. Gender- Depiction of Women
• The representation of males and females on the television screen has been a subject of much
discussion since the television became commercially available in the late 1930s. In 1964, the
feminist Betty Friedan claimed that “television has represented the American Woman as a “stupid,
unattractive, insecure little household drudge who spends her martyred mindless, boring days
dreaming of love—and plotting nasty revenge against her husband.” In the 1960s the shows I Dream of
Jeannie and Bewitched insinuated that the only way that a woman could escape her duties was to use
magic. Industry analysis Shari Anne Brill of Carat USA states, “For years, when men were behind the
camera, women were really ditsy. Now you have female leads playing superheroes, or super business
women”. The stereotypes of women as housewives or presented as sex symbols continued throughout
the 1980s and arguably to a lesser extent in the 21st century.

9. Gender- Depiction of Men
• While the depiction of women is confined to either the housewife or the ditsy bombshell, men
are also depicted in unrealistic stereotypes - however, in general these stereotypes embody
qualities--courage, stoicism, rationality--that society values. Many primetime dramas of the
1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s drew on the "masculine" emphasis of genres successful in
other, prior media forms--novels, films, and radio. The western, the detective/police thriller,
science fiction, and the medical drama featured controlling male characters, having
adventures, braving danger, solving problems through reason and/or violence.

10. Gender Inequality
• Prime time television since the 1950s has been aimed at and catered towards males.
In 1952, 68% of characters in primetime dramas were male; in 1973, 74% of
characters in these shows were male. In 1970 the National Organization for Women
(NOW) took action. They formed a task force to study and change the “derogatory
stereotypes of women on television.” In 1972 they challenged the licences of two
network-owned stations on the basis of their sexist programming.
• In more recent research:
• On primetime cable news programs, more than three-quarters of the hosts are white
men and less than a quarter are white women. None of the hosts are people of colour.
The typical guest on these shows is white and male; overall, 67 percent of the guests
are men and 84 percent are white.
• In children's television, male characters appear at about twice the rate of female
characters.
• Animated programs in particular are more likely to portray male characters.
• Females are almost four times as likely to be presented in sexy attire
• In a study of G-rated films from 1990-2005, only 28 percent of the speaking characters
(both live and animated) were female. More than four out of five of the narrators were
male. Eighty-five percent of the characters were white

11. Mediation
• Every time we encounter a media text, we are not seeing
reality, but someone’s version of it
• This may seem like an obvious point, but it is something that is
easily forgotten when we get caught up in enjoying a text. If
you see a picture of a celebrity kissing her boyfriend, you may
find it unsurprising that the picture has been altered and does
not show the reality of the situation, but in fact we should bear
this in mind whatever we encounter in the media.
• The media place us at one remove from reality: they take
something that is real, a person or an event and they change
its form to produce whatever text we end up with. This is called
mediation. You should be looking for this with any media text.

12. Stereotypes
• The media often uses and misrepresents stereotypes; however, they are significantly accepted by
people among society. TV shows such as the Simpsons are packed with stereotypes within its
broadcast of half an hour. The Simpsons contains a large number of audience that watch the show
daily as it is broadcasted during prime time. Characters such as Apu are highly discriminated and
stereotyped. On this show Apu is characterized as an Indian immigrant, who prays to Ganesh, and
holds a highly noticeable and dissimilar accent. This is a stereotype which is observed by young
children and is perceived as humorous; they apply this knowledge towards those they meet in real-life.
Viewers of this show believe this information to be completely accurate for they hold little or no
knowledge about that particular group. Though the stereotypes shown on TV are usually
misrepresented, they are quite well accepted by the audience as the truth. The viewers who watch
these shows on a regular basis do not recognize the biased content, which is being presented. Media
grabs the interests of their audience through comedy, drama, and action which causes the viewers to
disregard the immorality behind the content. Hence, the effectiveness of using such stereotypes
contributes to the popularity of TV shows

13. Hegemonic norms
• Hegemony dates to the Greek verb hegeisthai which translates to “to lead.”
Early leaders who were able to exert a great deal of control and influence
over a group of people might be referred to as hegemons. A hegemon had to
have a great deal of support from at least one dominating class, in order to
keep the people of the state from rebelling against the leadership. Not only
money, but also other forms of dominance can influence the hegemony of
one group. For example, control of the media, up until recently, has
influenced things like what shows get aired, what shows get cancelled, and
the degree to which a television station must censor news or television
shows

14. Male Gaze
• The camera lingers on the curves of the female body, and
events which occur to women are presented largely in the
context of a man's reaction to these events. Relegates
women to the status of objects. The female viewer must
experience the narrative secondarily, by identification with
the male