The document discusses how gender is a social construct rather than purely biological. It explores how traditional representations of masculinity and femininity in media enforced rigid gender roles and stereotypes. However, feminism in the 1960s challenged this patriarchal system and pushed for more equal representations. Today, gender roles are less defined but media still often relies on stereotypes for both female and male characters. While progress has been made, further work is still needed for portrayals to realistically reflect people's varied experiences.

2.  Gender is not wholly biological but refers to
a socially constructed set of behaviour
patterns
 Your sex, whether you are male or female, is
biologically determined.
 However, femininity/masculinity are
culturally determined and a matter of choice
– they refer to patterns of behaviour and
qualities that we normally associate with
being female or being male.

3.  Tofamiliarise ourselves with common
representations of each gender
 Tolook at how these representations are
constructed through micro and macro
elements

4.  As we grow up, we ‘learn’ what is expected in
terms of our gender identity from a range of
sources: parents, school, books, the media, peer
pressure…
 The power to conform is so strong in us that we
tend to copy the gender models we see. Thus, by
the time we have stared school, most of us have
‘learnt’ how to be masculine or feminine as our
culture defines it.
 Think about the way girls are often dressed in
pink and bought ‘domesticating’ toys like dolls
and play ovens whereas boys are usually dressed
in blues and non-pastel colours and given toys
like guns, construction sets and cars, developing
skills that are outside the domestic sphere.

6.  Overtime the two genders have developed
quite distinct and often oppositional gender
codes – activities, spheres of activity and
qualities that are deemed to be exclusive to
only one group.
 Task
In groups draw up a list divided into columns
and label one side masculine and the other
feminine and see what traditional associations
you make with each gender under the headings
on the next slide.

7.  Colours
 Clothes
 Toys
 Jobs
 Leisure Activities
 Responsibilities in the
home
 Drinks on a night out
 A typical night out
 Favourite genre of film
 Typical character qualities

8. • What do you notice about these
different ideas associated traditionally
with each gender?
• What image do they conjure up of each
group?

9.  Traditionallymen have held power in our
society – this system where men have the
power and control in society is called
PATRIARCHY. The result of this is that male
qualities and attributes have generally been
seen to be superior to female attributes.
Consider, for example, the fact that
traditionally it was the eldest son who
inherited – even if he had several older
sisters!

10.  This
was often reflected in the media as
most media companies were run by men!
 Task:
We will now look at two short extracts – see if
you can see how these traditional ideas about
gender were reflected?
1- Goldfinger
2- Calamity Jane

11.  GOLDFINGER_Man_Talkppt.mp4

13.  From the 1960s onward, feminism challenged
patriarchy, seeking to gain equality for
women. They gained increased respect,
opportunities and legislation for women,
giving them the chance to step into what has
once been men’s shoes…

14.  Suddenly it wasn’t unusual for women to:
 Have a serious career
 Wear trousers
 Smoke, drink & swear
 Play football
 Downplay the domestic goddess role
And we started seeing men switch some roles
too:
o The house husband/ stay at home dad
o Men started to get into cooking
o Male grooming products

15.  Suddenly gender roles were less ridged and
defined and this often reflected in the newer
media representations.
 Task:
 Again, we will look at two short extracts to
see how men and women are being
represented today.
 1- Million Dollar Baby
 2- Aero Melt advert,

16.  This doesn’t mean it’s all out with the old and
in with the new. If you watch TV or film, you will
still find many of the older, more traditional
representations of gender alongside some of the
new.
 This reflects our varied views of gender roles
today – a recent study has shown that increasing
numbers of modern women are rejecting the
feminist legacy of the working mother and
moving back into the home and more traditional
feminine roles. They see this not as retreat but
their right – to choose a role that fulfils them
rather than adopt one men or other women say
is right.

17.  Thefollowing slides go into even more detail
of how the different genders are
represented.

18.  Feminism has been around for over 30
years yet media representations of women
are worryingly the same.
Representations of women across all media
tend to
highlight the following:
 beauty (within narrow conventions)
 size/physique (again, within narrow conventions)
 sexuality (as expressed by the above)
 emotional (as opposed to intellectual) dealings
 relationships (as opposed to independence/
freedom)

19.  Women are often represented as being
part of a context
(family, friends, colleagues) and
working/thinking as part of a team. In
drama, they tend to take the role of helper
(Propp) or object, passive rather than
active.
 Often their passivity extends to victimhood.
Men are still represented as TV drama
characters up to 3 times more frequently
than women, and tend to be the
predominant focus of news stories.

20.  The representations of women that do make
it onto page and screen do tend to be
stereotypical, in terms of conforming to
societal expectations, and characters who do
not fit into the mould tend to be seen as
dangerous and deviant.

21.  Discussionsof women's representation in the
media tend to revolve around the focus on
physical beauty to the near-exclusion of
other values, the lack of powerful female
role models, and the extremely artificial
nature of such portrayals, which bear little
or no relation to the reality experience by
women across the planet.

22. 'Masculinity' is a concept that is made up
of more rigid stereotypes than
femininity. Representations of men
across all media
tend to focus on the following:
 Strength - physical and intellectual
 Power
 Sexual attractiveness (which may be
based on the above)
 Physique
 Independence (of thought, action)

23.  Male characters are often represented as
isolated, as not needing to rely on others
(the lone hero). If they submit to being
part of a family, it is often part of the
resolution of a narrative, rather than an
integral factor in the initial balance.
 It is interesting to note that the male
physique is becoming more important a
part of representations of masculinity.
'Serious' Hollywood actors in their forties
(eg Willem Dafoe, Kevin Spacey) are
expected to have a level of 'buffness' that
was not aspired to even by young heart-
throbs 40 years ago (check out Connery in
Thunderball 1965).

25.  Increasingly, men are finding it as difficult
to live up to their media representations as
women are to theirs. This is partly because
of the increased media focus on
masculinity - think of the growing market
in men's magazines, both lifestyle and
health - and the increasing emphasis on
even ordinary white collar male workers
(who used to sport their beer-gut with
pride) having the muscle definition of a
professional swimmer.
 Anorexia in teenage males has increased
alarmingly in recent years, and recent high
school shootings have been the result of
extreme body consciousness among the
same demographic group.

26.  As media representations of masculinity
become more specifically targeted at
audiences with product promotion in mind
(think of the huge profits now made from
male fashion, male skin & hair care
products, fitness products such as
weights, clothing etc), men are
encouraged (just as women have been for
many years) to aspire to be like (to
look/behave in the same way) the role
models they see in magazines.
 This is often an unrealistic target to
set, and awareness of this is growing.