This document is a paper on gender stereotypes in media by Suyash Naik submitted on January 9th, 2018 for the class FYBMM. The paper discusses how gender stereotypes have existed since the 1800s and were perpetuated by mass media. Even as feminist movements called for women's equality, traditional stereotypes of women as homemakers and sex objects and men as successful and masculine continued in advertising. Common stereotypes portrayed in media include women as housewives, seductresses, or health-obsessed, while men are shown as muscular and successful or ordinary guys. These stereotypes are often unrealistic and fail to acknowledge strong, independent women.

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Name: Suyash Naik
Roll no: 30
Class: FYBMM
Paper: Media Psychology
Date of submission: 9th
January 2018

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Gender Stereotypes in the Media
Gender stereotyping phenomenon goes back to the 1800s. only when the feminist
movements of the 1960s gained more supporters and started broadening their goals
did gender stereotyping become a questionable issue. The media machine played a
great role in creating gender stereotypes. In fact, to reach out to more audiences
and viewers, to become universal, mass media has played the gender stereotype
card more than often.
Even with the social and economic advances of the feminist movements that called
for women’s equality with men, mass media still perpetuates traditional gender
stereotypes. They portray the subordinate groups in a negative and unrealistic way
so as to implement a certain image in people’s heads and normalize an unfair,
discriminatory behavior.
Gender stereotypes in the media starts from national TV that enters every home
and affects millions and millions of people, the common masses, who constitute
the backbone of any society. Starting from commercials, gender stereotyping is at
its best, because commercials are always targeting a certain social group.
Commercials are a “reflection of the recipient,” women are objects of beauty and
domesticity, always appearing in seductive, full shot ads while men advertise
automobiles and cigarettes and are shown mostly in close-ups.
Female gender stereotypes in the media are either housewives, obsessedover home
appliances, or a sexy seductress, kissing a man to advertise a lipstick or trying on a
new fragrance. Women also appear in men’s commercials, advertisers use them as
a tool to boostthe man’s ego about a new watch or to flirt with him while seduced
by his new fancy toy.

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Another modern female stereotype is the health-obsessed woman. This one appears
in organic food commercials, fitness commercials or beauty-preserving
commercials where she applies anti-wrinkles cream and smiles gracefully -not too
seductively- to the camera.
Of course, the sexy seductress, the health-obsessed Miss graceful or the frantic
housewife are all portrayed unrealistically in terms of looks and bodyimage. These
women are Caucasians, mostly blondes, extremely thin and delicate.
Male gender stereotypes in advertising fall into one of two categories, “the real
man” who is muscular, handsome, chiseled, successfuland a seducer. He is always
with a beautiful, sultry woman tagging along. The second type, which is less
popular, is the ordinary guy who appears in commercials for household products.
This stereotypical male is a bit chubby, homey-looking, smiley and domesticated.
Female stereotyping in movies has not been overcome despite female leads
sweeping off boxoffice tickets and breaking records, especially recently with sci-fi
franchises such as The Hunger Games and Divergent. Still female gender
stereotypes in movies barely acknowledge the strong, independent, woman. In
most movies, women are hyper-attractive, hypersexualized, unrealistic characters.
They are mostly present to please men or to give in to men as the closing credits
roll. Almost all female characters in the movies are praised for their appearance or
physical beauty. Appearance praise is not a bad thing when presented in a healthy
movie environment, but when a female stereotype is confined to this kind of
acclaim, problems ensue.

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Most Common Gender Stereotypes
There are four basic examples of gender stereotypes:
PersonalityTraits: Women are supposedto be shy, passive and submissive.
Women are organized and clean. Men are expected to be tough, aggressive,
dominant and self-confident. Men are lazy and messy.
Domestic Behaviors:Women are supposed to cookand do housework. Women
are better at raising children. Stay-at-home mothers are better than working
mothers. On the other hand: Men are better at household repairs. Men cannot cook,
sew or care for their children. Men always tell their wives what to do.
Occupations: Women are supposedto have “clean” jobs suchas teachers, nurses,
secretaries and librarians. Women are not good at math. Women are supposedto
make less money than men. Women are not politicians. Women cannot be
presidential candidates. On the other hand: Men are supposed to have “dirty jobs”
like mechanics, construction workers, plumbers and engineering. Men are all good
at math. Men are better doctors. Men are supposed to be in charge at work and
should make more money than women. Men are better politicians.
PhysicalAppearance: Generally speaking, women are expected to be short and
slender, small and delicate while men are supposed to be tall with broad shoulders.
However, physical appearance gender stereotyping varies from culture to culture.
In cultures where men are small in size, masculinity is determined by acting
macho. Acting macho for men would mean getting involved in fights, drinking
alcohol, smoking unfiltered cigarettes and getting into fights. Female gender
stereotype occurs for women who act “macho” in some cultures. Women who
smoke, drink, and swear often are considered “masculine”.

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