This document discusses common stereotypes portrayed on television. It notes that television often presents oversimplified or exaggerated generalizations about groups based on attributes like gender, age, race, job and culture. Some key stereotypes highlighted include portrayals of women as focused on appearance and dependent on men, portrayals of minorities progressing from non-recognition to respect, and stereotypical depictions of groups like Native Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans and Arabs. The document examines how different demographic groups are represented, or often misrepresented, on television.

2. Overview
 Portrayals on television construct reality
 Television often presents stereotypical images.
 Stereotype is a generalization about a person or
group of people.
 In the absence of real experience, television's
stereotypical representations may be all we
know about some people or groups of people.

3. Common Stereotypes on
Television
 Sex (women and men, boys and girls)
 Age (old people, young people, teenagers)
 Jobs (teacher, model, truck driver, doctor, lawyer)
 Culture (Arab, French, Irish, Italian)
 Race (black, white, Asian, Hispanic)
 Looks (beautiful, ugly, 'nerdy')
 Position in a family (mother, father, sister, brother,
grandmother, grandfather)

4. Presentations of Women
 (A) Frequency of appearance on TV
 1. There are twice as many men as women in
television prime time dramas.
 2. There are 3-4 times as many men as women in
children's TV programs and cartoons.
 3. Music videos on TV show twice as many men
as women.

5. Presentations of Women
(cont.)
 4. A substantial minority of TV news anchors and
weathercasters are now women, although very few
sportcasters are.
 5. Only 10% of those interviewed on news shows are
women.
 6. Only in soap operas are women well represented
in numbers and in professional career roles.

6. Presentation of Women
(cont.)
 (B) Presentations of Women's Roles on TV
 1. Physical Appearance:
 women on TV are usually young and beautiful (usually under 30) and must
fight aging.
Dove video 1 Dove video 2
 The ideal portrayal of feminine beauty, especially in advertising is very
unusual body type, namely very tall, very thin, and small-hipped – the
model body-type
 2. Women are usually portrayed in nonprofessional roles.

7. Presentation of Women
(cont.)
 3. Breast-feeding
 Ads, and sometimes
photos in feature
magazines stories, show
women breast-feeding
in very revealing poses,
when in fact an infant
can be nursed in public
quite discreetly.

8. Presentation of Women
(cont.)
 4. Women are also usually seen as:
 a. dependent on men, needing protection
 b. often using their sex to manipulate men and get what
they want
 c. often the victims of violence--or the subtle message is
sent that women are really "asking for it" as in Luke and
Laura/General Hospital
 d. not seen making important decisions
 e. current trends to undo the old stereotypes emphasize
the new "superwoman" who can handle a career, be a
sexy wife, and a do-it-all mom.

9. Portayals of Men on TV
 1. More often employed in high-status jobs and
careers.
 2. More dominant, violent, powerful than women.
They are professionally competent but bunglers when
it comes to household and parenting skills.
 3. Men drive, drink and smoke more, engage more in
athletic activities.
 4. Men are emotionless.

10. Portayals of Men on TV
(cont.)
 5. Men are young, attractive, but appear obsessed
with their upper-body physiques and the need for a full
head of hair.

11. Portrayals of Minority Groups
 4 stages:
 1. Nonrecognition
 2. Ridicule
 3. Regulation (protectors, police, firemen)
 4. Respect (full range of roles as majority)

12. Older Americans/Senior
Citizens
 1. Very few of central characters on TV are over 65.
 2. 62-70% of older Americans in TV are men (but
only 40% of population over 65 = men).
 3. Characters often treated with disrespect.
 4. Physically and mentally weak, feeble, in poor
health.

13. Older Americans/Senior
Citizens (cont.)
 5. Either sexless or dirty old men
 6. Doing trivial things--bingo, sitting in rockers
 7. Physically unattractive, wearing dowdy
clothing
 6. Complaining and ill-humored

14. African Americans
 12% of US population in the last Census (2000)
 Early days of TV, African Americans were largely
unseen. Movie roles often ridiculed them or showed
them as comedic characters.
 With the civil rights movement of the 1960s,
television began to provide more even-handed
presentations of African Americans, and they
appeared in many starring roles in prime time
sitcoms, although they were still often shown as
buffoons. The Cosby Show was a big break-through
for acceptance of African American programming
success.

15. African Americans (cont.)
 Now African Americans actually make up a
larger percentage of prime time roles (17%)
than they do the population (12.3%).
 News coverage on local stations still retains
some stereotypical images and often shows
African Americans as perpetrators of violence
and criminal acts at a disproportionate rate to
reality.

16. Latino Presentations on TV
 Make up 12.5% of population (in 2000 Census) but only
2 to 4% of prime time roles.
 Despite great diversity of Hispanic traditions and
heritages, Latino characters are often
stereotyped as:
a. greasy dirty Mexican bandits (in Westerns)
b. Latino women have been stereotyped as harlots,
sex-obsessed
c. buffoons (Ricky Ricardo from I Love Lucy)
 On TV, most Latin characters are male, criminals or law
enforcement officers.

17. Native Americans
Presentations
 1% of US population
 Common stereotypes:
 Bloodthirsty, savages of the American Western
 Wise men
 Now virtually invisible
Video

18. Native Americans
Presentations
 Native American ethnicity: name of schools and
professional sports teams that have nothing to do
with their heritage
 Name and themes for U.S. sports teams:

19. Asian American
Presentations
 Very few roles on TV
 Stereotyped in movies as sinister villains,
often running Chinese laundries or
restaurants
 Now more positively portrayed than most
other minorities in U.S. TV

20. Arab and Arab Americans
 Often stereotyped as terrorists, oil sheiks,
sexual perverts involved in slavery.
 Identification with Islamic religion which is
portrayed as cruel and vicious.
 No balanced portrayals of good things about
Islamic culture and history.

21. Other groups often
stereotyped:
 1. Those with physical disabilities.
 2. Those with psychological disorders.
 3. Gay and Lesbian individuals
Video
 4. Occupations:
 farmers and rural life
 lawyers
 police officers
 doctors, particularly psychiatrists and psychologists
 college students (drinking beer and partying, spring break at
the beach)