How does the media portray stereotypes and how it influences us

What are gender stereotypes?

“Women are weak.” “Men are strong. They don’t cry.” “It’s a woman’s responsibility to nurture the child.” Have you ever heard of or spoken about such things?

We tend to hear and speak of such stereotypes very often because of the factors that influence us.

A view or preconceptions about attributes, or a role that is to be followed or performed by men and women is known as a gender stereotype (also known as sexism).

How does the media portray gender stereotypes?

Over the years, the classic representation of gender stereotypes in media has reduced to an extent, however, they are more or less still there.

Have you watched commercials that portray females doing all the household work and men working in an office? Have you noticed that females are mostly shown in cosmetics/beauty products and domestic product commercials and men are mostly shown in an office, bank, business, and car commercials?

Have you felt that women are portrayed as sex objects, with full-body shots, whereas men usually have a close-up shot?

These are some ways commercials embody gender stereotypes. Let’s look at other forms of media as well.

In advertising and magazines, females are portrayed as slim, young and with glamour whereas, men are portrayed as strong and tough.

How does it influence us?

What we observe, we learn! This is known as observational learning. We observe the stereotypes depicted, retain the information or behaviour and we imitate those behaviours.

According to research, children below four years of age are more likely to select gender-typed toys if they have seen same-sex models play with such toys on television. (Aysen Bakir & Kay M. Palan (2010) How are Children’s Attitudes Toward Ads and Brands Affected by Gender-Related Content in Advertising?, Journal of Advertising, 39:1, 35-48, DOI: 10.2753/JOA0091-3367390103)

How to get away with stereotypes?

Gender stereotypes are usually learned in childhood. Hence, it is important to educate and learn from the start.

Let toys be toys – Don’t stereotype toys! Let a boy play with dolls and let a girl play with cars.

Question stereotypes when you hear them – “Why can’t a girl play football? My sister is part of the football team.” “Why can’t boys wear pink? My brother does.”

Don’t classify jobs as male and female jobs –

Stop segregating jobs on the basis of gender.

Media has a great influence on us. Hence, we tend to follow the way media portrays gender stereotypes. It is important to understand what are facts and what are stereotypes.