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GENDER STEREOTYPING Robert Pen, sdb
ACTIVITY Materials Required: Ads of Men and Women. Look at the pictures in the advertisements in a newspaper with the following questions in mind: 1. In what way is the product related to the man/woman in the ads? Notice the way they are positioned alone, with others, with the product...) 2. What do the persons in these ads seem to tell us? 3. How would you describe a man/woman, according to what they say: - A man is....... - A woman is..... 4. Is this the picture of men/women you meet in daily life? 5. If not, what is the difference?
1. Media Portrayals of Girls and Women • We all know the stereotypes—the femme fatale, the supermom, the sex kitten, the nasty corporate climber. • Whatever the role, television, film, and popular magazines are full of images of women and girls who are typically white, desperately thin, and made up to the hilt - even after slaying a gang of vampires or dressing down a Greek legion. • Female stereotypes continue to thrive in the media we consume every day. The negative stereotyping of women by media especially with reference to female body objectification and eroticization has ramifications on the body image and self-identity of women in the fields ranging from home to offices and from sports to politics.
2. Media Portrayals of Men and Masculinity • The work of French sociologist Pascal Duret sheds different light on the subject. In his 1999 study Les jeunes et l’identité masculine, Duret attempted to analyze young peoples’ perceptions of male “virility”. • Though responses varied according to sex and social class, most youngsters saw virility in terms of physical strength and a muscular body. Courage, and the ability to protect, were also considered to be virile traits. • In Bollywood films today the male actors like Salman Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, John Abraham, HritikRoshan and Shahrukh Khan are required to show their muscles all the time while winning their violent war like situations. • What these actors had in common was violent scenes in their films, and Duret concluded that even though the young people may have been unaware of their bias, for them violence was an essential aspect of male virility.
3. Impact of Gender Stereotyping in Ads • Ads create images of people that are stereotyped. We spend hours watching TV. We are influenced and tend to imitate the models we see on the screen. • Due to the stereotype images we watch in the advertisements, we learn to deny our natural inclinations and abilities and force ourselves into ill-fitting academic, vocational, and social moulds as suggested by the media images. • We begin to believe that these ad-images are the way we should be. We begin to think their images are our identities. We look at the models and think "this is how I as a man/woman ought to be". • These women are the stereotypes, the models, the `instruments' by which all women in society measure their womanliness, beauty, complexion, taste… Similarly, these men are the stereotypes, the examples for all men to follow-confident, strong, brave, daring, independent, handsome...
4. Reality of Gender • In reality, men and women are very different from the way they are portrayed in the media. • They come in all shapes and sizes, have different features and complexions, and have a variety of problems, anxieties and frustrations. • They face moments of insecurity and doubt as well as moments of insight and security. • They have their beauty as well as their ugliness, their charm as well as their unattractive ways. Ad images of men and women, therefore, do not truthfully represent real men and women.
4. Reality of Gender • The fabrication of ad images of men and women are for other motives: to generate a consumer society for the acceleration of profits. • The statement they would like to establish in the minds of their viewers is: "To be ideal like these models, I need to buy this product." • Here we can easily quote many instances from our day-to-day life that show how ordinary people have shattered their lives trying to adjust to the ideal formula projected by many advertising campaigns: • The many sleepless nights young girls spend in trying to do away with pimples, warts, etc; the anxiety and money wasted in dressing and living like the stars.... • The many hours spent by young boys in the gym to build their muscles like actors…
4. Reality of Gender • The bottom line is that stereotypes are destructive because they limit our potential! This is not to say that it's wrong for guys to like sports or fix cars or for girls to enjoy cooking. (Note: It is important to make this point in order to be sensitive to boys or girls who may feel defensive.) • A stereotype rigidly confirms the belief that if you are a girl or a boy, or a woman or a man, you mustperform these specific roles, and do them well. • This belief takes away our personal choices in determining our own interests and skills. It also discourages men from participating in ‘women's work’ (such as flower arranging and child care) and it restricts women from choosing roles that are traditionally ‘male’ (such as engineering and science).
5. Characteristics of Gender Stereotypes: • 1. Women are 'soft toys’ for the 'boys'. The way they are positioned with men emphasizes their subservience and dependence. They are often shown fawning over men. They wear revealing clothes or take seductive postures-all this in order to grab the attention of men. These are signals of incompleteness or lack of security without their male partners.
Characteristics of Gender Stereotypes: • 2. Men are generally leaders and problem solvers. They are confident, successful, athletic, and always in control of the situation. At other times they are shown as violent and angry. They are mostly shown in the workplace, and only rarely at home. They often keep their attention focused mostly just on women and girls. Male characters on TV cannot be described as “sensitive” as it’s rare to see them crying or otherwise showing vulnerability.
Characteristics of Gender Stereotypes: • 3. When shown alone, men are seen as self-confident and sure. Women instead are often presented as clowns or replaceable entities-not to be taken seriously.
Characteristics of Gender Stereotypes: • 4. Women and men are often shown dismembered in many ads. Yet the signals are not the same: • 4a) Generally, when shown without a face it is not important who the women are as long as they can show off their great legs or silken hair or buxom bosoms. In such cases, their body parts are objects arranged with the purpose of stimulating male sexual appetite. The product is ‘user-friendly’ (seducer-friendly?). Using the product is tantamount to using or seducing a woman, the ad seems to assure the buyer.
Characteristics of Gender Stereotypes: • 4 b) Generally, when shown without a face, the body of a man is used to represent strength, toughness, resistance, caliber, and status. For this his muscles are flexed and taut. Stimulating female sexual appetite may not be the essential purpose of the advertisement as is often the case in the exhibition of female shapes. Instead, the maleness of the model adds durability, toughness, strength, and credibility to the product. The product is 'deified'. Using the product means assimilating strength, confidence and independence into one's life.
Characteristics of Gender Stereotypes: • 5. Usually people in control of their lives stand upright, alert and ready to meet the world. That is the way men appear in many ads. If they are leaning on something (invariably with their hands in their pockets), they are conveying confidence and self-assurance. In contrast, women are often shown yearning; with their body parts bent conveying attitudes of submissiveness, appeasement, incompleteness and availability.
Characteristics of Gender Stereotypes: • 6. When presented with children or their families, men are often portrayed as the ones in command, sturdy, and in control of the situation. When with other men, they are seldom shown touching each other or looking at each other but looking ahead, forging their own destiny. In ads that show them with women, they are in dominant positions, behind, above women (and children). They are the ones in control.
QUESTION • What can we do to break such stereotypes? • How can we participate in breaking the stereotypes of the past and forging new patterns of gender behavior in our families, neighborhood, society at large ?
