Share your opinion of the media portrayal of gender, ethnicity, age, and sexual orientation in the electronic media. This can include TV programs, commercials, music videos, and films and be specific

Share your opinion of the media portrayal of gender, ethnicity, age, and sexual orientation in the electronic media. This can include TV programs, commercials, music videos, and films and be specific
STEREOTYPES OF FEMALES AND MALES• Based on the tendency to sort others into gender categories, people assume that certain characteristics, behaviors, and roles are more representative of females and others of males. These are called gender stereotypes. • Stereotypes vary according to the ethnicity of the person holding the stereotype and the age, ethnicity, social class, sexual orienta- tion, and ableness of the target person. • According to social role theory, because peo- ple associate females with the domestic role and males with the employment role, female stereotypes tend to center on communion and male stereotypes on agency. • Women who choose to be called “Ms.” or who use a nontraditional name after marriage are perceived as more agentic and less com- munal than women who prefer conventional titles of address. SEXISM • Large numbers of women have experienced either minor or major sexist incidents. • Several different forms of sexism have been proposed by scholars. Modern sexism is a sub- tle form of sexism, based on egalitarian values combined with underlying negative feelings toward women. Ambivalent sexism includes both hostile and benevolent attitudes. REPRESENTATION OF GENDER IN THE MEDIA • Females are underrepresented in the media. • Certain groups of women are particularly underrepresented, including ethnic minority women, older women, and sexual minority women. • The stigma of aging is greater for women than men. This double standard is based on soci- ety’s emphasis on youthful physical beauty for women. • Although the media do depict women in occupational roles, television features few women who successfully combine family and work roles. • Similarly, various media present messages consistent with the importance of the do- mestic role for women and the provider role for men. • Many forms of media portray males as more agentic than females and show females as being relationship oriented. • Media images emphasize the importance to females of physical attractiveness and sexual- ity. • The media both reinforce and contribute to stereotypes of gender. REPRESENTATION OF GENDER IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE • Numerous English language practices, includ- ing using the masculine generic, spotlighting, and diminutive suffixes for female terms, are based on the assumption that the male is nor- mative. • Other practices that deprecate women include the use of parallel terms, childlike terms, ani- mal and food terms, and sexual terms. • The differential treatment of females and males in language both reflects and helps shape gender images. SummaryChapter 2 Cultural Representation of Gender If You Want to Learn More Armstrong, C.L. (Ed.). (2013). Media disparity: A gen-der battleground. Lanham, MD: Lexington. Bates, L. (2016). Everyday sexism: The project that inspired a worldwide movement. New York: St. Martin’s Press. Blue, M.G. (2017). Girlhood on the Disney Channel: Branding, celebrity, and femininity. New York: Routledge. DeFrancisco, D.P., et al. (2014). Gender in communi- cation: A critical introduction. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Dines, G. & Humez, J.M. (2015). Gender, race and class in media (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Gunter, B. (2014). Media and the sexualization of child- hood. New York: Routledge. Hedenborg, S. & Pfister, G. (Eds.). (2017). Gender, media, sport. New York: Routledge. Hodgson, D. (2016). The gender, culture, and power reader. New York: Oxford University Press. Holstein, M. (2015). Women in late life: Critical perspectives on gender and age. New York: Rowman & Littlefield. Hurd Clarke, L. (2011). Facing age: Women growing older in an anti-aging culture. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Krijnen, T. & Van Bauwel, S. (2015). Gender and media: Representing, producing, consuming. New York: Routledge. Moseley, R., et al. (Eds.) (2017). Television for women: New directions. New York: Routledge. Sales, N.J. (2016). American girls: Social media and the secret lives of teenagers. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Segal, L. (2013). Out of time: The pleasure and perils of aging. London: Verso. Trier-Bienick, A. & Leavy, P. (Eds.). (2014). Gender and pop culture: A text-reader. Rotterdam: Sense. Websites The Media Media Watch http://www.mediawatch.com Representation of Gender in Language Gender-Neutral Language http://dir.yahoo.com/society_and_culture/gender/ gender_neutral_language/