Gender Stereotypes in Media Essay example -- Media Stereotyping of Me

The judgments we make about people, events or places are based on our own direct impressions. But for most of the knowledge, we rely on media. The media actually re-present the world to us. However, the media only shows us some aspects of the world, ignoring the rest. So basically, the media chooses what is to be shown and what is to be discarded (Andrew Pilkington and Alan Yeo (2009)). . In this essay, I will explain what stereotypes are and primarily give an example of a famous men’s magazine called ‘nuts’ and explain how these stereotypes are created by print and the digital media and what are their impacts on people. Stereotypes can be defined as an exaggerated belief about an individual or a group based on their appearance, behavior or beliefs. Though our world seems to be improving in many other ways, it seems almost impossible to emancipate it from stereotypes. Today, the media is so powerful that it can make or break an image of a person and also can change the views of the audience. ‘Gender refers to the cultural nature of the differences between the natural biological sexes of male and female’ (Long, P & Wall, T (2009)). Gender is perhaps the basic category we use for sorting human beings. The media mostly portrays men as strong, masculine, tough, hard and independent while women are shown as fragile, soft, clean and mostly 'sexy'. Whatever the role, television, film and popular magazines are full of images of women and girls who are typically white, desperately thin, and tailored to be the perfect woman. The representation of women on the print and the visual media mostly tend to be stereotypical, in terms of societal expectations (mediaknowall.com). These days, most of the fashion magazines are full of white ... ...ogy in focus for AQA A2 Level. 2nd ed. Britain: Causeway Press.p99-112. Branston, G & Stafford, R (2010). The Media Students Book. 5th ed. London: Natalie Fenton, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK. 22. Harper, S. (2008). Stereotypes in the Media. Available: http://www.edubook.com/stereotypes-in-the-modern-media/9200/. Last accessed 2nd May 2011. Long, P & Wall, T (2009). Media Studies- Texts, production and context. Italy: Pearson Education Limited 2009. p82-85. Wilson, K. (2010 - 2011). Gender and Media representation. Available: http://www.mediaknowall.com/as_alevel/alevkeyconcepts/alevelkeycon.php?pageID=gender. Last accessed 1st May 2011. Wright, M. (2005). Stereotypes of women are widespread in media and society. Available: http://www.quchronicle.com/2005/02/stereotypes-of-women-are-widespread-in-media-and-society/. Last accessed 4th May 2011.