Gender Flashcards
ACRONYM
ONE- Oakley- 4 main stages of primary socialisation
MAN- Mead- gender roles based on society
CAUGHT- Connell- hegemonic masculinity
WOMEN- Willis- subcultures within schools
General Features of representations of Gender
1) under representation of women in media
- international women’s media foundation, glass ceiling for women
- Guardian study found 775 of reports done by Male journalists
2) The male gaze (Mulvey)
- women seen as sexual objects
- Leverson enquiry, tabloid press show a lack of respect for women
3) under representation and stereotyping of women in media content
- women often presented as ‘ordinary people’ men presented as experts
- Cumberbatch- women appear less on popular show and often as supporting roles
4) Patriarchal ideology and symbolic annihilation of women
- Tuchman, women presented in limited and stereotyped roles, involves 3 aspects, trivialization, omission and condemnation
Media and social construction of gender differences
- Media are important influence on social construction of gender differences
- Connell, are in part constructed by the media reproducing hegemonic gender identities or culturally dominant stereotypes of the roles of men and women
- Wolf, the beauty myth, women primarily assessed in terms of their beauty appearance, expected to conform to this notion
- Tebbel, no other time have women been so obsessed with the shape they’re in, TV and film present the ‘perfect body’
female representations and stereotypes
- the cult of Feminity
- Ferguson argues that ‘teenage girls’ magazines prepared girls for feminized adult roles and generated a ‘cult of feminity’ i.e. being a good wife, what to wear etc
Male representations and stereotypes
- men appear in a wide range of jobs outside the home
- Gilmore, stereotyped hegemonic male masculine identity, the provider, the protector & the impregnator
Theoretical explanations for Gender stereotyping
- Pluralists- stereotyping occurs because of what audiences want, what sells
- Liberal Feminists- stereotyping occurs because of a glass ceiling, media chiefs keep women under represented
- Marxist and Marxist Feminists- advertisers push a certain view of women onto companies to maintain the dominant culture and inequality
Cyndi Tebbel example, she was an editor who put a size 16 model on the front of a magazine, advertisers forced her to take it down - Radical feminists, the media reinforces patriarchy, ‘the male Gaze’
Media stereotypes of gender changing
- McRobbie, in postmodern society there is more fluidity and flexibility in the representations of men and women
- Gauntlett, growing expectation that men and women should be treated equally and this reflected in the media
changing representations of females
- McRobbie, new form of popular feminism has emerged, shown in women’s magazines, promote female assertiveness, enjoying sex, being in control
No longer ‘lady like’ - Inness, study of female roles in TV and film, they are becoming stronger and more assertive, the Hunger Games
- Knight point out that these new women role models still tend to be attractive and glamorous women, i.e. Angelina Jolie
Changing representations of males
- Gauntlett suggests that media portrayals of men are changing allowing men to construct identities away from traditional hegemonic masculinity
- Crisis of masculinity Mac An Ghail
Explaining Changing representations
- power of advertisers
- Women becoming more successful and can use social media to advance their progress
Gender differences
- Ofcom found: Men spend 3 times as long playing video games
- females higher rate of addiction to mobile phones
- women less likely to use internet to relax
Li and Kirkup
- study of British and Chinese students, two global gender based in terms of internet, in comparison to women
- Men in both countries has positive attitudes towards internet, used it more
- more likely to play video games
- less likely to use it for study
British female students used the internet as a tool rather than something for fun
