Gender Stereotypes and the Media Flashcards
(24 cards)
Media reinforces the ______ hypothesis
Gender differences
Main trend of how men are portrayed in the media
Violence, aggression, hypermasculine
Main trend of how women are portrayed in the media
Sex objects/sexualized
Trends of gender portrayals in magazine ads
1- men are still dominant to women; decreased over time
North American ideal for women from media
Curvaceously thin
Cultivation theory
Television exposure cultivates beliefs, attitudes and ideals about the real world that match the media depicted world
Assumption of cultivation theory
Mass media presents a similar systems of stories
Occurs when groups who are initially divergent in their worldviews come to hold similar views with greater television exposure.
Mainstreaming
Framework for understanding negative effects of objectifying men’s and women’s bodies in our society
Objectification theory
Individual adopts an observer’s perspective on their physical selves
Self-objectification
Divergent groups converge their views to reflect the “reality that is most commonly presented on television.
Mainstreaming
Self-objectification leads to….
Habitual monitoring of the body
Conscious or unconscious strategy mediated by
repeated exposure to an array of subtle (and not
subtle) external pressures to be look a certain
way
Self-objectification
Self-objectification in women linked to….
Shameful feelings about the body
Eating disorders
Depression
Body-as-self paradign
One’s self-worth is tied to your appearance
Consequences of body-as-self paradigm
Body is on display like never before
Encouraged to buy thing to fix/transform our body
Dubious equality
Men are falling into the same appearance oriented cultural trap that women have experienced
Consequences of self-objectification for men
Negative body satisfaction
Negative self-esteem
Increased likelihood of experiencing negative psychological and behavioral outcomes
Tendency of sadness to carry over from past situations to influence economic decisions
Misery-is-not-miserly
Problem with dove ad campaign
Focus on appearance is still front and center. Still ad campaign
Divide a population up into small groups to sell us products and services
Market Segmentation
Divide groups up by gender for marketing
Gender segmentation
Problem with gendered products
- Reinforces gender differences hypothesis
- Gendered products reinforce stereotypes.
- Gender pricing- cost women more money
How to answer question of “who are you” in response to media onsalught
- Ween yourself off body-as-self paradigm
- Gender polarization is a construction
- No innate standard of femininity/masculinity
