focusing specifically on the importance of television. Television is one of the main

Transcription

1 The topic that I wish to study is gender representation through mass media while focusing specifically on the importance of television. Television is one of the main forms of mass media that today s society depends on in order to find their place on the gender continuum. The gender continuum features people who are strictly masculine or feminine while also having a middle area where people would be considered androgynous, or having both masculine and feminine characteristics. We are constantly bombarded with material that places us in our respective sex roles from the time we are small children until well into our adult life. As active participants in our everyday culture, we must be aware of how the power of television can impact us in our daily lives. Whether it is a children s program showing boys and girls interacting with one another or a commercial portraying a man or a woman attempting a certain task, we quickly learn about our gender and the sex roles we are expected to take in life. Many of those who watch television fail to think about the impact it has on their daily lives. People may fail to see the barriers that television places between males and females and how that can affect them later in their lives. Others may not notice how television creates certain roles and norms for males and females and how they are expected to act if they want to be associated with their respective sex. In order to learn more about our society and make changes for improvement, we have to ask the tough questions that require both research and discussion. For example, how does gender representation in television programming affect the barriers between males and females? How does television place each sex in certain gender roles and how does that affect other aspects of our life? Why are females underrepresented in television programming? Many questions need to be considered in order to learn about

2 the power of television and how it places males and females in gender roles. After performing my research, I hope to have a better understanding of how each gender is represented in television and the impact it has on our everyday lives. The term sex role refers to the collection of behaviors or activities that a given society deems more appropriate to members of one sex than to members of the other sex (Durkin). In some societies, sex roles are quite rigidly prescribed with a dichotomy strictly maintained between, say, a male role of head of family and breadwinner, and a female role of wife and mother (Durkin). Most societies have traditionally organized sex roles around duties such as these, according greater economic autonomy and responsibilities to the male, and greater domestic obligations to the female (Durkin). We have all noticed how our parents or our friends do things that we would deem to be masculine or feminine, but have we ever really wondered who decided whether a certain task was strictly masculine or strictly feminine? As we reflect on television shows such as the popular Friends, we can see occurrences where the male, Joey for instance, repairs the car or fixes a cabinet for a woman. Females, such as Rachel, appear to be helpless, but is she really helpless? Certainly not, but television has taught women this role of being dependent upon a man in order to do certain tasks that would be considered a masculine thing to do. In the same show we see instances where women are expected to clean-up around the apartment while the men are using tools to fix an appliance. Yet again, we see another classic example of men and women doing things that would be considered both masculine and feminine. Did men and women just happen to learn cultured norms for sex roles, or was it taught throughout their lives? Most likely it would have been learned early in childhood. Many of us learn about our sex roles from

3 being around our family, friends, school, peers, etc. During every interaction we re constantly processing the situation and many times we do this involuntarily through nonverbal cues or internal thought processing such as when we think to ourselves that is the way it has been done my entire life, so it must be right. Through the course of our entire lives we are always affected by those around us and we learn from our interactions with others. Another way we learn about sex roles is through mass media. If television is found to influence children s concepts of gender, then not only does it reflect upon the influence that television might have in other areas, but it may also have implications for the children in so far as what they come to expect as the norm, and the types of behavior and attitudes they exhibit and expect others to exhibit (Ingham). As children gaze into the television they are absorbing a great deal of material that shows them how both male and female genders interact and how they are expected to act. Boys tend to be shown as active, aggressive, rational, and discontented, while girls are often shown talking on the phone, reading and helping with the housework (Chandler). Additionally, girls are shown to be sincere, caring, compassionate, and understanding, while boys are often shown as competitive, boisterous, and loud. Children take a lot away from what they view on television. Unfortunately younger children are unable to distinguish between reality and the imaginative. Many studies have been conducted concerning the amount of television an average child views per week, and one study estimated that the average child views 1,680 minutes (or 28 hours) of television per week (Herr). If boys are watching 28 hours of competitive and boisterous actions, they will likely begin to display those same mannerisms more and more as they grow older, and the same can be said for girls who watch their respective gender s actions.

4 One of the main questions that I propose is why are women underrepresented in television? After watching any variety of television programs for a few hours, it does not take long to figure out that men dominate the screen while women are often cast into supportive roles. From children s programming to adult programming, men heavily outnumber women in the number of main roles in television shows. We shall begin by looking at children s programming. Concerns about the messages conveyed in television cartoons arise because children start watching television at a very early age, 18 months to two years, and cartoons are the preferred television format of young children (Thompson & Zerbinos). Early evidence for the lack of balance in gender-role portrayals on American television came from Levinson (1973) who reported that male characters outnumbered female characters by three to one in Saturday morning children s cartoons on the three major US networks (in Gunter). In another study of US network children s programs, O Kelly (1974) found that males heavily outnumbered females by 85 percent to 15 percent, and that adult male characters appeared more frequently on the screen than did adult females (in Gunter). Why do we let something like this occur? Are we, as a society, saying that the male gender is more important than the female gender? Hopefully not, but some networks have come out with surprising statements that bring light to this issue. Network executives have said that boys outnumber girls in the two-to-eleven-year-old audience on Saturday morning, and that if a show is to be successful, they say, it must appeal to boys who will not watch shows that have girls as lead characters, although girls will watch programs with male leads (Thompson & Zerbinos). It is a shame that what we see on television is decided by what males view as acceptable programming as opposed to what females view as acceptable.

5 Unfortunately, there are no drastic changes being made to the Saturday morning line-up of children s programming, but with time changes will hopefully take place. I have personally noticed how women are being cast into more main roles in movies and television shows than ever before. While looking at television commercials we can see more misrepresentation associated with females. Studies show that male voice-overs occur approximately 90 percent of the time (Bartsch, Burnett, Diller, & Rankin-Williams). Even when products are advertised, there is a male dominance in speaking about the product. Men in television advertising tended to do the voice-overs more than women, even if the central character was a woman (Furnham, Abramsky, & Gunter). What about the types of products advertised? Does that have an effect on which gender is associated with the product or whether it is a male or female in the commercial with the product? Research shows that there is a greater use of female product representatives for domestic products, and there is a greater use of male product representatives for non-domestic products (Bartsch et al). This goes back to society s labels that we place on males and females. We associate the word domestic with females and so we advertise domestic products with female representation. Males usually represent non-domestic products because we do not associate domestic products with males. Additionally, women are found mostly in the home rather than in occupational settings like men, and are portrayed less often as spokespersons (Furnham et al). Women are portrayed as dependent, unintelligent consumers who were concerned with the social consequences of purchasing a product, while men tended to be portrayed as independent, intelligent, objective decision makers who demonstrated expertise and authority (Furnham et al). If we think back to most of

6 the commercials we see on television, these points seem to be valid. One of many commercials that I remember when I was younger was for Jif Peanut Butter. In the commercial we see a mother who is out shopping at a grocery store with a list in her hand. Other mothers are also around her while she is searching for the right peanut butter to purchase. A woman approaches the mother and tells her why she should purchase Jif rather than the other peanut butter. Here we see how the commercial has placed women as the purchasers of the household when it comes to dealing with food. Can you ever recall a commercial where men were at a grocery store telling each other which peanut butter is better? While also looking at advertising in commercials, it is important that we not forget children s advertisements. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, the average child views 40,000 commercials per year (Downshin & Gavin). Many of those commercials promote gender stereotypes through the product they are trying to sell. Diane Levin, a child development expert at Wheelock College in Boston, believes parents should cut back on purchasing toys that promote gender stereotypes (Macpherson). Give your children open-ended toys that nurture their creativity, Levin said. And remember that some electronic toys are worse than others, such as those that promote gender stereotypes. In fact, I would suggest that parents delay kids exposure to these toys as long as possible. I think many of us forget the fact that toys do indeed promote gender stereotypes. I can remember my sister getting a fisher-price kitchen set when she was very young. By the age of five, she knew that girls and women were associated with the kitchen. As for myself, I can remember commercials for tool sets aimed directly at young boys. Again, we see right away that boys and men are taught the

7 craft of being able to fix things. The problem with this is the fact that women can fix things just as well as men can and men can work in the kitchen just as well as women can. Many of us never really think of it this way because we have been taught through commercials what each sex should and should not do in everyday activities. Being able to recognize that and promote a change in how we are taught about our sex roles is important as we move into the future. How does gender representation in television programming affect the barriers between males and females? Gender representation plays a big role in the barriers between males and females. We learn a great deal of how we are expected to act in society from what we see on television. As children watch television, they learn how to behave in the real world. If real life abounds in sex-role stereotyping, television confirms if not exaggerates these biases by portraying markedly more males than females in programs, by showing males in dominant roles, by having women more often victims of violence, and with only a few exceptions, by showing that the career world is a male one (Williams, LaRose, & Frost). Women are taught to fear men in all types of situations. Whether it is in a group interaction, the workplace, or the home, women are constantly taught to be inferior to men. Certainly it was far worse earlier in the 20 th century, and changes have helped women gain more respect and independence; however women still face an uphill challenge in order to break down those barriers between men and women in all types of situations. It will be interesting to see how feminism is accepted throughout the next century and especially during my lifetime. I am still amazed with how far we, as a society, have come in the little amount of time that television has been around. Then again, I am somewhat shocked at how little

8 we have changed in terms of our sex roles and what is expected of us. A great deal of what we are taught is not even our fault. As mentioned earlier, we learn about our sex roles through family, peers, etc, and we never really question what we are taught. Television is a key instrument in our everyday learning process. Our society places a huge emphasis on television representing our everyday lifestyle. From commercials to television shows, we absorb a lot about our sex roles through what we see on TV. As we continue to move into the 21 st century, it is important for each of us to analyze what we view on television and how we apply it to our lives. There is a saying that reads don t limit a child to your own learning, for s/he was born in another time, and that certainly is true. I think it is important that we teach our children to respect both men and women and to view both gender s as equal. I have a new appreciation for the word feminism and part of that comes from the fact that I actually now know what it truly means. I believe in equality for all, and it is my hope that as I move into my future career, that will most likely involve television, that I will promote equality in gender representation in television.

9 References Bartsch, R., Burnett, T., Diller, T., Rankin-Williams, E. Gender Representation in Television Commericals: Updating an Update. (2000). Sex Roles v43, Nos. 9/10. Chandler, D. Television and Gender Roles. Retrieved September 24, 2005 from Downshin, S., Gavin, M. How TV Affects Your Child. Retrieved December 1, 2005 from Durkin, K. Television, sex roles, and children: a developmental social psychological account. (1985). Milton Keynes; Philadelphia: Open University Press. Furnham, A., Abramsky, S., Gunter, B. A Cross Cultural Content Analysis of Children s Television Advertisements. (1997). Sex Roles v37, Nos. 1/2. Gunter, B. Television and Gender Representation. (1995). London: John Libbey. Herr, N. Television & Health. Retrieved October 23, 2005 from Ingham, H. Children, Television and Gender Roles. Retrieved September 24, 2005 from Macpherson, K. A parents guide to navigating toyland. (2005). Knight Ridder Tribune Business News. November 27, pg 1. Thompson, T., & Zerbinos, E. Television Cartoons: Do Children Notice It s a Boy s World?. (1997). Sex Roles v37, Nos. 5/6. Williams, F., LaRose, R., & Frost, F. Children, television, and sex-role stereotyping. (1981). New York, N.Y.: Praeger.