Which media stereotype are you? Sex kitten or action man?

"When I was born, they looked at me and said: 'What a good boy, what a smart boy, what a strong boy!' And when you were born, they looked at you and said:'What a good girl, what a smart girl, what a pretty girl!'"

What A Good Boy, The Barenaked Ladies.

The media creates and reinforces stereotypical representations of women, men, and many other categories of the population, in a way that can be both demeaning, and frankly a bit stupid too. Please be aware of this when you read magazines, buy videogames, or watch TV...A lot of the "ideal" men and women you might see are expressedly designed to make you feel bad about yoursleves and make you buy loads of stuff to make you feel better...It's all about how much money they can make you spend whilst making you feel inadequate! And the worse thing is...it usually works! The beauty and diet industry is worth millions!

Stereotyping of women and girls

We all know the stereotypes—the femme fatale, the supermom, the sex kitten, the nasty corporate climber. Whatever the role, television, film and popular magazines are full of images of women and girls who are typically white, desperately thin, and dressed up to the nines—even after slaying a gang of vampires or dressing down a Greek legion.

Images of female bodies are everywhere. Women—and their body parts—sell everything from food to cars. Popular film and television actresses are becoming younger, taller and thinner. Some have even been known to faint on the set from lack of food. Women’s magazines are full of articles urging that if they can just lose those last twenty pounds, they’ll have it all—the perfect marriage, loving children, great sex, and a rewarding career.

Why are standards of beauty being imposed on women, the majority of whom are naturally larger and more mature than any of the models? The roots, some analysts say, are economic. By presenting an ideal difficult to achieve and maintain, the cosmetic and diet product industries are assured of growth and profits. And it’s no accident that youth is increasingly promoted, along with thinness, as an essential criterion of beauty. If not all women need to lose weight, for sure they’re all aging.

The stakes are huge. On the one hand, women who are insecure about their bodies are more likely to buy beauty products, new clothes, and diet aids. It is estimated that the diet industry alone is worth $100 billion (U.S.) a year. On the other hand, research indicates that exposure to images of thin, young, air-brushed female bodies is linked to depression, loss of self-esteem and the development of unhealthy eating habits in women and girls.

How the Media Define Masculinity

In most media portrayals, male characters are rewarded for self-control and the control of others, aggression and violence, financial independence, and physical desirability. The report Boys to Men: Media Messages About Masculinity, identifies the most popular stereotypes of male characters as the Joker, the Jock, the Strong Silent Type, the Big Shot and the Action Hero.

Misrepresentation in the media

In 1999, Children Now, a California-based organization that examines the impact of media on children and youth, released a report entitled Boys to Men: Media Messages About Masculinity. The report argues that the media’s portrayal of men tends to reinforce men’s social dominance.

The report observes that:

• the majority of male characters in media are heterosexual
• male characters are more often associated with the public sphere of work, rather than the private sphere of the home, and issues and problems related to work are more significant than personal issues
• non-white male characters are more likely to experience personal problems and are more likely to use physical aggression or violence to solve those problems.

Children Now conclude that these dominant trends in the media’s portrayal of men reinforce and support social attitudes that link masculinity to power, dominance and control.

Media Portrayals of Gays and Lesbians

Media educators Larry Gross and George Gerbner argue that the media participate in the "symbolic annihilation" of gays and lesbians by negatively stereotyping them (often consigning them to the margins of entertainment media, playing either "colourful" and "flamboyant" characters or dangerous psychopaths), by rarely portraying them realistically, or by not portraying them at all.

Gross and Gerbner argue that the commercial structure of the mass media limits the opportunity for representing diverse characters. Too often networks and film companies shy away from portraying gays and lesbians for fear of alienating or offending advertisers, investors, and audiences.

Media Portrayals of Ethnic and Visible Minorities

Anyone who examines North American entertainment and news media will notice that members of ethnic and visible minorities are inadequately represented in entertainment and news media, and that portrayals of minorities are often stereotypical and demeaning.

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