Gender Roles Still Hold Strong

Media has a huge influence on the modern world – ad’s, t.v, and movies are almost everywhere and reaches almost everyone. Therefore, its plays a huge role in creating and maintaining social norms in our society. “Gender Roles” are a product of this, they exist because society continues to accept them as facts because, in the media they all seem to hold true. Women are very unrepresented in media, giving an unrealistic perception that men are of the dominant culture, and when both genders are present in media it’s in stereotypical ways that hold up the ‘social norms’. In terms of relationships between men and women, they almost always take on traditional roles.

Historically, Men have been considered the “bread makers” of the household – very career focused, independent, and financial providers. Whereas, the women were considered the stay at home mom’s who take care of the children, cook the food, clean the house, and if they work it’s usually a very low-end job. This gives the idea that men are incompetent at housework and care, i.e. the woman’s job, and vice-a-versa for women. Apart from the household dynamic men are usually depicted as: strong, independent, and very sexually oriented. Women, on the other hand are depicted as sex objects, usually thin and beautiful, dependent on their male counterparts, and often times incompetent – many television shows present these characteristics. American Dad is just one example, where Stan the husband goes to work everyday and Francine (his wife) stays at home and does ‘hobbies’. There’s even an episode where Francine starts making a lot of money selling muffins and Stan gets pissed about it (and shenanigans ensue). This t.v. show is a classic example of a true ‘American’ family in the media. Nowadays, in real life this isn’t as true. Family dynamics are more based on a partnership and women now have more rights and opportunities (though not much more) in the job market.

Commercials really perpetuate these gender stereotypes.  A commercial featuring a woman will usually be about some domestic household products, cosmetic products, shopping, validating a man’s choice in perfume/body spray, or if it’s a food commercial essentially stripping and sexually eating a burger getting sauce dripped all over them. Men are usually featured with a nice car, suit, smartphone, etc. All with a hot woman by his side. Even commercials directed towards children are engraining these stereotypes in their heads at a young age. The young boys are playing with cars and action figures while the little girls are playing with dolls and pink dresses etc. We’re being brainwashed, brainwashed to believe what we see on the t.v screen as ‘right’.

This stuff is everywhere and there really is no escape, unless you decide to not turn the t.v or computer on at all. Advertisers are looking solely to appeal to viewers, resulting to what they believe is easiest for the viewers to internalize – stereotypes. This creates a common theme among social life making it the norm, since everyone, everywhere are watching the same things. This keeps Men and Women within a cage, which determines how they should act. Things shouldn’t be this way yet, they are. Is it even possible, this far down the line, to reverse these effects? It’s all now so engrained in our society that it keeps looping back on itself, and from generation to generation these ideals are passed along. So, how do we do it?