The Media and Sexual Stereotypes

In the past, it was easy to identify sexual stereotypes of men and women; they were depicted, in newspapers, magazines, and most of all in mass media.  The movie “Sexual Stereotypes in media: Superman and the Bride” is a prime example of how sexual stereotypes of women and men have been portrayed in the past 50 years. This is now 2010, and there have been significant changes in how society views sexual stereotypes in the media.

In the movie, it mentioned you can’t void messages or images you see; consequently, what is constantly viewed in the media causes brainwashing to take place because there are numerous messages and images of what a—real man or real woman represents. Many of the sexual stereotypes that were shown and mentioned compares woman to men, such as ying and yang, hot and cold; it also sent a message that you cannot be both. For so many years, men dominated the media industry, and they showed men and women in images of how they believed they should be viewed, of course, it was bias. In the movie, both sexes were described, a few descriptions says that a—real woman is soft, weak, confused, dumb, stupid, wrong, and a slave, but a—real man is described as being hard, strong, decisive, smart, right, and a hero; these metaphors are proof that men and women were depicted as being the exact opposite of each other.

Furthermore in the movie, there was a cartoon of a female shown as a little girl, teen ager, young lady, and as a woman and in every stage of her growth cycle she was attached to a ball and chain, which to me denotes that a female’s only purpose in life was to be chained like a slave to a man as a wife or as a mother. Times have changed and many of the sexual stereotypes no longer exist, or have overlapped. Hallelujah!!!  women have broken the chains and tossed the ball, and have put an end to old female sexual stereotypes; they are now being seen working along with men in roles that once were viewed as only for men for example: they are seen portraying roles such as detectives like all the CSI, doctors like in Gray’s Anatomy, lawyers like Judging Amy, and attorneys like in Law and Order, and in cartoons such as Wonder Woman and Superwoman; these roles represent female as being smart, strong, independent, decisive, as well as being heroes. They are no longer seen as just a simple homely housewife and mother needing a man to validate them.

Because the media is a multi-trillion dollar industry, it had to change with the time and put away sexual stereotypes of the past. If women had no choice but to continue viewing themselves in the images that did not truly depict them, they would stop watching television shows and movies, so lack of viewers equal poor ratings, and loss revenue. These significant changes could not have taken place if women were not given a voice and men not willing to hear.