Gender stereotypes and traditional roles are a controversial issue in the question between learned behavior and chemically fueled actions. Before a baby is even born, there is worry over whether to buy the doll or the bat or whether to paint the room pink or blue. Little girls play house and little boys play sports, little girls aspire to be mommies while little boys want to be firemen. It is hard to distinguish if this is chemical or learned, when at less than a year old a little boy is generally treated differently and given different life plans than a little girl. [Lindsey] Gender stereotypes limit the average man and woman by causing them to function within society’s boundaries of what is their born ‘role’ to society. Because people generally need to feel accepted, a majority of people will not do things that are not traditional to their sex in terms of behavior and actions. This is further oppressive when sexuality begins to play a role. Most of society has accepted and displayed as a stereotype that a gay man is more feminine than the average ‘straight’ men are, and a lesbian is more masculine than the average ‘straight’ women. Because society shows some slight homophobic tendencies, it is even more of a deterrent to act outside of the bounds of traditional and conservative roles if you don’t want to be sexually ostracized or misunderstood. Media is just one more outlet for gender stereotypes because it has a firm grasp on our attention and sells a mindset negative to women’s image. [Reel Grrl]
The average American spends at least 4 hours a day watching TV, and in one hour of television will see an average of 33 commercials. Combined with other forms of media the average American generally sees 300-500 ads in one day; though some will see as many as 1500. [Sobel] Unfortunately, a majority of the ads are selling gender stereotypes and promoting an unhealthy body image for American women and girls. [Reel Grrl] Many people say that the person in the advertisement is more of a focus than the product itself. The problem with this is that the person in the advertisement selling the product is often viewed as no more than a picture, and because of this, is objectified. This analysis of images is a new issue for the generation because more and more text is being replaced by images as a way to communicate, and image is becoming more and more important to American culture, similarly reducing people to their appearances. [McCarthy] Images are also being used as interpretations and regulations of what is masculine and feminine. [MAN] Not only is the method for selling considered antifeminist, but there is also a concern of what is being sold. Today’s society wants women to tan and get no wrinkles from sun damage, dye, straighten, and curl and buy products to stop the frizz, and get rid of cellulite, which is a natural fat and wasn’t disgusting until modern marketing found an inefficient way to reduce its appearance and induce self consciousness in women nationwide. [Greer] Media’s repression of females does not stop there.
The marketing media knows that their money and jobs depend on women being stereotypically female: emotional, needing to give into consumerism, and needing many various products to cope with problems they feel the need to change. Thus, they employ new methods of pointing out your body’s imperfections, and a way to correct them or at least appear less flawed. These measures are taken about every imaginable thing with self-consciousness finds problems with almost everything, even normal weights. It is estimated the diet industry by itself earns $100 billion dollars a year in America from women with weight insecurities. [MAN] With hundreds of dollars spent each year to improve appearance, women have also put an economical investment into something that will continually find new ways to make women think they aren’t fine with how they look. A girl might subscribe to a magazine, which will then tease that it can help you have ‘sexier hair.’ Of course, to get said hair, she will probably need to spend money-buying products to make IT ‘sexy.’ The economical aspect can be damaging, especially for those girls who are more concerned with spending money on their appearance than college funds.
Even after that girl has succumbed to the medias, bought the products, and looks exactly like the picture in the magazine, she might not feel like it is enough or maybe she already had a poor self-image and does not think she looks any better than when she started her efforts to become ‘beautiful.’ A study showed that self-confidence was lost when teens watched television with underweight models as the subject. It dropped even more with those girls who spent more time on their appearance. An unhealthy self-image can be created by the advertisements, the stars of Hollywood, or the advice of magazines and create doubt, especially in the easily affected adolescent female. Fifty to seventy percent of girls with a normal weight believe they are overweight, and a shocking thirty-five percent of girls from six to twelve have subjected themselves diet. [MAN] Their beliefs are fueled by TV, in which 69% of female television characters are thin, and only 5% are overweight.[About Face] For girls that might have already developed an eating disorder (90% of eating disorder victims are women), or any other kind of mental health problem, they are not supported by negative media images. In a 50-year period study of anorexia nervosa in girls 10-19, results showed that when thinner ideals in the media occurred, anorexia nervosa rates rose. In addition, it is not only adolescents that have problems with lack of self-confidence; age is said to increase the amount that women compare themselves to media. [About Face]
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