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Media Influence On Gender Identity

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Media Influence on Gender Identity

Introduction

The media dictates how the ideal woman looks like. The deliberate control of women by the media is taken up by the society and passed into generations. By using, digitally enhanced images, and exceedingly slim actors, the unattainable image of the ideal woman is generated, and for the average woman who does not match the mold, pressure is build for them to change their appearance accordingly. Gender is a cultural and psychological and term while sex pertains to physical and biological features. Sex is determined by the X and Y chromosomes, where XX denotes female while XY denotes male. According to Morris (2006), Gender categorizes the disparity between femininity and masculinity, and it is …show more content…

The self is destroyed by gendered, racial, and class-based stereotypes that are non-natural, emotionally, physically, and fiscally unattainable. The stereotypes are perpetuated because they are not broadly questioned and are persistent. The effects of gender stereotypes in the media to identify are addressed.

Literature Review

According to Taylor (2003), the society directs individual’s behavior and shapes their lives. Some believe that they choose their actions based on their unique features, but Taylor argues against that by saying that the behavior is not by natural occurrence, but it is socialized.

Young girls are influenced by media sexual stereotypes. A recent study by Starr (2012), reported that young girls were internalizing observed sexual stereotypes, and hence becoming highly sexualized at a younger age. The study used a sample of 6 and 9-year-old girls using paper dolls covering preference, self-identification, and the conceptualization of sexualized …show more content…

Models displayed in advertisements are portrayed as existing within four categories; unequal to men, traditional roles, decorative sex objects, non-traditional roles. The traditional roles and decorative sex objects categories are displayed more often in advertising (Conley & Ramsey, 2011). The media advertisers user body dismemberment as their regular technique, where they show certain body parts and the woman’s legs. The gender identity displayed by the advertised products bear erotic character that reduces everything to sexual “flirting”, which shifts the role of men to sexual hunter and women to objects of sexual male

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