Media Influence On Gender Roles And Stereotyping

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The provided quote by J. Jack Halberstam portrays both men and women in an opposing light. Society views women as desirable objects that are mainly there to be objectified by men. Every attempt made by either gender at forming a heterosexual romance has males making the first move and then females are opposing their every effort – “male persuasion and female deferral, male solicitations and female refusals, male randiness and female frigidity”. (Halberstam 2012:12) In this essay I am trying to prove the various ways in which society views gender and sex as a result of the media’s influence on gender roles and stereotyping. Judith Butler best supports my theory on how society views gender differently based on media influence. Butler supports my views on gender as her approach is to “smash the supposed links between these, so that gender and desire are flexible, free-floating and not 'caused' by other stable factors.” (Gauntlett 1998) The aim of this essay is to make the reader aware of the huge influence the media has on the way we think and view gender as we are brought up with it and are influenced from such an early age, leaving us unaware and therefor …show more content…

Pop culture targets a younger audience such as teenagers. This audience is young and too naïve to realise that the various roles portrayed by celebrities aren’t necessarily the norm. The media portrays a certain image of what the ideal man and woman should look like. Young girls are taught that the ideal woman is supposed to be feminine, pretty (involving the use of make-up) and thin with curves in all the right places. Young boys are taught that the ideal man must be strong / muscular, tough, good looking and very masculine. Since these children are at such an influential age, they begin to believe that they will never fit in and be “popular” if they don’t meet that specific