Sexist Stereotypes in the Media
Women are subjected to many stereotypes in today’s society. Movies and television shows suggest that all women are air-heads. Magazine and other advertisements push photographs of very slender and “sexy” women into the minds of children. Men’s magazines write articles on how to “dupe” a girl into sleeping with them. Haven’t we, as a society moved past the sexist ideals of the past? Judging from the way the media portrays women, it seems as if things are only getting worse.
Television and movies shows tend to stereotype women (One of the most common ways television depicts teenage girls, especially, is as a dumb, ditzy girl with a credit card. The girl’s interests are usually limited to make-up, boys, clothing and shopping. Movies such as Clueless, Legally Blonde, and other such movies encourage the idea that teenage girls and women are ditzy, stupid, and superficial.
The movie Clueless (1995), for example, stared Cher (Alicia Silverstone), a rich teenager from Beverly Hills. She was blonde and beautiful, and enjoyed the “typical” teenage girl activities. Cher and her friends spent all their time shopping, doing makeovers and chasing after guys. One scene of the movie showed Cher sending flowers to herself and dressing “in her cutest outfits” in an attempt to impress a crush. Cher was ditzy, superficial, and, to make things worse, she was a lousy driver. This was a very popular movie, and a television series was later based on it. Many girls watched this movie and emulated Cher, not realizing that they were buying in to this outdated stereotype. This assumption that females are dumb is not limited to teenagers. On television, women are shown working less often than men. 41% of men are shown on the job, but only 28% of women are (http://cal.jmu.edu). Women are a lot more likely to be portrayed as a “housewife” than anything else. Furthermore, men are shown as strong, whereas women are usually weak and needy (http://cal.jmu.edu). Men are almost always the “bread-winner” of the family (http://cal.jmu.edu). Obviously, these gender roles are not always the case in real life. The creators of these television programs seem to latch on to old traditions and stereotypes, even if they are incorrect or outdated.
Women are very often shown as sex symbols. Women are on commercials and magazine advertisements dressed in skimpy clothing selling everything from tires to pizza. The women shown in most advertisements today are tall, very thin, and usually in some sexually suggestive pose. It is not uncommon, in fact, to see a woman in the nude (except for the pair of shoes she is trying to sell).
One advertisement that demonstrates the way women are exploited is for a Lily of France “X-bra” shows a women wearing only a push up bra. The message below reads, “buy one X-bra, get drinks free” (www.umich.edu). This, along with other advertisements like it just feed the idea that women are just sexual objects, and the only thing that matters about them is their looks. When was the last time you saw an ad saying something about the model’s personality?
One type of publication that features many sexist ads and stories are men’s magazines. This is not limited to Playboy and other X-rated material. Magazines such as those are only to be sold to adults, but even children can buy magazines such as the ever-popular Maxim. Maxim is the one of the most popular “men’s magazines” in America (Brooks). There are currently over 2.5 million subscribers (Brooks).
Maxim contains countless sexist references and jokes. This publication features woman dressed very provocatively, and often in very sensual poses. Articles in this magazine discuss different suggestions and schemes for “getting laid” (Brooks). This, as well as getting a good look at nearly nude women, is the primary focus of this magazine.
All this stereotyping and sexual exploitation has a great effect on society. Children are especially vulnerable to this, since their young minds are still developing and learning about the world around them. When children are very little, they learn what it means to be a “male” or a “female” (Faulsto-Sterling 30-41). As Blum puts it, “Nothing in biology labels behaviors as right or wrong, normal or abnormal. Any stereotypes we impose on children – and by extension, adults – are purely cultural, not biological.” Much of what a child learns about this is from the parents, but if the child is exposed to television, s/he will be very influenced by that as well (Powell, Abels). Parents should try to filter out as much of this sexism and stereotyping as possible.
The extremely sex and body focused advertising can have another effect in young women, especially. It can lead to body dissatisfaction, and in some cases, eating disorders. Rader Programs, an Eating Disorder treatment center states that, when even young girls watch movies and look at magazines they have commonly think to live up to the super-thin look that most models today have if they are to be beautiful. The average age for a girl to start dieting is now eight, compared to the fourteen-year-old average of 1970 (www.raderprograms.com).
These images that girls are trying to live up to are not realistic, though. The average model is 5’11 and 117 pounds, while the average American women is 5’4 and weighs 140 pounds (www.raderprograms.com). As the average American gets larger, the average model gets thinner (www.raderprograms.com). Partly as a result of this unrealistic ideal, 81% of ten year old girls are afraid of being fat, and four out of five American women are unhappy with their body (www.raderprograms.com).
What many women and girls need to realize is that these ads are just that-ads. They are frequently airbrushed and sometimes even completely computer-generated. Girls should try to realize that they don’t have to look like the girl in the magazine. According to the Rader Programs, seven out of ten women that view magazine ads with thin models feed inadequate and depressed afterwards.
Movies, television, magazines, and almost every other form of media flash these racy pictures and sexist ideals. The media, due to increased exposure, is more and more influencing children. What can we do to change this, though? For one thing, we can stop buying magazines that feature the sexist and damaging ads. Parents can teach their children that men are not smarter or stronger than women. Parents can encourage activities that do not involve the media. Perhaps if the American people start rejecting the messages that the media shows, they will have no choice but to change it. The media can not exist without viewers/consumers, so lets take the first step to change the way America thinks and feels about our women.
