10/30/02- Gendered Media
Why are we interested in studying media? We want to know what effects media has on gender.
The mass media and their role as a gender socializer.
Argument that the media only give the public what it expects, wants, or demands = reflection hypothesis. Simply stated, the reflection hypothesis holds that media content mirrors the behaviors and relationships, and values and norms most prevalent in a society.
However, media analysts also point out that, far from just passively reflecting culture, the media actively shape and create culture, i.e. the media selects items for attention - they set an agenda for public opinion.
The media are the chief sources of information for most people, as well as the focus of their leisure activity.
There is considerable evidence indicating that many media consumers, particularly heavy television viewers, tend to uncritically accept media content as fact.
Some early theories, modeling theory and identification theory posit that audience members usually children model their behavior after what they see in the media (in most cases, television). Study results are inconsistent with individual factors such as family interaction and peer acceptance having more effect on how children respond than hat they see in the media.
Other theories such as uses and gratifications theory support the concept that audiences are active participants using the media for entertainment, relaxation, stimulation or company. Cultivation theory focuses on the "skewed " sense of reality heavy viewers of television hold and how that affects their view of the real world.
After many years of reviewing studies, Lont argues that the effects are multilayered.
So – if we are interested in its effects, what are important questions to ask?
Question 1- Who is portrayed in the media? Underrepresentation of women and minorities.
Question 2 -How are they portrayed?
Question 3 –Who participates in the creation of media?
Question 4 – What are the effects of media?
It has been argued that with respect to their treatment of women, the media are guilty of symbolic annihilation. (Tuchman) That is, the media traditionally have ignored, trivialized, or condemned women.
Symbolic annihilation or the absence of experience of a group of people in the media.
“If we don’t see a group of people portrayed on television or in the news, if we don’t hear their voices on the radio or read about their views in the newspapers, then it is easy to assume that the group does not exist, or at he lest, does not matter. The absence of the experiences of women and minorities signals to the audience, both women and men, that the views of people other than white, heterosexual middle-class males are unimportant.
Symbolic annihilation occurs not only in terms of gender, but also in terms of race and ethnicity, social class, age, sexual orientation, and physical ability.
… Although they typically fare better than women, men’s media roles are also limited by stereotypes that are not always positive or flattering.
For example if the media reflected society –
Nearly one out of every four American women is a member of a minority group.
The median age of women has increased from 31 in 1980 to 34 years in 1990.
Only one-fourth of women over age 16 live in a “married couple with children” household.
In general, women live longer than men do.
Women are more highly educated than ever.
Different Types of Media:
Newspapers and Magazines - Readership of daily newspapers in U.S. have decreased - 1986 65% men and 61% of women read daily newspapers. By 1986 53% and 49% respectively. More are turning to televised news and information programs and news magazine programs. Like 20/20.
2 reasons offered - women do not have the time - particularly 18-34, unemployed, or who have children under the age of six. - 40% readership. Readership is lower, then among women who lack the time and financial resources that permit daily readership. But a second reason for the gender gap in newspaper reading is the fact that newspapers often do not speak to women, or if they do, they do so in a denigrating or patronizing way.
Women are often relegated to a secondary, “non=news’ section of the paper. 1996 study - 15% of front-page news references were of females - sharp decline back to levels of 1990. Moreover, men wrote 65% of front-page, local news articles and opinion pieces that appeared in the papers studied. Women received better coverage in the small and medium market paper than in the large market metropolitan papers.
1993 they were 14 percent of references and 34% of bylines and photos.
Female-centered news stories, reporters were likely to mention an individual’s sex, marital status or parenthood, or physical appearance.
Newspapers - Although women make up 52% of the population in 1989, women represented 11% of the people quoted in the front-page newspapers.
Feminists - negative reporting of the women’s movement.
Second point – Who participates in the creation of newspapers? Many analysts have emphasized that most of the staff at the nation’s 1,5000 daily newspapers are men. 37% women. Women are 31 percent of newsroom supervisors, but are significantly underrepresented in top executive and management positions. For example, only 19.4% of newspapers have female executive editors and just 8% are headed by women publishers.
Gender and Magazines - magazines target specific racial and ethnic groups, gender, and ages. as well as particular interests or life experiences. So how are men and women portrayed in magazines?
Traditionally, women’s magazines have promoted a “cult of femininity”, that is, a definition of femininity as a narcissistic absorption with oneself a- with one’s physical appearance, with occupational success and with success in affairs of the heart.
Bot in adult and teen magazines for female readers, there ahas been an intensified focus on sex in recent years. McRobbie sees this as a reconstruction of male sexual identities that promotes boldness in women’s behavior. ---describing their ideal girl or women through a language of consumer choices, career choices, lifestyle and outlook.
.. to be made over, a theme (with instructions) found in nearly ever issue of women’s and girl’s fashion magazines. The ultimate goal remains getting and keeping a man, even if the strategy is no longer romance, but rather aggressive sex appeal. Renzetti and Curran’s inform research confirms this.
Men’s magazines provide some glaring contrasts to women’s periodicals. Historically, men’s magazines have been more specialized, although recent analyses indicate that target audiences for women’s magazines may also be getting narrower. Nevertheless, most men’s magazines can still be placed in one of three categories: finance/business/technology, sports/hobbies, and sex. Sex, which we have seen is by no means absent from women’s magazines, is still typically discussed in women’s periodicals in terms of interpersonal relationships, whereas men’s sex-oriented magazines objectify and depersonalize sex.
A common theme is how men can manipulate women into having sex with them and how they can better control or “manage “ the women in their lives.
The low priority that men’s magazines give to interpersonal relationships is reinforced b the advertisements that dominate their pages. - advertisements - alcohol, cigarettes, sunglasses, athletic gear, stereo equipment,
Similar to women’s magazines, periodicals intended for men generate their own gender images and ideals. Normative masculinity according to these magazines does not include establishing a long-term relationship with a woman. Instead the real man is free and adventurous. He is a risk taker who purses his work and his hobbies, including in this latter category relationships with women - with vigor. He is concerned about his person appearance but not in an all-consuming sense as women seem to be.
Media analysts report that consumers appear to be turning away somewhat from print media and utilizing more electronic, audiovisual media.
Television:
Who is portrayed?
Prime-time television, women play only about one out of every three roles - this figure has not changed since 1954.
How are they portrayed?
Not only do women have fewer role on television, but the characters played by women tend to be younger and less mature than male characters and, therefore, less authoritative. 15% of female characters on [prime-time television were aged 45 and older. Women on television age faster than men, The message is it is terrible to be an old woman.
Young female characters are typically thin and physically attractive. In general, male television characters are given more leeway in terms of their appearance.
Female and men portrayals have changed in recent years. Women work outside the home, strong and independent women. Their male partners are nowadays depicted as idealized family men, who are sensitive to and supportive of their wives. These male characters are portrayed as quite willing to do more than an equal share of housework and child care. However, men on television are rarely sown ding housework(1 to 3 percent compared to 20 to 27 percent of women - 1197 study)
Indeed gender stereotypes are still prominent on television. Although more female characters have careers outside the home, only 28% are shown on the job compared with 41% of male characters. Women on television are still depicted as being preoccupied with romantic relationships; while male characters tend to talk about work, female characters tend t talk about romantic relationships.
Stereotypical Portrayals of Women and Men
Men: Media reinforce long-standing cultural ideals of masculinity: Men are presented as hard, tough, independent, sexually aggressive, unafraid, violent, totally in control of all emotions and - above all - in no way feminine.
Equally interesting is how males are not presented. Specifically, there are seldom portrayed as nurturers - not involved in their families - seldom shown doing housework. Typically, represented as uninterested in and incompetent at homemaking, cooking and child care.
Women -
In TV, women are portrayed as significantly younger and thinner than women in the population as a whole, and most are depicted as passive, dependent on men, and enmeshed in relationships or housework.
Female newscasters are expected to by younger, more physically attractive, and less outspoken than males
Gender stereotypes frequently intersect with racial and ethnic stereotypes on television. Female or male, racial and ethnic minorities continue to be underrepresented on television.
There are three times as many white men as women on prime-time television.
Children’s programming - males outnumber females by two to one
Newscasts - Women make up about 16% of newscasters
In prime-time television 1987, two-thirds of the speaking parts were for men.
this constant distortion tempts us to believe that there really are more men than women and, further, that men are the cultural standard.
Minorities are even less visible than women, with African Americans appearing only rarely.
While more African Americans are appearing in prime-time television, they are too often cast in stereotypical roles.
Some changes in the 1990s
20% of TV characters in the 1990s were minority women and men - 16% black 1 %Latino and 1% Asian, Less than 1 % were Native American. In real life 27% of the population were minority group members at this time (12% black, 11% Latino, and 4% Asian and Native Americans)
Also underrepresented is the single fastest growing group of Americans - older people. As a country, we are aging so that people over 60 make up a major part of our populations; within this group, women significantly outnumber men. Older people not only are underrepresented in media but also are represented inaccurately. - sick, dependent, fumbling, and passive. - often presented as victims
Researcher also noted the number of female characters on television age 40 or older dropped significantly with twice as many male characters in their 40s as females.
Newer shows, such as ER feature women who are professionally competent and also very attractive. The rule seems to be that a woman may be strong and successful if and only if she also exemplifies traditional stereotypes of femininity -subservience, passivity, beauty, and an identity linked to one or more men.
The other image of women the media offer us is the evil sister of the good homebody. The witch, bitch, whore or nonwoman who is represented as hard, cold, aggressive
Stereotypical Images of Relationships between Men and Women -
Women’s dependence/men’s independence
MTV - portrays females as passive and waiting for men’s attention, while males are shown ignoring, exploiting or directing women.
Commercials, too manifest power cues that echo the male dominance/female subservience pattern. For instance, men are usually shown positioned above women, and women are more frequently pictured in varying degrees of undress - nonverbal cues that represent women as vulnerable and more submissive while men stay in control.
Men’s authority/women’s incompetence
Men are the competent authorities who save women from their incompetence. Children’s literature vividly implements this motif by casting females as helpless.
Example - commercials -define males as authorities. Women are routinely shown anguishing over dirty floors and bathroom fixtures only to be relieved of their distress when Mr. Clean shows up to tell them how to keep their homes spotless.
75% of the voice-overs are male . Using male voice-overs reinforces the cultural view that men are authorities and women depend on men to tell them what to do.
The sheer numbers of men on TV as opposed to women reinforces dominance. As does the “experts” who inform us of happening in the world - white news anchors.
Harmful message - men are more competent than women. Compounding this is the message that a woman’s power lies in her looks and conventional femininity. These stereotypes underline the requirement that men must perform, succeed, and conquer in order to be worthy.
Women as primary caregivers/men as breadwinners
Since the 1980 this gendered arrangement has been promulgated with renewed vigor.
Men are portrayed as incompetent about nutrition, child care, and housework.
When media portray women who work outside of the home, their career lives often receive little or no attention.
Magazines play a key role in promoting pleasing others as a primary focus of women’s lives. Peirce’s (1990) study found that magazines aimed at women stress looking good and doing things to please others. Thus, advertising tells women how to be “me, only better” by dyeing their hair to look younger; how to lose weight so “you’ll still be attractive to him”, and how to prepare gourmet meals so “he’s always glad to come home."’ Constantly, these advertisements emphasize pleasing others, especially men, as central to being a woman, and the message is fortified with the thinly veiled warning that if a woman fails to look good and please, her man might leave.
Women as victims and sex objects/men as aggressors.
A final theme in mediate representations of relationships between women and men is the view of women as subject to men's sexual desires. The irony of this representation is the very qualities women are encouraged to develop (beauty, sexiness, passivity, and powerlessness) in order to meet cultural ideals of femininity contribute to their victimization. Also, the qualities that men are urged to exemplify (aggressiveness, dominance, sexuality, and strength) are identical to those linked to abuse of women.
Women are often portrayed alternatively either as decorative objects, who must attract a man to be valuable, or as victims of men's sexual impulses. Either way, women are defined by their bodies and how men treat them.
Portrayals of women as sex objects in advertising and particularly in MTV - Typically, females are shown dancing provocatively in scant and/or revealing clothing as they try to gain men's attention. Frequently, men are seen coercing women into sexual activities and/or physically abusing them. Violence against women is also condoned in many recent films. male dominance and sexual exploitation of women are themes in virtually all r- and X-rated films. These media images carry to extremes long-standing cultural views of masculinity as aggressive and femininity as passive. They also make violence seem sexy.
TV - Network News
If we turn from prime-time entertainment programming to news programming, we find that some groups have made progress in their portrayals on television. Indeed, the greatest move toward equality of the sexes in broadcasting has taken place in local television newsrooms. By 1997 98% of local television news stations had women on their staff; 37% of local TV news workforce.
Overall, women have made fewer inroads on national network newscasts than local ones. 19% of network news staff - the % of network news stories filed by women was less 20%
Research on the number of women correspondents in network news in the 15 years prior to 1992 found the number of female versus the number of male correspondents to be remarkably consistent (on average 16.3 percent were women). By 1994 the figure rose to 25 percent but then dropped again to 16%. In a study by the Center for Media and Public Affairs, the number of women correspondents covering network news rose form 19% in 1998 to 24% in 1999.
Coverage by minority correspondents rose from 10 to 14%.
Overall, whites covered 86% of the stories on network news and 76% of the stories were covered by males in 1999.
Minority men and women remain dramatically underrepresented on the network news, with only slight improvements in recent years.
Television stereotypes black males as athletes and entertainers.
60% of news stories on blacks portray them negatively and reports of crimes in which blacks are accused are less likely to include pro-defense sound bites than are reports of crimes in which whites are accused.
Latinos and Asians are nearly absent in prime-time television
MTV - women are largely absent from music videos. 78% of music video performers are male (1997)
what concerns many observers is not so much the lack of women performers in music videos, but the portrayals of women when they are included. Women are often depicted as passive sex objects who are easily sexually aroused. They are often demeaned and abused by the men in the videos.
MTV - routinely pictures women satisfying men’s sexual fantasies. Media reiterate the cultural image of women as dependent, ornamental objects whose primary functions are to look good, please men, and stay quietly on the periphery of life.
Gender Messages in Advertisements: Does Sexism Sell?
Advertisements portrays images of gender that the advertising industry deems profitable. According to advertising analysts, for male consumers the message is typically to buy a particular product and get the “sweet young thing” associated with it., whereas for female consumers the message is to buy the product in order to be the sweet young thing.
How? Female models are significantly more likely than male models to be depicted in subordinate poses. Female models re more frequently solitary and also appear more often as “partials,’ Images are sometimes diminished.
Men hold positions of authority -
Voice-overs - typically male. - 75%
Women less often shown “on the job” in commercials - activities are more likely to be relating to romance and relationships.
At the same time studies show that the sexually exploitative use of women in advertising has increased since 1970. In such advertisements, the female model has a purely decorative role; in other words, she has no clear relationship to the product and is shown simply because of her physical attractiveness and sex appeal.
Researchers have found that the percentage of advertisements depicting men in decorative roles has also increased in recent ears. “ the Himbo”
Lance Strate “Beer Commercials: A Manual of Masculinity” (handout)
From Men, Masculinity and the Media
Analyzes beer commercials as carriers of social myths, in particular, the myth of masculinity.
Myths are not falsehoods or fairy tales, but uncontested and generally unconscious assumptions that are so widely shared within a culture that they are considered natural, instead of recognized as products of unique historical circumstances. Myth as a form of cultural communications is the material out of which masculinity is built and through myth, the role of human beings in inventing and reinventing masculinity is disguised and therefore naturalized.
Myths provide ready-made answers to universal human questions about ourselves, our relationships with others and with our environment. Thus, the myth of masculinity answers the question: What doe sit mean to be a man? This can be broken down into five separate questions:
What kinds of things do men do?
What kinds of settings do men prefer?
How do boys become men?
How do men related to each other?
How do men related to women?
What kinds of things do men do?
There is no question that drinking is presented as a central masculine activity, and beer as the beverage of choice. Drinking is rarely presented as an isolated activity, but rather is associated with a variety of occupational and leisure pursuits, all of which, in one way or another, involve overcoming challenges. In the world of beer commercials, men work hard and they play hard.
Beer is integrated with the work world in three ways, First, it is represents in some commercials as the product of patient, skillful craftsmanship; thus partaking of the virtues associated with the labor that produced it.
Second beer serves as a reward for a job well done. “This Bud’s for you.”
Third, beer acts as a marker of the end of the work day, the signal of quitting time, the means or making the transition from work to leisure.
Leisure – The men of beer commercials fill their leisure time in two ways: in active pursuits usually conducted in outdoor setting and in “hanging out” usually in bars. As it is in work, the key to men’s active play is the challenge it provides to physical and emotional strength, endurance, and daring.
When they are not engaged in physical activity, the men of beer commercials frequently seek out symbolic challenges and dangers by playing games such as poker and pool, and by watching professional sports.
The central theme of masculine leisure activity in beer commercials, then, is challenge, risk, and mastery – mastery over nature, over technology, over others in good natured combat and over oneself.
What kinds of settings do men prefer? In beer commercials, the settings most closely associated with masculinity are the outdoors, generally the natural environment and the self-contained world of the bar. In some ads, nature is closely associated with both masculinity and beer, as beer is presented as equivalent to nature.
Beer is also identified with nature through animals. Example – Spuds McKenzie.
How do boys become men? In the world of beer commercials, boys become mean by earning acceptance from those who are already full-fledged members of the community of men. Adult men are identified by their age, their size, their celebrity, and their positions of authority in the work world and/or status in a bar. To earn acceptance the younger man must demonstrate that he can do the things that men do: take risks, meet challenges, face danger courageously and dominate his environment. In the work place, he demonstrates this by seizing opportunities to work, taking pride in his labor, proving his ability, persisting in the face of uncertainty, and learning to accept failure with equanimity.
How do men relate to each other?
In beer commercials, men are rarely found in solitary pursuits (and never drink alone), and only occasionally in one-to-one-relationships, usually involving father-son or mentor-protégé transactions. The dominant social context for male interaction is the group and team work and group loyalty rank high in the list of masculine values. Individualism and competition, by contrast, are downplayed and are acceptable only as long as they foster the cohesiveness of the group as a whole.
The emotional tenor of relationships among men in beer commercials is characterized by self-restraint.
How do men relate to women? Although the world of beer commercials is often monopolized by men, some of the ads do feature male-female interaction in the form of courtship, as well as in more established relationships. The more significant danger in beer ads is loss of emotional self-control. Emotional control is also demonstrated by the male’s ability to divide his attention.
The ladies man: Suds Mackenzie, Billy Dee Williams (Colt 45).
When the commercials depict more established relationships, the emphasis shifts form romance and seduction to male activities in which women are reduced largely to the role of admiring onlookers. Men appear to value their group of friends over their female partners, and the women accept this. Women tend to be passive, not participating but merely watching as men perform physical tasks. In other words, they become the audience for whom men perform. For the most part, women know their place and do not interfered with male bonding.
Despite industry claims that sexism sells, research provides only qualified support for this position. Advertisements that use women’s sexuality to sell products to me do appear to be appealing to and effective with that constituency. Ads emphasizing sex also often appeal to teenagers of both sees. However such ad are ineffective with a large segment of adult female consumers. Other studies have shown that while consumers in general do like to see attractive models of both sexes in advertisements, the use of nudity, seminudity, and sexual innuendo may inhibit consumers’ ability to recall the products and the advertisements win which they appeared.
37,000 advertisements annually just on TV.
Advertising - We know that in selling products opinions about men and women are being shaped as well. For example, drug advertising carries messages about women which are powerful and potentially harmful. Medical journals are a major source of information on drug products for physicians. Men receive drugs for angina and related heart disease. Advertisers depict these men in board rooms, in the stock market and forever dealing with financial crises. For women, ad promote the idea that women do not have the psychological strength to solve their problems so they turn to the physician who is ready and willing to prescribe psychotropic drugs.
Goffman’s early work 1979 concentrated on the subtleties of posture and relative size and positioning of hands, eyes, knees and other parts of the body in ads. A man is pictured taller than a woman unless he is socially inferior to her. Men and boys are shown instructing women and girls. A woman’s eye is averted to the man in the picture with her, but a man’s eye is averted only to a superior. women’s hands caress or barely touch. They are rarely shown grasping, manipulating, or creatively shaping. Women have faraway looks in their eyes, especially in the presence of men. Women act like children and are often depicted with children.
More recent data indicate that women continue to be depicted in terms of Goffman’s categories. We see this in the MTV women - often they are just body parts - not full women. Archer found that “face-ism” still dominate for men as does “body-ism” for women.
Recently studies on the portrayal of African Americans, specifically African American women, in the media focus on colorism, especially in advertising, television news, print news editorial and women's magazines.
Colorism is the underlying belief in the media that people of color are more attractive and appear more intelligent when their hair and facial features more closely look like those of whites i.e. African American women who look like white women are most often represented in the media.
Jeff yang and Angelo Ragaza found that "Women of color in the three top women's magazines increased from 0% in the late 1960s to 4.9% in the late 1970s but the end of the 1980s this percentage had dropped back down to 1.6 percent.
Men's and Women's Participation the Creation of Media
Media’s role in shaping our understanding of issues related to gender. - who controls the media?
Bias in new coverage. Television is the primary source of news for at least two-thirds of Americans with newspapers ranking second. This suggests that our understanding of issues, events, and people is shaped substantially by what television and newspapers define as news and the manner in which they present it.
Historically, the lack of women in the media has been paralleled by the scarcity of women in charge of media. Only about 5% of television writers executives, and producers are women. Female film directors are even more scarce, as are executives in charge of MTV.
There is a second, less known way in which advertisements contribute to stereotypes of women as focused on others and men as focused on work. Gloria Steinem - advertisers control some to most of the content in magazines. In exchange for placing an ad, a company receives "complementary copy" which is one or more articles that increase the market appeal of its product. so a soup company that takes out an ad might be given a three-page story on how to prepare meals using that brand of soup; likewise, an ad for hair coloring products might be accompanied by interviews with famous women who choose to dye their hair. thus, the message of advertisers is multiplied by magazine content, which readers often mistakenly assume is independent of advertising.
to understand the prevalence of traditional gender roles in programming, magazines copy and other media, we need only ask what is in the best interests of advertisers. they want to sponsor shows that crate or expand markets for their products. Media images of women as sex objects, devoted homemakers, and mothers buttress the very roles in which the majority of consuming takes place.
Women's role in the home and men's role outside of it are reinforced by newspapers and news programming. Both emphasize men's independent activities and if fact, define news almost entirely as stories about and by men.
Bias in news coverage - TV is the primary source of news for at least two-thirds of Americans with newspapers ranking second. this suggests that our understanding of issues, events, and people is shaped substantial by what television and newspapers define as news and the manner in which they present it. As gatekeepers of information, news reporting selective shapes our perceptions of issues related to gender.
examples: representations of the feminist movement, 1986, the "man shortage", "the Mommy Track", etc.
Images of Gender in the Media: What are their Effects?
Implications of Media Representations of Gender -
Fostering Unrealistic and Limited Gender Ideals -
Many of the images dispensed by media are unrealistic. Most men are not as strong, bold, and successful as males on the screen. Few women are as slender, gorgeous, and well dressed as stars and models whose photographs are airbrushed and retouched to create their artificial beauty.
Research suggests that the unrealistic ideals in popular media do influence how we feel about ourselves and our relationships. Mediated images seem to function at a less than conscious level as implicit models for our own lives.
Modeling contributes to development of gender identity. We look to others - including mediated others- to define how we are supposed to be. Especially during the early years when children often do not clearly distinguish reality from fantasy, they seem susceptible to confusing media characters with real people.
Shapiro and Kroeger reported that readers of self-help books tended to have ore unrealistic ideals for relationships than did nonreaders of such books. Consequently those who read self-help books experienced more than typical amounts of frustration and disappointment went their relationships failed to meet the ideals promoted by media.
Clinicians and researchers maintain that unrealistic images of what we and our relationships should be contribute significantly to dissatisfaction and its consequences including feelings of inadequacy, anorexia, cosmetic surgery, and emotional difficulties.
In a study of 75 women students at Stanford University, the women reported they felt worse about their appearance after reading women’s magazines.
Pathologizing the Human Body -
One of the most damaging consequences of media’s images of women and men is that these images encourage us to perceive normal bodies and normal physical functions as problems. Examples of normal body functions becoming pathological are: gray hair, Premenstrual syndrome (After WWII and women were no longer need in the work force - the term premenstrual tension was coined and Greene and Dalton say it was used to define women as inferior employees. (1953));menopause.
Advertising is very effective in convincing us that we need products to solve problems we are unaware of until some clever pubic relations campaign persuades us that something natural about us is really unnatural and unacceptable.
Normalizing Violence Against Women
Is watching violence related to engaging in violence? 3 theories: there is no positive correlation, there is a positive correlation between observing violence and violent behavior. The most widely accepted theory is that observation of violence acts as a catalyst in a person with a predisposition to violence. However, when we continuously see aggression, physical assault, murder, rape, and other forms of violence depicted in media, we become desensitized to violence
There are 3 major theories about the relationships between violent viewing and violent behavior. One emphasizes the cathartic effect of violent viewing. This perspective says that viewing violence can actually reduce the violent drives of viewers because watching allows viewers to fantasize about violence, thereby releasing the tensions that may lead to real-life aggression. It has also been argued that this catharsis may lead viewers to take positive rather than violent action to remedy the problem.
Modeling Effect of violent viewing. Put simply, this perspective maintains that media violence teaches viewers to behave violently through imitation or modeling.
Catalytic effect of violent viewing. This position maintains that if certain conditions are present, viewing violence may prompt real -life violence. These researchers talk about violent viewing in terms of probabilistic causation rather than direct causation.
Recent research indicates that, at least among children, there is a keen awareness of gender stereotypes on television. One national survey found that both girls and boys aged ten to 17 recognized the emphasis placed on physical attractiveness for females on television. Significantly more girls 69% than boys 40% wanted to be and look like a character on TV - even if they thought they were more preoccupied with their appearance.
This research suggests that TV viewing may affect an individual’s self-evaluation as well as more general perceptions about gender.
There is research that shows that children tend to choose programs that conform to gender stereotypes they have already learned.
Research on advertising - Gender depictions in TV advertising may be understood as gender prescriptions by female viewers and may affect their real-life aspirations. In the study women who saw the stereotyped ads tended to stereotype their futures. (college students)
Lanis and Covell found that the men who saw the sexist advertisements increased their tendency to gender stereotype and also scored higher than other research participants on a scale measuring attitudes supportive of rape and sexual aggression. Interestingly, though, seeing the progressive advertisements had no effect on men’s attitudes.
Clearly this research points to the detrimental effects of sexist media portrayals, but it is also significant because it indicates that gender-fair media images can have a positive impact. The positive effects of pro-social media content are strongest for young children.
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