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Media and Gender

The media have had an enormous impact on how gender and gender roles are perceived culturally. “Media” is generally understood to be a form of communication that is less direct than face-to-face communication, including a number of different media forms that influence and have been influenced by gender roles. These include, but are not limited to, television, advertising, animated media forms, video games, and books.

Television

Some examples illustrate the way the portrayal of genders has evolved over the decades since the advent of this media format in the late 1940s. Women in television traditionally were portrayed as domestic and supported by men. Women were supposed to be thin and youthful in order to be considered attractive.

The development of the crime drama, to give one example, proceeded ...

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