Gender and Media

French author and philosopher Simone de Beauvoir's 1949 assertion that one is not born but rather becomes a woman marks a key moment in the development of feminist theory. It signals the introduction of a crucial distinction between sex (the biological differences between men and women) and gender (the socially constructed differences resulting from this biology)—a distinction that remains to this day a central tenet of feminist thought. Indeed, the notion that, rather than being biologically based, differences between the sexes are, by and large, culturally and socially constructed is a useful starting point to understanding feminist theory. It also starts shedding light on the role the mass media—news, magazines, movies, books, music, advertising, television programs (to name a few), and the powerful institutions that produce them—might play in the process of gender definition, as they constitute much of the fabric of the popular culture de Beauvoir is critiquing.

Feminist scholars argue that gender is predicated on a strict binary opposition between male/female that is only tenuously related to the actual biological functions or abilities of male and female physical bodies. This strict dichotomy is perpetuated through sociocultural practices. One needs only to take a stroll down the baby aisle or the toy section of a major department store to start understanding how this might work: Products targeted at children—individuals who are yet to develop clear external markers of sex (at least not ones typically exposed in public)—are unequivocally marked as intended for boys or girls. Biology does not offer any logical explanation as to why baby girls must wear pink pajamas or bows on their heads while their baby brothers typically won't. This color coding of infants is, in fact, an early manifestation of a process of gendering that individuals will experience throughout their life and that feminist scholars see as a building block of patriarchy. While what is considered appropriate clothing, attitude, or behavior within each category of gender might evolve over time, the fact that the genders remain strictly differentiated remains a constant. Feminist scholars argue that historically, this process of differentiation has had more dire consequences for women—kept in subordinated roles through exclusion from activities deemed appropriate only for men and that garner significant sociocultural power—than for their male counterparts.

In order to justify such exclusion, however, men and women must be constructed as naturally very [Page 429]different from each other—that is, men and women must be perceived as biologically destined or naturally inclined to perform very different roles. In other words, this process of naturalization is a hegemonic process as defined by Italian political theorist Antonio Gramsci. Gramsci theorized that dominant social groups can most effectively remain in a position of power if they can convince dominated groups that this position is justified and gain their support for an economic and sociocultural system that essentially maintains the power structure. The most effective way to gain this consent is by constructing the position of elites as natural, normal, or common sense. Scholars have pointed to the role of language, culture, and social institutions in this process of naturalization, which must be constantly renegotiated to account for contestation and protest. In the case of gender, this naturalization takes the form of two clearly separate and unequal gender categories that support a patriarchal system. The schools, the courts, the family, the church, the arts, the universities, the economic and medical systems all contribute to this construction. Louis Althusser calls these institutions “ideological state apparati.” The mass media are one of them.

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