Media and Gender Stereotypes

Gender stereotypes are common beliefs formed in culture about how men and women behave. The appearance of gender stereotypes is a result of the sociohistorical construction of a gender relations model in which gender differences were situated above other individual differences of personality between men and women. Gender stereotypes often contribute to the socialization of gender roles, which are a set of expected behavior patterns or norms for women and men. As sociological theories on stereotypes have shown, stereotypes are used as a form of maintaining social stratification by relegating individuals into negative classifications based on their personal identities. The emphasis on the individual, the influence of hegemonic forces on the individual in relation to group membership, and the resulting inter-group conflict make it plausible to understand how stereotypes facilitate different forms of stratification. In the case of gender stereotypes in the media, this stratification comes in the form of unequal, melodramatic representations of men and women.

The collective media is defined as a social institution that includes print and broadcast news, periodicals, advertising, film, television, literature, music, and music videos. According to communications researchers at Ball State University, individuals consume some form of print or electronic media (information and entertainment) 11 hours per day. Individuals engage media texts that reproduce gender stereotypes, which influence their social perceptions. Media scholars suggest that media texts may contribute to or undermine the inequalities that exist in contemporary societies on individual and institutional levels. Critical media theorists suggest that media texts and ideology go hand in hand, since media often reproduce dominant ideologies. Mass media plays a significant role in the process of gender socialization, and much of their gendered texts are stereotypes.