Download Media & Sexism: Gender Roles in Mass Media & Their Impact on Individuals and more Thesis Business Accounting in PDF only on Docsity! RUNNING HEADER: MEDIA AND SEXISM 1 Mass Media and Sexism Walden University Diversity, Human Rights, and Social Justice Abstract Sexism can be defined in several different ways; however, they all mean that there is a mindset, that one sex is inferior to another. Sexism is discrimination based on one’s sex, normally for women and girls. For years women have worked to prove that they were equal to their male counterpart. The media play a major role in sexism. The media portrays a male as the dominate one, going out making a living, while the female stays home, cook and clean, and drive the kids to and from soccer practice in the van. Identify specific messages about gender presented in the mass media The mass media has a great influence on the lives of the audience that they reach. The mass media has a long history of portraying women in certain roles. Society has a long history of what a woman’s role is in the world, and the mass media always accentuate these roles. Women are often portrayed in lesser roles than a man, and if the woman is the leading person, she is often portrayed as a hypersexual woman. Even when we watch male dominated sports, such as boxing, wrestling or the UFC, there is always a woman with the short shorts, big breast, and the big smile holding the next round card. Movies almost always has a man as the leading character, 2 and if a woman is the lead, she always presents herself as a hypersexual woman with the tight leather pants. TV shows normally present the woman as the one staying home, cooking and cleaning, driving the kids to and from soccer, while the husband sits on the board of a Fortune 500 company. Even women in local media change themselves cosmetically to fit a social norm of what society think that a woman should look like on television (Berberick, 2010). Discuss messages about gender you have received from your family or cultural group Influence from your family can play a crucial role on how we look at the roles of the male and the female. Throughout my life, there were several gender roles that I observed, as well as had to adhere to. My mother did all the cooking, cleaning, she even brought my father his plate after she spent hours cooking. I remember when she would be cooking, she would make me stay in the kitchen to learn to cook, however my brother was not allowed in the kitchen. During the times that we would be in the kitchen cooking, my father and brother would be watching football, or fixing on a vehicle. After the dinner was done, I was responsible for washing all the dishes, while my brother chore was to take out the thrash, and once a week take the bin to the side of the road. When my mother gave birth to my baby sister and brother, I had to share in the responsibility of taking care of them. Women take meaningless jobs, only to compliment the income of the males. As a child, I got all the toys that would assist me into becoming a woman, and homemaker, such as dolls to learn to do hair, and Easy Baker to learn to cook. The dolls were also symbolic of learning to take care of children, whereas all my brother toys were geared to teaching him manly skills, such as tools. When I related to my family that I was going to join the military, they expressed that the military was no place for a girl, and that I would never make it, regardless of how tough I thought I was. Now, that I have retired, and have DV tags on my
