Communications Essays on Gender and the Media
Gender stereotypes in media impact many audiences. To establish an avenue that is universal, clear, and satisfactory to many and diverse recipients, senders usually use stereotypes (Wolska, 2011). Mass media influences individuals’ views and beliefs and maintains customary gender stereotypes.
Mr. Muscle advert 2010 (https://ambermatson.wordpress.com/2010-2/mr-muscle-commercial/) portrays the male as a superhero and the female as a weaker gender. For example, in the advert, the female struggles with the blocked kitchen drains and finds it hard to unblock them. She is conveyed as weak and helpless from the statement that she makes, “Blocked drains are such hard work.” Mr. Muscle appears and describes to her how she can use the cleaning product to unblock them. The woman is astonished as Mr. Muscle does it easily and thanks him for helping her.
This advert conveys male dominance and an impractical idea that women need men to assist them in carrying out their duties successfully. The males innovate such products to help the females to become successful housewives. Mr. Muscle produces an effective cleaning product that helps the woman to solve her kitchen problem. Men are depicted as the heads and heroes while women are mainly housewives (Bailey et al., 2013). The society has formed the supremacy of males by institutionalizing male authority over women.
Currently, the difference between men and women’s roles is minimal. I believe that all genders are equal and males and females are capable of performing all duties without discrimination. (Bunker & Bryson, 2016).
The mass media should portray a good image to the society by demonstrating gender equality. However, due to the stereotypical way of describing the reality, some groups are not fully represented; thus, the society image is not complete.
References
Wolska, M. (2011). Gender stereotypes in mass media. Case study: Analysis of the gender stereotyping phenomenon in TV commercials. Krytyka.org. Retrieved from http://krytyka.org/gender-stereotypes-in-mass-media-case-study-analysis-of-the-gender-stereotyping-phenomenon-in-tv-commercials/.
Bailey, J., Steeves, V., Burkell, J., & Regan, P. (2013). Negotiating with gender stereotypes on social networking sites: From “Bicycle Face” to Facebook. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 37(2), 91-112.
Bunker, D., & Bryson, J. (2016). Gender and the media. International Journal of Market Research, 58(3), 355-379.