Gender

“Many wonder how much the media influence the choices we make about our lifestyles and physical appearance, and to what extent media representations help to shape our perceptions of ourselves and others”. (Duncan, p.82)

When examining the media, we are faced with countless gender representations. It is important to note that these are representations and constructions, rather than an accurate depiction of reality. Reading the above passage in Barry Duncan’s article entitled Seeing Ourselves: Media and Representation provoked me to take a moment for self reflection. I began to critically examine my lifestyle and think about how I perceive myself and the kind of person I strive and yearn to be. Over the course of my lifetime, It has become clear to me that gender is a key concern when discussing representation in the media.

When hearing the word ‘boy’ and ‘girl’, we often think of characteristics which we believe to be suitable for each gender. Dolls are for girls while toy cars and train sets are for boys. To most people, it seems that this statement is accurate and perfectly normal. Often times, the media reinforces these generalizations. Masculinity and femininity are two concepts made up of stereotypes. The stereotypes for each gender differ tremendously and are promoted and advertised on the media. On television, men are typically portrayed as being more assertive than women. Commercials advertising cleaning merchandise always include a female pitching the product. On sitcoms, women are generally the ones associated with domesticity. These are examples of just some of the most common gender representations that can be seen on television, magazines and in newspapers. It is clear that the media plays a significant part in shaping people’s views on what types of behaviors and characteristics deem appropriate for each gender respectively.

I believe that it is important that people do not use gender as a basic group to categorize individuals. Everyone has their own unique identity and people should not just assume characteristics upon people on the sole basis of gender.