In today’s society people are fed many messages from the media through newspapers, the Internet and television. The media impacts both how culture and consumerism interact and how they impact gender and sexual norms. It is these messages from the media that can impact one’s culture and how one becomes a consumer of the products sold by companies. These messages help construct and reinforce gender and sexual norms not just in the United State, but all across the world. Although, some sexual norms and gender roles are more emphasized in other countries compared to others. In order to understand how the media can impact gender and sexual norms; one must first define gender and sexuality. Sexuality refers to a person’s sexual interest and
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The media has portrayed women in advertisements as subordinate to men, powerless, sex objects and “happy homemakers”. This has gone as far back as the 1850’s. Women have been typically portrayed as being at home, while men are shown being outdoors in the real world or in a business setting. These types of messages make women more susceptible and promote only cooking, cleaning, and childcare. These types of messages from the media only reinforce the roles that certain cultures have already established for women in certain cultures. It can be said for men as well; women are not the only targets of multi-million dollar companies. Advertisements emasculate men by having them question their own masculinity based on; what products they use, what type of car they drive, what they drink, how much they earn or even how muscular and athletic they may be, depict that men should be bold risk takers. These negative stereotypes only help reinforce established behaviors that have been already instilled by their own …show more content…
This type of expectations for men and women have drastic effects on a person’s self esteem and how they may identify within society. Which makes individuals want to fit into these gender and sexual norms in order to feel included and not feel like outcast. So, men and women shop for and use certain brand names, so that they can silently say to themselves proudly “yes I am a women or yes I am a men”. When in reality none of these materialistic things define us as either men or women, nor will they make us more feminine or masculine. Why do people let themselves be defined by advertisements, because we are taught; what gender roles and sexual norms one should follow from the start of our births.
In order to fight these stigmas, one must say no to these sexual norms and gender roles; that have been reinforced by the media and constructed by people’s cultures. One must teach boys that it is perfectly fine to show emotion and that girls can lash out with out being called derogatory terms. By doing so, we can help established a brighter future for our society; where every individual feels wanted and not feel like an
The media has portrayed women in advertisements as subordinate to men, powerless, sex objects and “happy homemakers”. This has gone as far back as the 1850’s. Women have been typically portrayed as being at home, while men are shown being outdoors in the real world or in a business setting. These types of messages make women more susceptible and promote only cooking, cleaning, and childcare. These types of messages from the media only reinforce the roles that certain cultures have already established for women in certain cultures. It can be said for men as well; women are not the only targets of multi-million dollar companies. Advertisements emasculate men by having them question their own masculinity based on; what products they use, what type of car they drive, what they drink, how much they earn or even how muscular and athletic they may be, depict that men should be bold risk takers. These negative stereotypes only help reinforce established behaviors that have been already instilled by their own …show more content…
This type of expectations for men and women have drastic effects on a person’s self esteem and how they may identify within society. Which makes individuals want to fit into these gender and sexual norms in order to feel included and not feel like outcast. So, men and women shop for and use certain brand names, so that they can silently say to themselves proudly “yes I am a women or yes I am a men”. When in reality none of these materialistic things define us as either men or women, nor will they make us more feminine or masculine. Why do people let themselves be defined by advertisements, because we are taught; what gender roles and sexual norms one should follow from the start of our births.
In order to fight these stigmas, one must say no to these sexual norms and gender roles; that have been reinforced by the media and constructed by people’s cultures. One must teach boys that it is perfectly fine to show emotion and that girls can lash out with out being called derogatory terms. By doing so, we can help established a brighter future for our society; where every individual feels wanted and not feel like an