Gender Roles In Today's Society

The media’s depiction of gender roles in today’s society can be damaging to both males and females, and the way that each gender is encouraged to act is not healthy. Males are taught to be strong and confident, the typical image of masculinity, whereas women are taught to focus on being physically appealing, especially on being appealing to men. The media generally presents women to be thin and conventionally attractive, and this image can affect the way women feel about their appearance and can also affect the way they act and present themselves. Women are taught to shrink themselves down, to take up less space than males, to strive to be attractive and sensual. Women are not taught the same ideals as men, they are not encouraged to be ambitious and strong, because that is not the ‘woman's role’ in society. Magazines and advertisements promote being thin and pretty with photoshopped images, showing women an unattainable image of attractiveness. Many companies can benefit from women trying to change themselves to fit this image, such as makeup brands and dieting companies, which is why changing the way the media promotes these ideals for women will be a long and difficult journey.
Unrealistic beauty standards for women are seen everywhere in the media, and can seriously damage women's self-esteem and in some …show more content…
Transgender females are forced to present extremely femininely to be taken seriously or be viewed as a “proper girl”, whereas transgender boys are made to present extremely masculine, otherwise they are viewed as too feminine and their gender is not validated by others. The gender binary in todays society is so strict that male-identifying individuals can’t even wear the colour pink without their gender being questioned, and androgynous people or gender-nonconforming individuals are shunned for not forcing themselves into this strict male/female