Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is an American police, crime television drama series that takes place in New York City. The main characters are Detective Stabler (male) and Detective Benson (female). From the beginning of the series, the two detectives act like their stereotypical gender roles. Stabler has a masculine presentation just like Benson has a feminine presentation. In this visual text, the gender roles of all the characters are very prominent. The males perform the way society expects them to as well as the females. In Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, many gender stereotypes are shown: characters’ characteristics match their gender, women are some-what inferior in the show, and the men dominate the workplace.
Masculine characters …show more content…
As a female, Benson is often seen as the motherly figure in the office or out in the field. As an offspring of a raped mother, Benson thought she should enter this unit to protect the people who have also been affected by this horrendous crime. This type of work is sometimes emotional for her, especially when she meets people that have a story similar to hers. She connects easily to the victims, so she is the person who always talks to the victim about the cases. Benson is always seen to being able to connect with the victims and also the suspects. She is easily approachable. Girls is the show are seen as emotional, nurturing, and innocent. All the females, whether it’s a main character or a victim’s relative, in the show are shown as nurturing. Even when a woman is a villain, she would have a nurturing motive behind her doing. Whenever a female is accused of something in the show, it is often dismissed. Men are often the suspects of the crimes. Women are often shown as innocent victims in the …show more content…
Men dominate the Special Victims Unit. Even looking on a poster or preview of the next episode, the number of male detectives is greater than the female ones. Men have important positions in the staffing of the Special Victims Units. The Caption, leader of the unit, was a male position until Cap Cragen retired. He was then replaced with Benson. Other important positions have been filled with males. Not only do males have better jobs in the show, but they appear more frequently. In the show, there are usually 3 male detectives (including Stabler) and one female detective, Benson. That was until season 16, when a new female detective, Detective Rollins, was introduced. Characters are replaced season to season, but the replacements are always the same gender,
Masculine characters …show more content…
As a female, Benson is often seen as the motherly figure in the office or out in the field. As an offspring of a raped mother, Benson thought she should enter this unit to protect the people who have also been affected by this horrendous crime. This type of work is sometimes emotional for her, especially when she meets people that have a story similar to hers. She connects easily to the victims, so she is the person who always talks to the victim about the cases. Benson is always seen to being able to connect with the victims and also the suspects. She is easily approachable. Girls is the show are seen as emotional, nurturing, and innocent. All the females, whether it’s a main character or a victim’s relative, in the show are shown as nurturing. Even when a woman is a villain, she would have a nurturing motive behind her doing. Whenever a female is accused of something in the show, it is often dismissed. Men are often the suspects of the crimes. Women are often shown as innocent victims in the …show more content…
Men dominate the Special Victims Unit. Even looking on a poster or preview of the next episode, the number of male detectives is greater than the female ones. Men have important positions in the staffing of the Special Victims Units. The Caption, leader of the unit, was a male position until Cap Cragen retired. He was then replaced with Benson. Other important positions have been filled with males. Not only do males have better jobs in the show, but they appear more frequently. In the show, there are usually 3 male detectives (including Stabler) and one female detective, Benson. That was until season 16, when a new female detective, Detective Rollins, was introduced. Characters are replaced season to season, but the replacements are always the same gender,