The media plays an important role in most people’s lives, which is why it should be more diverse and include more genders. Entertainment should be easy to connect to—to put oneself in a virtual world that may be completely artificial but feels natural. Music is supposed to connect with individuals on a personal, often times on an emotional, level; video games are meant to make everyone feel like a hero; television shows, commercials, books, and magazines are supposed appeal to and represent everyone equally. With this influence and large audience, media is one of the best ways to introduce and reinforce the idea of different genders. In fact, McInroy and Craig claim that the media is the main source of transgender (“nonbinary”) and nontransgender
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Completely eliminating all gendered products may be too costly for companies, but introducing a new line of non-binary gendered products would target a larger audience. Including non-binary gendered products would benefit society greatly. If the media included non-binary characters and non-binary gendered products, more people would understand that there are different genders and be more accepting of these genders. They may even realize that they are not completely masculine or feminine but instead fall on the gender spectrum. Still, some people fail to see the importance of a more diversified media as they only view the non-binary population as a small group of …show more content…
A major problem with being more inclusive is how one would go about it. Some forms of media rely on stereotypes to decide how they want to portray a character. The media’s use of stereotypes can create even more misunderstandings, possibly even hatred, of others like non-binary people. McInroy and Craig state that negative representations often rely on comical caricatures to show transgender (non-binary) people as cross-dressers, criminals, sex workers, mentally ill, and/or unlovable (607). This portrayal has its effects as well. They reference a study that showed that over 20% of participants in the United Kingdom were verbally harassed because of the negative portrays offline media, such as television shows and movies. 8% reported being physically harassed due to this misrepresentation (McInroy and Craig 607). Often times, offline representation is the first thing the public sees about non-binary people, so this experience influences their perceptions of non-binary people (McInroy and Craig 608). These inaccurate, often times offensive, portrayals may be even worse than leaving non-binary people out of the
Completely eliminating all gendered products may be too costly for companies, but introducing a new line of non-binary gendered products would target a larger audience. Including non-binary gendered products would benefit society greatly. If the media included non-binary characters and non-binary gendered products, more people would understand that there are different genders and be more accepting of these genders. They may even realize that they are not completely masculine or feminine but instead fall on the gender spectrum. Still, some people fail to see the importance of a more diversified media as they only view the non-binary population as a small group of …show more content…
A major problem with being more inclusive is how one would go about it. Some forms of media rely on stereotypes to decide how they want to portray a character. The media’s use of stereotypes can create even more misunderstandings, possibly even hatred, of others like non-binary people. McInroy and Craig state that negative representations often rely on comical caricatures to show transgender (non-binary) people as cross-dressers, criminals, sex workers, mentally ill, and/or unlovable (607). This portrayal has its effects as well. They reference a study that showed that over 20% of participants in the United Kingdom were verbally harassed because of the negative portrays offline media, such as television shows and movies. 8% reported being physically harassed due to this misrepresentation (McInroy and Craig 607). Often times, offline representation is the first thing the public sees about non-binary people, so this experience influences their perceptions of non-binary people (McInroy and Craig 608). These inaccurate, often times offensive, portrayals may be even worse than leaving non-binary people out of the