Youth Media And Gender Stereotypes In The Media

Most children are exposed to ads and media multiple times on a daily basis. Seeing the ideas presented in these media forms over and over again has a big impact on how children’s social institutions are formed. In many ads and films targeted towards children there is strong gender differences. Boys are represented with the color blue and action, while girls are represented with pink, and have caring, supporting roles in most forms of media. Youth media impacts children’s understanding of their masculinity or femininity by placing stereotypes and gender roles in their heads that they are then pressured to abide by.
One example of gender stereotypes in media is present in disney 's The little mermaid. The representation of gender starts with …show more content…
The relationship between kid media content and socialization is kids see these images and form ideas about what is considered to be popular or cool. Girls have to be all about friendship, clothes, enjoy things like the color pink, and be caring. Boys are taught they have to be aggressive, leaders, athletic, and more. Children who deviate from the images they see on tv are considered different and other kids may make fun of them. This causes these children to feel alone and try to change themselves although there is many others like them all hiding those traits. Children also regulate these views in each other as in class we saw a video where children pointed to the male or female doll who had certain traits. The children followed the stereotypes they know and point to the female doll for feminized roles and the male for more dominate roles. The children were also asked what would happen if a male wore a dress, and many stated the boy would be made fun of. This shows that these children push each other to stay in these roles they learn. Media messages can then be continued into teen status group formations, and the teens who continue to fit in the media standards become the popular group, and everyone else does not may be put down, and cause them to feel bad about themselves. These images changes children 's understanding of men’s and women 's roles in society. It discourages girls from being leaders, and puts down boys who enjoy things that are seen as feminine. This puts women at a disadvantage of being promoted in a job later in life, getting equal pay, and more as they are seen as incapable of doing the same level of work as men. It also causes men who do not fit in the man stereotypes to made fun of by peers, and feel discouraged to take on roles that are seems to be