Our author has created a gender PowerPoint presentation that covers the issue on the role of mass media in creating gender stereotypes. But before looking at our presentation, let’s discover the most important information about stereotypes and mass media.
In modern society, the mass media has become a part of the socialization of younger generations and adults; it plays a crucial role in shaping public opinion, assessing people and events, and setting certain standards of life and consciousness among the masses. Nevertheless, modern people cannot imagine life without newspapers, television, and internet that quickly can tell about the most important events in the world, country, or city.
Studies related to gender stereotypes started in late 50s of the 20th century, when the main goal of psychologists and sociologists was to reveal the typical representations of men for women and women for men. According to the results of the survey, it was found out that the positive image of the man was associated with competence, rationalism, and activity. A positive image of a woman was described with concepts of sociability, emotional support, and warmth. Negative features for men were called authoritarianism and rudeness, for women – heightened emotional response and inertia. The researchers did not attempt to explain the reason of emergence and existence of gender stereotypes, focusing only on stating the fact of its presence.
Mass media is not only magazines, newspapers, TV, and internet. Media is a platform and is a very important environment for the modern person. Today stereotypes have changed a lot, especially in comparison to the beginning of the 20th century. But still, the images of women and men are poor, and the task of mass media is to create a verbal and visual image with adequate characteristics of gender roles in the public consciousness.
So, what is a stereotype? How does mass media portray the stereotypes of men and women? Check the answers in our gender PowerPoint presentation!
