Question

Television: The Ubiquitous Media Socializer? including details as to the messages that television provides regarding the differences between men and women; be sure to include: which gender is more important and how does TV media portray that; what type of socialization messages are sent out through TV media, how are female characters usually portrayed vs male characters especially physically, traditional vs non-traditional gender roles, TV anchors, etc. Please include examples along with your explanations.

Answer 1

It is indeed a well known fact that social learning and learning through observation is a potent form of learning for children as they are in the growing up process. This refers to the way they want to look and talk, extending to the type of jobs they aspire to do. Screen time is a huge part of children’s life and this fact cannot be denied, whether it be any nation into consideration. Surveys suggest that these play a huge role in determining how they learn about gender roles, their role in the society and relate it with their gender. Sexualisation of girls and women has been an age old phenomena on television and still continues to take place in very many ways. In fact, normalization of violence against women and normalizing of boys portrayed as hyper violent or aggressive. Stereotypes prevail in these media forms and get reinforced through regular exposure. Instead of a girl simply playing sports, television portrays such girls playing sports as ‘tomboyish’. In fact the segmentation lines that should become blurry and still distinct even in terms of the colour preferences of the two genders. The portrayal of girls striving towards perfection on the screen impacts the manner in which the viewing audience looks at themselves. This lens encourages more and more girls to strive towards the same goals as the ones they view on television. This includes body-type issues and complexion. Advertisers are attempting to socialize their child viewers into accepting some sex-typed activities and behaviours in order to sell their products. This happens through normalizing the purchase of certain products by girls only and similarly other products that are apparently ‘masculine’ by boys.