Social Structure of Gender
Gender is socially constructed through institutions, organizations, groups, statuses and roles, beliefs and norms. Women's rights have increased significantly in the last 100 years, but women are still being treated differently than men in today's culture. This is happening because of the social structures in society.
The media is a social institution that has impacted how women are viewed in society. The media content is created and controlled by men. Men have created the ideal women that women think they should be and men think women should be. The media's influence on society has given gender roles to both men and women, but the roles given to women are unattainable.
Women are portrayed as sex objects that men own in the media. Women are sexy, wear skimpy clothing, and exist to please men. This stereotype of women in the media creates social norms and beliefs in men and women that women are to have the ideal body, skinny as a rail with large breast. The media's portrayal of a woman's body is unrealistic; women in the media are not real women. But, the social institution of media gives society this belief and creates a social norm.
Women are given also given a status of a perfect "housewife" in the media. The roles that go along with this status are cooking, cleaning, taking care of children, and pleasing the men. This status goes along with the 50's era where women didn't work. In today's society many women have full time jobs just like men. It is impossible for a woman to work full time, take care of the children, and maintain a perfect house. The media is giving men and women unrealistic expectations for women to meet.
The media has given society expectations of how women should look and act. These expectations are not attainable or fair for women. The media is a social institution that has given society expected statuses, roles and norms for women. The order and predictability of women in the media is expected by all media consumers, but this portrayal should not be expected of women in real life.
This is a video Dove made in their real beauty campaign. It shows how the ideal woman in the media is fake. This is the process media content goes through in order to create this ideal woman.
"...compose a thoughtful entry that addresses your understanding of gender as a social structure and how it has impacted your life and/or how you expect that it will do so. You can approach this from any particular avenue you wish. Just remember that the point of the exercise is to evaluate your understanding regarding gender as social structure."
ReplyDeleteWhile you highlight some of the ways in which gender stereotyping has an impact on society and individuals, you don't really address "how it has impacted..."
Re: "This is happening because of the social structures in society.
This is too vague. Gender IS a social structure and you need to articulate that.
Re: "The media is a social institution that has impacted how women are viewed in society. The media content is created and controlled by men."
Be careful with such broad sweeping assertions. A lot of media content is also created and controlled by women. A more accurate statement would be, "The media content is largely created and controlled by men."
I think this is very well written, and you video fits well with your blog. Good job!
ReplyDeleteI like your video which I have watched a couple of times before. I like how you understood your understanding of gender as some social framework. I also like your example about how women have been perceived that women used to be seen as only like housewives but that perception has been changed a lot dramatically. It was a strong, typical example. Nevertheless, you should have then cared about men's social framework that how our society has been seeing males. Like how our society sees women, there are some particular social stereotypes of men. It was an interesting entry by the way.
ReplyDeleteI think your post is well written. I don't have any critiques. The video shows what society views as socialy acceptable as far as beauty.
ReplyDeleteI liked this post. The video went well with the writing. I would suggest talking about the personal effect it has on you.
ReplyDelete