Our society shapes us into the people we are today. Parents,
teacher, friends, and work places are just some examples of agents that tell us
how we should act. One area where socialization is especially fierce is gender
norms. For millenniums boys have been socialized to be masculine and girls to
be feminine. One of the big gender socializers that influences thousands of
people across social classes, age groups, and even countries is the
entertainment industry. I specifically refer to movies. Children start viewing this
kind of entertainment when they are young and continue consuming it throughout
their lives. A lot of us take this for granted, but it is important to realize
the hidden gender messages that might be becoming a part of us and our
children. Look at the following list and see if any of these messages have
stuck with you or your family.
1. Men get their
hands dirty and women need to be sheltered.
These are probably some of the oldest gender stereotypes
that have been portrayed in movies. One of the classic story models is that
there is a girl locked in a tower or otherwise in trouble and the man goes
through all sorts of dangerous tasks to save her. A lot of these movies show a type
of obliviousness from the girl from things that only the man can understand.
Women are best in a safe place away from conflict. Men are the ones that should
get their hands dirty. In real life that means men get dirty working on the
car, dealing with politics, knowing the news, fighting crime, etc. Women avoid
this.
This leads to men and women consistently falling into the
same gendered jobs. There are jobs that are male dominated and others that are
female dominated. Male jobs are often powerful, dirty, educated, wealthy, and/or
less socially taxing. Female jobs focus a lot on social labor. Politics is one
example of a male dominated job that is powerful and needs leadership skills.
Women are more than capable to fill these jobs but perhaps the gender
socialization that they see in movies and other places makes them believe that
it isn’t the place of a women to pursue these jobs.
2. Looks are everything
This is a common critic of the media. The main characters of
most movies are meant to look good. This is done on purpose so it attracts the
most people to watch the movie and increase sales. This may seem like harmless
business but it has proven to have great impacts especially on adolescents.
Girls think that being skinny is the only way they can be attractive. In movies
it is hard to find a lead girl that is even remotely chubby. The chubby girls
are the friends of main characters or the ones that are picked on. Maybe this
encourages some girls to live healthier, but most lose too much weight or they
find unhealthy ways to stay skinny. Main female leads are also expected to look
impeccable always. This is even true for strong lead characters like Katniss in
Hunger Games. Even when they get dirty
or messy, they do so in a terrifically fashionable way. All of this is often
harms girls’ self-esteem.
Men are portrayed as attractive and strong. The muscles
on male leads are almost a given in popular movies. When they do not have
muscles they must be smart, but a lot of them are both.
3. Men hold in emotions and Women let it out
Women
leads are also independent and strong minded, but there are a lot more movies
that show them talking to parents or friends when they are discouraged, crying because
they are hurt or scared, and being embarrassed. But there are also movies that
show women holding in their emotions like the men.
4. Modern women are manlike.
In
the name of gender equality, production studios are trying to have women characters
that do the same things as the men. “Strong” women leads are praised because they
break the stereotypical gender norms. Depending on what you like this can be
good or bad. It can be good to show our girls that they do not have to rely on
men to protect them all the time and that they can do the same things that men
can do. This can help them get on top of their careers even above the men. But
the bad side is that this masculinity is praised so much that girls may think
that the only way they can excel is if they are masculine. This mentality is
far from gender equality. It simply reemphasizes man dominance in society.
Girls need to feel comfortable doing traditionally masculine things and
traditionally feminine things.
5. DO NOT BE A SISSY!!
While women can be like men, men cannot be like women. Some
movies show gay men or transgender men and they try to show that they can act
more feminine, but straight men should be masculine. Period. No discussion. There
is a name for girls that act like boys: “Tom boy.” While this name is socially
acceptable, names for boys that act feminine are negative: “Sissy.” True gender
equality needs to allow men to act more feminine just like women are allowed to
act more masculine.
6. Women should appease men’s visional
appetite
This can be a hot topic. Some gender equality enthusiasts
say that women should be allowed to show off their skin if they want and that
it is not fair that society tells them that good girls do not do this. But
others argue that it is demeaning for women to be portrayed as objects viewed
for entertainment instead of humans that should be taken seriously. Whatever
side of the argument you fall on, it is important to realize that movies often
teach that beautiful women have lower cut shirts, tight clothing, and other
revealing attire. Movies also make it seem that men should expect this
especially from their girlfriends or any girl that wants to grab their
attention.
Conclusion
These are just a few of the gendered beliefs that can be
taught by movies. Next time you watch a movie, try to think about how it
portrays men and women and see what other messages are being taught. Just
because the film industry is trying to show more gender equality does not mean
they are doing it well.
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