Gender Bias in Media

Gender Bias in Media
 
       Gender, differs in male and female. Gender is a way of telling how individuals are suppose to be, and what they should do. Everyone is able to define their own gender since they were kids, and the stereotypes started to give people the perspective of what a man and woman are like since childhood.

      Clearly there are lots of gender stereotypes in the media. Men are usually shown in an image of a strong, powerful person who should go out to work and make money. And the same time women are usually shown in an image of a beautiful and soft person who should take care home, babies and cook. These stereotypes formed our society and made people really accept that how the men and women portrayed in media are what men and women really are in reality. 

        The gender bias in media could be harmful too. In media, women are presented as a sexual enjoyment for male audiences, and shown in slim body figures and unrealistic beautiful. And the standard of beauty in stereotypes marginalizes most women.  But, no one looks the way that are presented in media. Women are presented in those ways because of photoshops to make them look unrealistic slim and beautiful.

           

HOW IS THE "OTHER" IN THE MEDIA

Who is the "other"?
    In media today, we use the word "other" to define the people that are different. Although every one is different but the there always is a majority group and a group of people that are different than the majorities, such as women, homosexual, people from other countries, etc. And the word "Other" is used to exclude these groups of people from the majorities as well. There are some certain stereotypes of "other" that we could always see through media.

The Stereotypes of the "Others" in Media
    Stereotypes are defined as the images of our minds, they contain certain image trigger preconceptions and prejudices, so people could use their prejudices to interpret and fill out the message. When we think about a certain group, we usually have an image of how they are like. And the media plays a huge role of framing the stereotypes of these people. For example, there are lots of movies talking about Chinese Kung fu, and they left the image of "most Chinese people know Kung fu and it's still huge in China". I remember when I first came abroad during high school, me and other four Chinese girls were the only "others" in the class. We had all been asked questions like" Can you play some kung fu for us?" But, none of us had ever learned or known that much about kung fu.

    Same as Kung Fu, all other kinds of different culture or people are framed into a certain stereotypes in the media as well. These stereotype are formed because of the majorities' less knowledge about them.  

    "Don't judge a book by its cover. We shouldn't judge anyone simply by their gender, nationality, religion and so on. What we see in the media are not all real.