Sex and Gender: How does the media shape our views of men and women?
By Katie StCyr and Lauren Lanciani
Not so long ago, sex was not a topic that was openly discussed. Today, sex comes up in everyday conversations, on just about every channel on TV, in most songs, and in the majority of popular magazines. But do our views of sex and the male and female gender come from what the media shows us? Magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Maxim, Cosmo girl, and GQ give men and women pages and pages of images of men with muscular bodies and women with small waste lines and even smaller clothes. They give readers sexual tips often leading to its readers becoming unconfident in their own bodies and unreal expectations of themselves and others. On T.V. these days we are seeing more and more highly sexualized portrayals of males and females. Especially in advertisements, the whole idea of “sex sells” gives off the impression that in order to get society excited about new products there needs to be sexual innuendoes involved. For example, the TAG commercials where females are shown chasing men after they spray themselves with the product, or the Burger King advertisement where Paris Hilton is on top of a luxury car wearing a bathing suit scrubbing herself down with soap and water. What kind of a portrayal is this? And is it necessary? Music can also be extremely sexualized and portray males and females falsely. When you actually take the time to listen to the lyrics, the hidden messages of casual sex, women shaking their booties for money and drinking in the club all night are hard to miss. Again, what kind of message does this give off? Do males and females in society actually act this way? Not so long ago, sex was not a topic which was openly discussed. However today, the expansion of the media in our everyday lives has completely changed everything. Aspects of sex and gender can be seen everywhere effecting how our society views sex and each other.
mwalsh @ November 12, 2008