If you watch any TV, movies, or almost any other type of media out there, you'll know what we're talking about. For everyone else, a nice list of examples to follow:

• One of the beer companies had an ad campaign with guys in any number of situations and one of the guys would demonstrate some sort of behavior that would be considered 'un-manlike' like showing affection to a dog or calling and talking to his wife in an affectionate playful manner. Soon after, this guy would be supposedly crushed by a giant beer can falling from above. The other guys would glance in that direction and then continue on like it was that guy's fault he was not 'man enough' and good riddance.


• The creation and production of a show called 'the Man Show' which in almost every way possible played upon the stereotypes of what it meant to be a man. They had woman throughout the show in costumes that got them treated like objects, a reoccuring segment to end the show called 'girls on trampolines', and all sorts of topics and skits that reinforced and exagerated male stereotypes


• The creation and production of a show called 'Dr. Steve-o' which consists of a guy ,the guy from the show Jackass, going around finding guys and putting them in stupid situations to test if they were 'man enough' to handle it. The ones that refused or failed at the completely stupid tasks and challenges were ridiculed and mocked in humiliating ways. I think their catch phrase was something like 'finding the wussies one pansy at a time' or something


• The creation and production of a show called 'Manswers' which for the most part was answers to very stereotypical male inspired questions like 'Do big boobs float' and 'How to tell the difference between a hooker and a police woman'. Each question being addressed in a specific segment exagerating the concept.


• The fact that almost every single commerical about cleaning products always has an ultra-happy stereotypical house wife who sounds like her life has reached the next level of awesomeness because of a new cleaning product. There are not that many people who like to clean and even fewer who looked hopped up on something while doing it, woman are not the only people who should be cleaning these houses either


• Almost every commercial for jewelry companies portray the idea that woman are tripping over themselves whenever jewelry is involved and that no matter what a guy does, it can be fixed with the right amount of earrings and necklaces. A recent incantation is this woman texting her two friends about everything that the guy shes on a date is giving her. She texts the words Flowers, where they went for dinner and a picture of the earrings he gave her. Her friends get all excited as if the quality of the man is determined by teh fact that he shops at one specific jewelry shop. They then text her back a message to show him, asking if he has any brothers.


• In all kinds of different movies, the woman, are often represented as the dumb ones that don't 'get' complex ideas and things have to be explained in simple terms for them. Or they do stupid things that get themselves in danger or killed. I believe statistics show that more woman then men are attending college these days in many countries. What is this stereotype achieving, its not selling anything, do the movie makers really believe this?

We're only really touching the surface of male and female stereotypes.

Yes I can recognize that the sort of people that may enjoy these things do exist out there,but they aren't the majority. This sort of continued presentation only reinforces these stereotypes in peoples minds and then they do stupid things like force their boys to not play with dolls and dress a certain way and force their girls to always wear dresses. We want growth and understanding, we're going to have to stop the onslaught of misguided stereotypes in all these forms of media.

Feel free to add more examples of these reinforced stereotypes you see in the media.

Mia and Marq

Hello, Marq, Mia,

This is an excerpt from an op-ed column in Wednesday's New York Times written by Maureen Dowd, author of the book, "Are Men Really Necessary?"

Quote"Never let a man think you're smarter," her grandmother advised. "Men don't like that."

Ray and Ellie "had a good laugh, thinking times had changed," he recalled. The pair went on to marry — after she proposed.

But now, he says, "it seems like the students at Columbia University should pay heed to Grandma Lil's advice."

Anyone interested can read the entire on the website for The New York Times.

I hope that this article opens honest discourse.

Wing Walker

This one recently started airing with the christmas toys..

"boys are built different"

starting the stereotyping early!

Quote from: Alison on November 14, 2007, 03:46:07 AM
This one recently started airing with the christmas toys..

"boys are built different"

Aside from the obvious... 

Yes boys are actually built different in terms of how they learn.  The point of the commercial was the toys appealed to a common boy's learning style - hands on and often rough play.

It's not a stereotype when its true...

Quote from: Enigma on November 14, 2007, 03:50:56 AM

It's not a stereotype when its true...

Er yes it is, both in common usage of the word stereotype and in dictionary definition.

Quote from: Enigma on November 14, 2007, 03:50:56 AM

Quote from: Alison on November 14, 2007, 03:46:07 AM
This one recently started airing with the christmas toys..

"boys are built different"

Aside from the obvious... 

Yes boys are actually built different in terms of how they learn.  The point of the commercial was the toys appealed to a common boy's learning style - hands on and often rough play.

It's not a stereotype when its true...

Is it true that due to the same differing learning style boys decide to pull up flowers etc?

no.  - stereotype.

Quote from: Alison on November 14, 2007, 04:03:15 AM

Quote from: Enigma on November 14, 2007, 03:50:56 AM

Quote from: Alison on November 14, 2007, 03:46:07 AM
This one recently started airing with the christmas toys..

"boys are built different"

Aside from the obvious... 

Yes boys are actually built different in terms of how they learn.  The point of the commercial was the toys appealed to a common boy's learning style - hands on and often rough play.

It's not a stereotype when its true...

Is it true that due to the same differing learning style boys decide to pull up flowers etc?

no.  - stereotype.

Girls do that too...

Jewelry commericals, not only must the woman have the item from this specific place but they set up their man to fail by never telling him so. The be as indirect as possible female stereotype if i had to name it. And really this occurs in many contexts, not just jewelry.

But I hear an obnoxious jewelry commercial on the radio nearly every day, which is very good at showing the be as indirect as possible scenario...sadly I can recall how it goes. It has the woman acting so surprised that her man knew which jewelry store she wanted him to go to, the story goes on that the man was told by his father where to go, but really his father was ordered by his wife to tell which place the man was to go to. Woman wind up having all the knowledge on where to shop but never directly make a damn statement.

I think gender stereotypes keep getting perpetuated because they're easy. And when it's easy, it's easy to reinforce, to mimic, and what not. Folks often don't want to think so they let others do the thinking for them (heck, sometimes I do that). So, it's little wonder why bad ideas like stereotypes keep cropping up, even if they often are used with violence to harm others like effeminate males, androgynous acting/looking people, gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and etc. It's just the way collectivism works, either you don't think and obey or think and expect the collective to 'correct' you.

-- Brede

Attis beat me to what I was going to say.

(BTW hello again, welcome back)

    recently the mass media talked for days about Hillary Clinton somehow using her gender as an excuse for being attacked by the men she was debating.

  The whole thing was a non-issue that they wouldn't get off of.

actually, every time they talk about her being a woman just aggravates me.

Stereotypes are reductionists views of the world.

Its part of the brain system of integrating information, simplify, simplify, simplify and integrate to existing patterns.

This makes learning easier, imagine the brain had to track every variation seperately, but also glosses over those variations because they don't fit the previously reinforced patterns.

So, stereotypes are not just a big conspiracy, they're actually part of the way we see the world.

The less information you have, especially if its not first hand information (the media for example), the more distorted the view, the coarser the stereotypes will be and the farther away a random individual you meet will correspond to it.

With education, the classification system becomes finer, its still stereotypes, but so close to the actual person's individuality that its actually meaningfull instead of being alienating.

It's gender tyranny. Most people have completely bought into the roles and stereotypes of our culture, not surprising as indoctrination starts from the day we're born. Gender stereotypes are effectively reinforced by everyone around us and the media, we all take part in policing and punishing perceived transgressions of gender.

y2gen

Quote from: y2gender on November 15, 2007, 09:08:07 AM
It's gender tyranny. Most people have completely bought into the roles and stereotypes of our culture, not surprising as indoctrination starts from the day we're born. Gender stereotypes are effectively reinforced by everyone around us and the media, we all take part in policing and punishing perceived transgressions of gender.

y2gen

That is the creepy truth isn't it? "...indoctrination starts from the day we're born."

But even that could be a generalized statement, luckily some parents find a way to counter the culture...or at least slow the brainwashing. And conversely, some parents would push and encourage every gender stereotype very intentionally.

That's also why we have free will and reason to parse the truth from the bull****.

-- Brede

Quote from: Attis on November 15, 2007, 01:07:33 PM
That's also why we have free will and reason to parse the truth from the bull****.

-- Brede

I look forward to the day when more people actually use these skills instead of believing 30 second soundbites on TV to inform their opinions.

y2gen

Quote from: Id Est on November 15, 2007, 11:04:22 AM
That is the creepy truth isn't it? "...indoctrination starts from the day we're born."

Nowadays, you don't even have to be born yet. A woman at my work was pregnant. She chose not to learn the sex of her baby by ultrasound. All the other women at the place complained bitterly about this. How would they know what present to get for the baby-shower? They arranged to have the shower after the baby was born, so they could chose gender-specific gifts.

This problem of buying gifts for a newborn of unknown sex was complained about daily, and at considerable squeaky volume, such that nobody could hear me saying reasonably, "Isn't it a little early to start imposing roles on it? Why don't you just get it a gift you think is nice, and then wait 'til it can talk and just ask it what gender it is?"

And maybe they're just making it harder on themselves when we break the stereotypes and challenge what they have been taught to believe. We get enough free thinkers together, we might be able to advance ideas yet.

Freethinkers
Marq and Mia

I prefer to charge a little charge for my thoughts, if you don't mind.



That'll be .27 cents

you trying to rob us or something? that was never worth that.

Tell you what, take your entire mind, part exchange and I'll give you fifty quid and a few stolen televisions.