Katherine Jarema

Argument Research Proposal

Rational

The misrepresentation of genders in the media distorts what is seen as normal and

enhances gender-related stereotypes. Gender is seen as something that is very black and white on

a screen. There isnt much variety when it comes to gender portrayal in the media. However,

anytime that something is further from the societal norm, it is viewed as wrong and less than.

The media has such an effect on people today and even small exposures to a certain idea can

change someones way of thinking.

I would love to focus on both genders instead of just one. Even though there is a stigma

around women in the media, there is still a lot of stereotyping when it comes to men as well. It

effects everyone, not just one gender. I think it is important to focus on how the media continues

to showcase gender norms and stereotypes when creating advertisements or on TV. Also, the

longer someone is exposed to a gender norm or stereotype, the easier it is for them to adopt that

way of thinking or that persona themselves.

 Outline

I. Intro
- Working Thesis: The misrepresentation of genders in the media distorts what is seen

as normal and enhances gender-related stereotypes.

II. Body

Possible Points:

- Media continues to portray stereotypes

o The study that shows how men and women in ad are used in very different

way. Men and women advertisements arent treated the same.

o UK study: men and women didnt seem to have a problem with the portrayal

of their gender until prompted with character and sexuality questions.

- Men in the media
o Exposer to hyper-masculine media, men start developing heightened

masculine qualities themselves.

o The stereotypical man shown in the media
- Women in the media
o Exposer to different roles held by women effects the desire to work towards

that role themselves.

o The stereotypical woman in the media
III. Conclusion

Annotated Bibliography

Bunker, David, and James Bryson. "Gender and The Media: Investigating Audience Options On

TV, Radio and The Internet." International Journal of Market Research 3 (2016): 355.

Academic OneFile. Web. 7 Nov. 2016.

 This is a study that was conducting in the UK. It originally asked

men and women what they thought about the equality of

genders portrayed on TV and a majority of them thought that it

was pretty even and balanced. However, when given a prompt,

the opinions changed to negative and people ended up having

more problems with TV/media.

I believe this is a valuable source for this project. I will use it for my 1st

point. It is a very recent publication and it was published in an academic

journal and result are based off of an intensive study.

Giaccardi, Soraya. "Media and Modern Manhood: Testing Associations Between Media

Consumption and Young Mens Acceptance of Traditional Gender Ideologies." Sex Roles

75.3-4 (2016): 151-163. PsycINFO. Web. 7 Nov. 2016.

This article focuses on men in the media. It highlights how there is a such

a push towards hyper-masculinity. When exposed to such stereotypes, men

tend to lean towards those hegemonic masculine ideas.

This is a great source for my 2nd point. It is written by scholars are UofM

in the phycology department. This is also a very recent publications with

true life tests and studies.

Kennard, Ashley R. "The Allure of Aphrodite: How Gender-Congruent Media Portrayals Impact

Adult Women's Possible Future Selves." Human Communication Research 2 (2016): 221.

Academic OneFile. Web. 8 Nov. 2016.

 This article focuses very heavily on women in the media. There was a

study that showed that the longer a woman was subjected to a certain

female lifestyle, then she began to develop aspirations for that future for

herself. The stereotypes of women are also focused on.

This piece works very well with my 3rd point. It is written by a group of

scholars. This was also written for a book and was recently released with a

new addition.

Matthews, Jorge, Michael Prieler, and Karoline Adam. "Gender-Role Portrayals in Television

Advertising Across the Globe." Sex Roles: A Journal of Research 7-8 (2016): 314.

Academic OneFile. Web. 7 Nov. 2016.

This article focuses on a study to prove that men and women are

portrayed as stereotypes in advertising all around the world.

Most of the results were alarming and proved just how much

gender norms play into advertising.

This article goes very well with my 1st point. It is a scholarly

article written for another book that focuses on gender roles.

The newest addition is very recent. All the authors are scholars.

Wood, Julia T. "Gendered media: The influence of media on views of gender." Gendered lives:

Communication, gender and culture (1994): 231-244.

https://www.nyu.edu/classes/jackson/causes.of.gender.inequality/Readings/Wood%20-

%20Gendered%20Media%20-%2094.pdf

This piece focused a lot on how women are underrepresented in the media

as a whole. It shows that there is such a divide between men and women,
 both on and off the screen. And when women are represented, they are

represented in a stereotypical way.

This article will be very useful for my 1st and 3rd points. The author is a

scholar and professor and this was written for a university

communications department.

Maddie & Tae. Girl in a Country Song. Start Here, Dot Records, 2014.