challenging society’s limiting gender narratives

The Effects of Gender Stereotyping
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Abstract
Almost every nation in the world faces issues of gender stereotyping, and the United States is no exception. When a society allows the practice of over-generalizations about an individual or a particular group based on the gender, the outcomes affect the entire society. Gender stereotyping and stereotypes are vices that, if not controlled, can lead to the violation of the laws of human rights. It is for the unprecedented outcomes of this issue that highlights the need to fight it. Many people feel that gender stereotyping is a problem of the females, but that view seems biased. In addition to the extensive studies on issues of gender, it is a living reality that gender stereotyping is a problem of males too. Research also shows that this problem has existed in the United States for many years. Although the American Society has tried to fight it, gender stereotyping has only taken a new twist, with the media being at the top of the list of factors that spread this problem. This paper will examine four gender-related films, aiming at challenging the American society’s limiting narratives on gender.
Keywords: Gender Stereotypes, Stereotyping, United States, Men, Women
Introduction
Many people believe that gender stereotyping is a problem that targets women only, but that notion is untrue. Men are victims too, and, although they suffer in silence, they need help in fighting this vice.

According to O’Malley (2004) gender stereotyping has existed in the United States from the 1850s when market economy emerged, and the people felt that women’s household contributions had become less valuable. Before that, Americans depended on subsistence economy in which women played an integral in farming CITATION Mic04 l 1033 (O’Malley, 2004). In this paper, the author will examine the issues of gender stereotyping with the sole focus on how it affects both males and females. It will review four gender-related films, aiming at challenging the American society’s limiting narratives on gender.
Video 1
In Video 1, the BuzzFeed asked four women to use professional makeovers then take photographs. After which, the BuzzFeed team Photoshopped their photos to make them appear as the “cover models.” The team also asked the women to model in a professional photo shoot. In the video, every woman reacts to the outcomes of the whole exercise. In general, none of the four women seemed impressed with the photos; regardless of how “perfect” they looked. One of them said that the retouch of the pictures (the technologies used) to make the women look flawless took away their identity. She added, “When someone has helped you do your hair, another one give directions on how your body should look like and phases out your imperfections, then only a little of who you are remains.”
She also observed that the modern-day trends insight most people believe that they have to look to the standards that appear unattainable to others. On seeing the photo-shopped photo of her, the second woman responded by saying, “I wanted to have the same look like the one in the picture, but now that I have seen it I wonder why I even thought of it.” According to her, people should understand that they are natural and that the ideal does not exist in reality. The next one said that the flawless women she saw on the magazines prompted her to desire to look like them. However, her photo-shopped photo made her wonder if there is anyone who looks like that. She also urged that people should be contented with who they are rather than looking at other thing and try to copy them CITATION Mel14 l 1033 (Gilkey, 2014).
Video 2
“I am a Monster” is a film featuring four girls narrating a short poem about female stereotyping. They include Gardner Asha, Privado Reina, Iro Amina, and Halpern Hannah, and members of the Youth Slam Team of DC. In the film, the girls describe themselves as “monsters” in the bid to spell out the stereotyping towards women. They argue that women should have the choice to do the things they desire, rather than have the society dictate and scrutinize the things they do. According to them, the society views women as bad and do unpleasant things. For that reason, they feel that women should also have the chance to be bad as the society views them or “evil” and become “monsters” even if it is only once. Gardner and her friends also feel that they should become monsters to rip off the throat of any female stereotype CITATION Ros13 l 1033 (Warren, 2013).
Video 3
Miss Representation is a film that exposes how both mainstream culture and media play an integral role in the under-representation of females in influence and positions of power in the United States. It unravels the glaring realities that the people of America live by in their day-to-day lives but does not see. In particular, it outlines how the limited and slightly disparaging portrayals of both girls and women by the media bar them from feeling powerful or achieving leadership roles. Miss Representation features a set of stories from young girls and provocative discussions with different academics, politicians, entertainers, activists, and journalists. Some of the people featured in the movie include Nancy Pelosi, Condoleezza Rice, Katie Couric, Margaret Cho, Gloria Steinem, and Rachel Maddow.
In the American society, media remains the most persuasive equipment that shapes the norms of the American culture. The collective message from the media is that the power and value of women lie in their youthful life, sexuality, and beauty, but not their capacity to lead. The American women have advanced towards leadership since the turn of Millennium, but the United States lags in the 33rd position, among the world’s 49 highest income nation in terms of women in the legislature. Beyond the government, American women comprise only 4.6 percent of the 500 CEOs of the S&P and 17 percent of editors, cinematographers, writers, executive producers, and directors working in the country’s top 250 local grossing firms CITATION The16 l 1033 (The Representation Project, 2016).
Video 4
The Mask You Live In unravels one of the gender stereotyping biases that many people seem to overlook. The film reviews the perception of masculinity in the United States with much emphasis on how the American boys and men struggle to maintain their identity while also living by the societal stereotypes. The video points out the American males lives under the pressures of the media, adults close to them, and peers which prompt them to do or avoid some things. For example, they have had to deal with messages urging them to detach from their emotions, use violence to resolve conflicts, degrade and objectify women, and devalue profound friendships. According to the American society, such actions make them more masculine.
The Mask You Live In features a range of specialists in psychology, education, media, sports, sociology, and neuroscience who contribute by offering evidence of the American “boy crises” as well as the practical measures for combatting them. Not only do they misguide the male American by subjecting to unprecedented consequences, but also provoke other issues. For example, such factors border race, circumstance, and class, which leads to the creation of several identity issues the boys and men, especially the young ones have to confront to belong to the category of “real” men CITATION The161 l 1033 (The Representation Project, 2016).
Verdict
Just as this paper outlined, gender stereotyping is a problem that faces the United States on more than one level. Not only does it target the females and males, but also borders other social issues that make it trigger more problems to the society. Besides the solutions highlighted in the analysis of Videos 1 – 4, the United States, among other world’s societies, should also consider the following measures for fighting gender stereotyping and other issues associated with them. For example, the country should rectify the representation of women in leadership roles as well as media to enable them to participate and influence the decision-making procedures of the matters that affect them as well as the entire nation. Other strategies that can help the United States fight gender stereotyping include, encouraging girls and women to access the male-dominated areas, and enact laws that target domestic and gender-oriented violence; among other strategies CITATION UNW11 l 1033 (UN Women, 2011).
Conclusion
This paper provided an analysis of four films (Videos 1-4) whose common denominator was gender stereotypes and stereotyping. It revealed that the American Society pressurizes both the males and females to conform to some standards deemed appropriate. For the men, they have to fit provisions of masculinity as described by the American Society; whereas women have to focus on their beauty, youthful life, and sexuality. Not only does the paper highlights the dangers of gender stereotyping, but also provides the practical strategies for dealing with them. For that reason, it provides the platform on which other researchers can base their studies.
References
BIBLIOGRAPHY l 1033 Gilkey, M. (2014, February 17,). 4 Ladies Get The ‘Cover Model’ Makeover Of Their Dreams … And Then Hate The Results. Retrieved from Cloud Tiger Media: http://www.upworthy.com/4-ladies-get-the-cover-model-makeover-of-their-dreams-and-then-hate-the-results-11113?c=reccon1
O’Malley, M. (2004, April). Women and Equality. Retrieved from GMU: http://chnm.gmu.edu/exploring/19thcentury/womenandequality/
The Representation Project. (2016). Miss Representation. Retrieved from The Representation Project: http://therepresentationproject.org/film/miss-representation/about-the-film/
The Representation Project. (2016). The Mask You Live In. Retrieved from The Representation Project: http://therepresentationproject.org/film/the-mask-you-live-in/about-the-film/
UN Women. (2011, July 11). Countering Gender Discrimination and Negative Gender Stereotypes: Effective Policy Responses . Retrieved from UN Women: http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2011/7/countering-gender-discrimination-and-negative-gender-stereotypes-effective-policy-responses
Warren, R. (2013, October 30). Watch These 4 Girls Destroy The Female Stereotype Like The Monsters They Are. Retrieved from Cloud Tiger Media: http://www.upworthy.com/watch-these-4-girls-destroy-the-female-stereotype-like-the-monsters-they-are-rw1-9b