Download Stereotyping - Media and Society

Gender and its Ethics
Anisia Boroznova & Ardra Balachandran
What is Stereotyping?
 Bootzin, Bower and Crocker (1991) defined stereotypes as
complex mental representations of different types of
people, containing all the information that we know or
believe to be generally true of them. They argued that a
stereotype may be either an accurate or an inaccurate
generalization about what members of a category are like.
 The term derives from Greek.
στερεός (stereos) = solid, firm
τύπος (tupos) = blow, impression, engraved mark
 Hence means solid impression.
Advantages & Disadvantages
 Possible prejudicial effects of stereotypes are:
* Justification of ill-founded prejudices or ignorance
* Unwillingness to rethink one's attitudes and behavior
towards stereotyped group
* Preventing some people of stereotyped groups from
entering or succeeding in activities or fields
 Stereotypes are necessary and inescapable:
* It enables us to simplify, predict, and organize our world
Media Stereotypes
 Stereotypes act like codes that give audiences a quick,
common understanding of a person or group of
people—usually relating to their class, ethnicity or race,
gender, sexual orientation, social role or occupation.
The reverse of the medal…
STEREOTYPES CAN
 reduce a wide range of differences in people to
simplistic categorizations
 transform assumptions about particular groups of
people into "realities"
 be used to justify the position of those in power
 perpetuate social prejudice and inequality
The language we use in our media..
 Language is a dynamic and socially-informed tool. To
be truly equal, women and men must be seen and
heard to be equal.
 The media can be proactive in changing perceptions
about people in a society by using new terms regularly,
or explaining why a term has become negative and not
acceptable to a group of people.
 After the 1995 Beijing Conference, UNESCO published
its Guidelines on Gender-neutral Language.
Gender-insensitive
language usage
Gender-sensitive
language usage
Man, mankind
People, humanity, human beings,
humankind, the human species, the
human race, we, ourselves, men and
women, homo sapiens, one, the
public, society, the self, human nature
Staff, labour, work force, employees,
personnel, workers, human resources,
human power, human energy
Person-hour, work-hour
Manpower
Man-hour
Brotherhood
Human fellowships, human kinship,
solidarity
Founding fathers
The student is going back to school
today. He will continue to learn a
lot.
Founders
The students are going back to school
today. They will continue to learn a
lot.
Businessmen
Cameraman
Business manager, executive, head of firm, agent,
representative
business community, business people
Photographer, camera operator
Cameramen
Camera crew
Chairman
Cleaning lady
Craftsman
Chairperson, chair, president, presiding officer
Cleaner, housekeeper
Craftsperson
Delivery boy
Fireman
Housewife
Maid
Messenger
Fire-fighter; (plural) fire crew, fire brigade
Homemaker, consumer, customer, shopper
Domestic worker
Manpower
Policeman
Salesman / girl
Spokesman
Workforce
Police officer; (plural) police
Shop assistant, sales assistant, shop worker;
(plural) sales staff
Representative, spokesperson
Steward / stewardess
Flight attendant; (plural) cabin crew
Waiter, waitress
Watchman
Server
Security Guard
Women doctor; male nurse
Workmen’s compensation
Doctor; nurse
Worker’s compensation
Businessman
John and Mary both have full-time
jobs. He helps her with the
housework.
Research scientists often neglect
their wives and children.
Men and girls
Man and wife
Better half
Mr Smith and his wife, Mary.
John and Mary both have full-time
jobs. They share the housework.
Or Mary and John both have fulltime jobs; they share the
housework.
Research scientists often neglect
their families.
Men and women; women and men
Husband and wife; wife and
husband
Wife, spouse
Mr John Smith and his spouse, Ms
Mary Smith.
Or John Smith and his spouse,
Mary Smith.
Or John and his wife, Mary.
Gender Stereotype
 Gender is the social, cultural and psychological
characteristics of being either male or female.
 Societies have always had ways of differentiating
between both men and women, between masculinity
and femininity through the assertion of different
attitudes and behaviour patterns onto each gender.
 Due to the patriarchal nature of most societies, women
are sidelined at the receiving end and are made
vulnerable to manipulation and subjugation.
MEN are / should be
WOMEN are / should be
masculine
feminine
dominant
submissive
strong
weak
aggressive
passive
intelligent
intuitive
rational
emotional
active (do things)
communicative (talk about things)
MEN like
WOMEN like
cars / technology
shopping / make up
getting drunk
social drinking with friends
casual sex with many partners
committed relationships
Stereotyping in Advertising
 Gillian Dyer comments that advertisements ‘define
what is style and what is good taste, not as
possibilities or suggestions, but as unquestionably
desirable goals.
 Hence stereotyping in the advertising realm proves
extremely dangerous; often contributing to wrong
ideologies getting validated affecting the social order
radically.
Why do advertisers stereotype?
 Stereotypes are easier than getting to know every man
and women in the world personally. Advertisers are
especially prone to using them to sell products for the
same reason.
 They assume that all women or men are similar to
make targeting audiences a simpler process and costeffective.
CEDAW clause
 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women, the world’s most
comprehensive legal instrument to outline women’s rights.
 By 2001, 168 countries, 2/3rd of the members of the UN,
were party to CEDAW.
 India ratified it in 1993.
 Article 5 enjoins the State parties to take appropriate
measures
“to modify…. practices which are based on the idea of the
inferiority or superiority of either of the sexes or on
stereotyped roles for men and women.”
Regulations specific to Advertising
 The Code of Commercial Advertising on Doordarshan has
a clause that prohibits ads that emphasize ‘passive,
submissive qualities’ in women. Also indecent, repulsive,
offensive treatment shall be avoided in all advertisements.
(No specific mention about treatment that involves women
or representation of women)
 The Code of Advertising Practice (1985) amended in
Febraury 1995, and more recently in June 1999 as The Code
for self-regulation in Advertising by the Advertising
Standards Council of India.
(Also does not have any women-specific clause to be
protected from stereotyping and manipulation)
Instances of Gender Stereotypes
An analysis of advertisements by Goffman (1976) found numerous instances of
subtle stereotyping including:
1. functional ranking — the tendency to depict men in executive roles and as more
functional when collaborating with women. (Example – Virgin mobile)
2. ritualization of subordination — an overabundance of images of women lying
on floors and beds or as objects of men's mock assaults. (Example – Zatak Deo)
3. the feminine touch — the tendency to show women cradling and caressing the
surface of objects with their fingers. (Example – Prestige)
4. family — fathers depicted as physically distant from their families or as relating
primarily to sons, and mothers depicted as relating primarily to daughters.
(Example – Airtel)
Stereotype of Roles
 Men are generally more likely than women to be shown in
working roles, whereas a large majority of female
characters was depicted in nonworking roles.
 The type of working role and non-working role has been
found to differ between sexes*
 Five types of working roles
High-level business, entertainer or professional
sportsperson, mid-level business, white-collar worker and
blue-collar worker.
 Non-working roles
Family, recreational and decorative roles.
*Research by Courtney and Lockeretz (1971)
Examples of Role Stereotypes
 Many advertisements show mothers serving meals to their families
(but very few show fathers doing this).
These advertisements seem to suggest that mothers do all the
housework and cooking, and really enjoy this.
 Men engaged in physically active pastimes such as sport, rock-climbing
or canoeing (but few show women doing these things)
 Teenage girls grooming themselves such as putting on make-up,
brushing their hair and generally worrying about their appearance (but
few show teenage boys doing these things)
 Young boys playing with action toys such as trucks and super-hero
figures (but girls are not shown doing this).
Stereotype of Desirability
 For women, "desirable" physical characteristics (as
they are portrayed in the media) include being thin,
long-legged, slim-hipped, and large-breasted.
 For men, "desirable" physical characteristics include
being muscular and possessing a full head of hair.
 Some characteristics are portrayed as desirable in both
sexes, such as being tall, fit, athletic, young, and lightskinned.
Stereotype of Commodification
 Ads often turn women into ‘commodities that please
men’ and project women's images as male-defined as
against ‘individuals of inherent worth.’
Example – Lux
 Women are ‘wooable.’
Example - BrylCreem
 The association of beauty with these commodities
(women) is so strong that society tends to look at an
ugly woman almost with abhorrence. While male
ugliness can be overcome, female ugliness becomes the
ultimate shortcoming.
Example – Fair and Lovely
Stereotype of Children
 Majority advertisements featuring children had little boys
in varying shapes, sizes and moods.
 They are dirty, naughty, rowdy, intelligent and made to
appear as more desirable to parents.
Example – Life Buoy cleaning campaign
 When you do see two children in ads, its usually a boy and
girl or two boys and rarely is a family with two girls spotted.
Example – Surf Excel (Daag Achae Hai!)
 A few ads that did feature young girls, projected them with
their mothers in ads for beauty products. Most reinforced
stereotypical images of being chatterboxes, or sweet
delicate ‘things’.
Example – Mediker
Stereotype of Food Habits
 The number of ads for food in men’s magazines is very few
whereas a wide range of food products appear in women’s
magazines. Already the notion that women are more
involved in food purchasing and preparation is introduced.
 The ads that do appear in men’s magazines are Cuppo
Noodles, Chocolate bars and other ready -to-eat stuff and
convey men’s supposed inability to cook proper meals. In
cooking anything beyond these simple products, women
should ‘help their men out.’
*Research by Helen Macdonald in 2007
Some pertinent questions..
 Do advertisers turn women into commodities that please men, or




do they portray them as human beings conscious of their own
worth?
Are women shown preponderantly serving others or as pursuing
profitable careers?
Are they shown as objects of men's fancy, relying on their
largesse, or as persons of value, capable of managing their own
lives?
Are they shown silly, stupid and mindless, or are they portrayed
intelligent, strong and assertive, capable of successfully
undertaking responsibilities and contributing to productivity in
society?
Are women shown fanatical about cleanliness around the house?
And the Big Ethical Question...
Is it Right?
Convenience of not having Ethics
 Businesses can make profits their sole aim
 Can save the time required to explore new paths
 Little thought to spare for social responsibility
Solutions?
 Social Change
Advertisers, ad creators and social order in general need to become
gender sensitive.
Advertising work need not necessarily translate into a radical antithesis. Of course, non-sexist advertising alone is not guaranteed to
remove the detrimental effects of hundreds of years of oppression
and subjugation that have been women’s lot. But sexist advertising
works subliminally, justifying the status quo.
While agencies can’t change society purely through representation
in advertising, they should look for opportunities to highlight
instances where society has changed or is changing.
Examples – Ads for TVS Scooty / ICICI Prudential Life Insurance
Solutions?
 Alternate Programming
Conscious and deliberate effort to brainstorm and come up with
fresh ideas rather than choose the easy way out. Defying gender
stereotypes in execution of your campaign, even as you are
guided by women’s ways of buying to develop it, is a challenge –
but worth undertaking.
Example - Vodafone
 Ammendment of Code of Ethics
Government policies to promote fair and equitable portrayals in
all mass media.
Make A Choice!
 Growing number of ads that features body as a traitor
by highlighting problems such as dandruff and body
odour.
Isn’t there a moral duty for media persons to foster
ethical promotion of products? Can’t psychological
misalignment be done without?
 The woman is now out of the home, but she still lives
within her skin. Anxieties have shifted from performing
within the home to appearing outside.
Make A Choice!
The booming of an entire personal care product and
cosmetic industry is heavily dependent on the surmise that
a woman has to be beautiful to be accepted, and hence the
proliferation and immense success of beauty parlours.
Is business profit the only concern? Does not a generation
of women with low self-esteem and confidence bother you?
Is society losing the perspective that celebrates physical
uniqueness and other aspects of a person’s identity a trivial
issue?
 Ours is a caste-conscious, tradition-bound, superstitious,
feudal and intensely patriarchal society.
Abdu’l Baha’s quote…
 The world of humanity is possessed of two wings: the
male and the female. So long as these two wings are
not equivalent in strength, the bird will not fly. Until
womankind reaches the same degree as man, until she
enjoys the same arena of activity, extraordinary
attainment for humanity will not be realized;
humanity cannot wing its way to the heights of real
attainment.
*Abdu’l Baha is the son of Baha’u’llah who founded the Bahai faith.
Thank You!
 Suggested Readings
Privileging the Privileged –
Sharada Jotimuttu Schaffter
Gender Stereotyping in Advertising Gouri Shah
(livemint.com)