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Gender vs Sex
Most social scientists distinguish gender from sex. Gender roles
are not biologically determined, but vary acording to culture and
epoch, and even for individuals during the course of their lives.
Gender roles are consequently described by social scientists as
socially constructed. Most of the behaviour associated with
gender is learned rather than innate. People learn what sorts of
behaviour and personality are regarded in their cultural context
as appropriate for males or females.
Even within a culture masculinity and femininity may be defined
differently by various groups, in particular according to ethnicity,
age, social class and sexuality. In this sense there is no single
masculinity or femininity, but rather multiple masculinities and
femininities. Not all men are 'leaderlike', 'aggressive', 'assertive',
'independent', 'risk-taking' and so on; and not all women are
'affectionate', 'gentle', 'sympathetic', 'dependent', 'emotional',
'nurturing' etc. Such qualities are found in varying degrees in
most people.
But all men and all women are aware of the cultural prevalence
of traditional gender stereotypes, and television contributes to
this awareness. Sex roles involve cultural expectations, such as
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that men will seek achievement and dominance, and that women
will be compliant and supportive. The relationship of individuals
to these expectations often involves tensions.
Occupations by gender
The majority of women on TV are restricted to a few roles. Male
roles are far more extensive and more exciting. Women are
often shown on TV in 'traditional' roles such as housewives,
mothers, secretaries and nurses; men are shown as husbands
and fathers, but also as athletes, celebrities and tycoons. Marital
status on is more often revealed for women on TV than for men.
Men on TV are more often portrayed in employment, tend to
have a higher status and are less likely to be shown in the home.
Where women are shown as successful outside the domestic
sphere they are frequently portrayed as unhappy in their
personal lives. Once again, such a distribution of occupational
roles lags well behind current realities in the workplace (however
limited these may still be).
General advertisements
In television advertisements, gender stereotyping tends to be at
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Children's programmes
Up to 85% of the characters in children's TV are male, even in
cartoons, and with animal characters - the sexual distribution of
which is roughly as for Homo sapiens. Similarly, the occupational
range for female characters on children's TV far more limited
than for males.
Children on TV
In general on TV, boys tend to be shown as active, aggressive,
rational and discontented. They tend to engage in traditional
male activities such as sports, travel and causing trouble. Even
now, girls are often shown talking on the phone, reading and
helping with the housework. This pattern is even found in
educational programmes for children.
Soaps
Soaps in general have a predominantly female audience,
although prime-time soaps such as Dallas are deliberately aimed
at a wider audience, and in fact at least 30% of the audience for
this soap was male. According to Ang, and hardly surprisingly, in
Dallas the main interest for men was in business relations and
problem and the power and wealth shown, whereas women
were more often interested in the family issues and love affairs.
In the case of Dallas it is clear that the programme meant
something different for female viewers compared with male
viewers.
The audience for soaps does include men (and probably more
men than are prepared to admit it), but some theorists argue
that the gender of the viewer is 'inscribed' in the programme so
that soaps address women in particular. Soaps appeal to those
who value the personal and domestic world. Dorothy Hobson
argues that women typically use soaps as a way of talking
indirectly about their own attitudes and behaviour. There is no
doubt that viewing and talking with family and friends about
soap operas is experienced by many women as a pleasurable
experience, and the dismissal of the worth of the genre by many
commentators, including some feminists critical of gender
stereotyping, is open to the charge of cultural litism.
'Masculine' genres
Sport on television is dominated by men and tends to inculcate
masculine values. Sports programmes define men in relation to
competition, strength and discipline.
Most war films promote violence as 'natural' and heroic for
males. Women in these films are typically mothers, chattel or
whores. The soldiers are men of few words, heroic deeds and
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stoic endurance. As John Wayne put it, 'Never apologize, mister it's a sign of weakness'. Lethal tasks are performed by soldiers in
these films with no show of emotion.
Easthope argues that detective stories 'give the masculine ego
the pleasure of mastery, certainty, seeing it all clearly laid out in
the end'. Detective stories involve following clues and unravelling
plots to re-establish a sense of order.
Buddy narratives
The so-called 'buddy movies' portray men paired as co-heroes
and tend to be action-oriented. In them, men are seen as acting
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Gays on TV
Intimacy between men inspires homophobic reactions. Typically
gays are symbols of what masulinity should not involve. Without
homosexuality, heterosexuality has no meaning. Although gays
are largely invisible on TV there has been an slightly increasing
tendency to feature token gay stereotypes on TV, though they
are rarely shown enjoying happy lives (in Dynasty, one recalls
Steven's lovers getting killed). Stories about gays tend to
reinforce conventional values. Even when gay men are portrayed
the central focus tends to be on the reaction of others to this as
a 'problem'. This is particularly disturbing if, as some suggest, TV
images may be more important to gays in identity- formation
and socialization than to heterosexuals - who have frequent
access to positive images.
Modes of use
David Morley's important study Family Television offers a host of
insights into the differences between mothers and fathers in
terms of the way in which they use television, at least amongst
white lower-middle- and working- class families. Morley
emphasizes that he does not see these differences in modes of
use as related to biological sex differences, but to social roles in
the home and the distribution of power. For men the home still
tends to be primarily a place of leisure; for women (even those
who work outside it) the home is still mainly a place of work. The
way men tend to use TV is not so much an inherently 'masculine'
mode but what Charlotte Brunsdon calls 'a mode of power'.
Degree of attention
Morley reports that many men prefer to watch TV with full
concentration, without interruption, and in silence, and that
many women watch with less attention. Some women prefer to
watch and chat at the same time, seeing television viewing as a
social activity. Women also refer more often than men to
chatting about TV programmes with friends and workmates. One
women (cited by Hobson, in Seiter et al.) declared 'I only watch
Coronation Street so I can talk about it.'
Fathers who become engrossed in TV programmes (most clearly
in news programmes, apparently) are of course at the time less
responsive to other members of the family. Some commentators
have argued that watching in this way is a deliberate way for
men to shut out the rest of the family. It is very uncommon for
mothers to neglect the family in this way: they tend to maintain
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Choice of programmes
Fathers are the ones referred to most often as controlling the
selection of TV programmes on the main family TV set, though
fathers often didn't see it this way (Lull). In Morley's sample,
men were far more likely to plan a evening's viewing in advance
than women were. For many men the remote control device is
effectively symbolic of their power of choice over programmes.
Some women complain that their husbands often switch
programmes without regard for whether their wives had been
watching. Mothers only rarely take such unilateral action. This is
a reflection of male power in the home. As one girl put it, 'Dad
keeps both of the automatic controls - one on each side of his
chair.'
Programme Types
Morley's study showed a strong male preference for 'factual'
programmes such as news, current affairs and documentaries,
and a female preference for fictional programmes, including
romantic fiction in particular. Morley also felt that this pattern
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