In the last module, we considered the role of implicit bias in public health practice, and you had the opportunity to take some Implicit Association Tests to explore some of your own potential biases. As discussed in Lecture 11.2 and 12.1, implicit bias is largely a result of societal and cultural influences. Many stereotypes that lead to implicit biases are perpetuated by media portrayals of different populations in music, television, movies, and advertising. The constant reinforcement of negative stereotypes through these sources leads to unconscious expectations that these stereotypes are real. For your initial discussion post, you should identify a media source that reinforces negative stereotypes about a disparity population and share it in your discussion post. You might choose to share an image/photo, a clip from a movie or commercial, an advertisement, a clip from a song, etc. Include the link to what you’ve found in your discussion post, then in one page explains how you feel the source reinforces negative stereotypes. [If you choose a video/audio clip, it would be wise to limit it to less than 1 minute, so that it is easy for your peers to review.]

 

 

 

Negative stereotypes

Visuals are so powerful when reinforcing stereotypes making even the human rights protectors fall short in their desires for entertainment.  In the past decade, the media especially magazines, newspaper, television as well as the internet has been portraying women as homemakers, mothers and powerless when it comes to a decision making through their numerous advertisements (Rosenberg-Kima, Baylor, Plant, & Doerr, 2008). It is likely that when going through any media one will see women posing in the kitchen, with kitchen utensils, cleaning products, foodstuff, baby diapers, beauty care, slimming supplements, and jewelry. Also, the media presents different types of women ranging from different ages, shapes, colors and sexual orientation posing in their houses with household items and children. These women are portrayed as mothers and homemakers but nothing more.

Thus, the media is trying to pass-on their conviction that women spend most of their lives in the kitchen cleaning, cooking, taking care of kids and primping to the public. As a result, the media is reinforcing the gender stereotype where women are domesticated, superficial and materialistic (Rosenberg-Kima, Baylor, Plant, & Doerr, 2008). Few images present Women posing in environments like the office where they are seen as part of decision making in an organization. Mostly, the gender stereotyping by the media also occurs when the superficial and the scandalous tales of women are given significant attention and their stories covered from a patriarchal perspective where little or no feminine viewpoint is featured. Consequently, the media conditioning has caused the gender stereotyping to be normalized in the society. The public is put in a position where they cannot see women for who they really are but are boxed into particular identities which are often shaped by those in power such as men as well as the West.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Getty Images. (2014). Gender Stereotyping. Retrieved April 11, 2018, from

 

https://www.istockphoto.com/photos/genderstereotypes?excludenudity=true&me  ditype=photography phrase=gender%20stereotypes&sort=mostpopular

Rosenberg-Kima, R. B., Baylor, A. L., Plant, E. A., & Doerr, C. E. (2008). Interface agents as

social models for female students: The effects of agent visual presence and appearance on female students’ attitudes and beliefs. Computers in Human Behavior, 24(6), 2741-2756.