Media Stereotypes

Media stereotypes are in my opinion, inevitable especially in today’s entertainment and news industries. Stereotypes feed the audience misguided conceptions of a person or a group of people usually relating to their ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, gender and occupation.

I believe that the media today has stereotyped almost all of the groups present in society today. Stereotyping is not only insensitive, it is also wrong. Even if the stereotype is correct in some cases, I feel as though constantly putting someone down based on your fixed perceptions will not encourage them to be successful. Stereotyping can lead to bullying from a young age. Movies have taught us that the high school jocks and preps pick on the nerds and the geeks and skaters pick on the goths. Stereotyping is encouraging discrimination that children will most likely carry into adulthood and eventually pass it down from generation to generation. There has been several cases where stereotyping has lead people to live their lives in constant fear, waiting for the next attack.

The topic of gender stereotyping for me personally is the most engaging as it symbolizes the significant amount of change that is occurring in the world today. Men and women are crossing paths whether it is in their social role or occupation; both genders are able to achieve the same accomplishments. Some of the best examples off the top of my head are the infamous examples – ‘men are strong and do all the work’, ‘men are the back bone’, women aren’t as smart as a man’, ‘girls are not good at sports’, ‘men are messy and unclean’, ‘nursing is for women’, ‘construction is for men only’. I believe these stereotypes are slowly being forgotten and disowned as I feel society is slowly becoming for accepting of both genders being able to accomplish anything.

- Huda