Challenging Gender Narrative in the Society: Module 1 SLP

Challenging Gender Narrative in the Society: Module 1 SLP

Formal Essay Outline

1. Introduction
2. Opening Sentence:

• Media plays a significant role in portraying societal gender narratives where women are underrepresented while men are showcased as influential and more powerful

1. A Brief Summary to Introduce the Topic

• WWI changed the role of women in society with some taking up professional spaces and becoming family providers.
• This did not change the societal narrative about gender roles and the significance of women in society.
• People are taking an active role to change societal perceptions about men and women as explained in the videos, Geena Davis & Media’s Portrayal of Women, The Mask You Live In, 4 Ladies get the “cover model” makeover of their dreams and watch these four girls destroy the female stereotype like the monsters they are.

1. Thesis

• Media and the film industry should make attempts to challenge gender-based narratives such as men masculinity and marginalization of women by indicating that an individual should be judged by their competencies, capabilities, and experiences rather than based on their gender.

1. Body

First body paragraph

1. Topic Sentence

• Media is a powerful and pervasive tool that plays a crucial role in the societal perception of men and women.

1. Expand and Give Specific Details

• Different types of media often perpetuate stereotypical, unrealistic, and limiting perceptions through women underrepresentation to imply that men represent a cultural standard while women are invisible and insignificant.

1. Provide Support using Examples

• In the film, Geena Davis & Media’s Portrayal of Women, Geena explains how women are represented from a condescending and negative perspective. This is because the video promotes socially endorsed gender-perspectives where women are falsely represented while women are glorified.

1. Analysis

• This cultural distortion and misrepresentation cause men to believe that they are the cultural standard as they are portrayed in business deals and rescue missions among other exciting adventures while women are shown as mere subordinates who are controlled by men.

Second Body Paragraph (2nd Supporting Point)

1. Topic Sentence

• Media is a stereotypical tool that often portrays personalities in a manner that limits their perception of human abilities and individual possibilities.

1. Expand and Give Specific Details

• Media showcases men as adventurous, powerful, and active people with the potential to achieve a myriad of events with ease.
• Women are portrayed as incompetent, beautiful, passive, and young whose success is dependent on their looks and on the ability of men in the cast to rescue them.

1. Provide Support Using Examples

• For instance, the film on 4 Ladies get the “cover model” makeover of their dreams shows the effort of females to improve their appearance in a bid to assume the perfect look of a beautiful woman as showcased in media.
• Women often struggle to achieve unattainable standards of beauty.
• Geena Davis explains how cartoon programs underrepresent women to showcase societal narrative.
• The Mask You Live In shows the struggle of men to become masculine enough by being violent, emotionless, and unfriendly.

1. Analysis

• As such, men have lost touch with themselves, their gentleness, and the aspect of humanity, which explains the increasing rate of suicide, depression, and murder among men while women have become a demoralized and underutilized version of themselves.

Third Body paragraph

1. The Topic Sentence States 3^rd Supporting Point

• Media influences gender roles, self-perception, and interpretation of the world from an individual and societal perspective.

1. Expand and Give Specific Details

• Films and videos often represent women differently from men in terms of their characteristics, abilities, and gender roles.
• Women are given the role of a caregiver or mother while men are showcased as protectors, leaders, and unemotional beings, in a bid to showcase the societal narrative of gender roles.

1. Provide Support Using Examples

• In the clip, “watch these four girls destroy the female stereotype like the monsters they are,” the girls explain the difficulty in identifying a costume they want for Halloween. All the costumes are made to reflect the societal expectation of women.
• In the clip, “The Mask You Live in,” men explain their struggles to fit in societal gender roles and narrative, most of which are unattainable.

1. Analysis

• Gender equality can only be achieved where both men and women are given platforms to showcase their true identities without being restricted to societal expectations and narratives.
• Although women make better homemakers and care-givers than men, effort should be made to identify and highlight gender gaps and imbalances as showcased in the media in order to resolve gender inequality.

III. Conclusion

1. Restate the Main Point of the Essay

Media and the film industry should make attempts to challenge gender-based narratives such as men masculinity and marginalization of women by indicating that an individual should be judged by their competencies, capabilities, and experiences rather than on the basis of their gender.

1. Summarize Supporting Reasons

• Media is a powerful and pervasive tool that plays a crucial role in the societal perception of men and women.
• Media is a stereotypical tool that often portrays personalities in a manner that limits people’s perception of human abilities and individual possibilities.
• Media influences gender roles, self-perception, and interpretation of the world from an individual and societal perspective.

1. Concluding Thoughts to have a Lasting Impression on the Reader

• Media should act as a platform that serves to portray accuracy, honesty, and fairness in the depiction of gender and gender narratives in order to resolve gender imbalance.
• Media should make efforts to fill gaps – such as inefficiency in women and overconfidence or masculinity in men – that are inherent in the effort to portray men and women from an honest perspective. As such, women will get opportunities to get featured in news headlines, to be seen as experts, and spokespersons rather than an incompetent and group.
• Media should also challenge stereotypes and societal narratives of gender roles while striving to address gender imbalances as well as inherent gaps in media.

Challenging Gender Narratives in the Society: Module 1 Case

Introduction

Media plays a significant role in portraying societal gender narratives where women are underrepresented while men are showcased as influential people in society. The role of women in society started to change during the first world war after which they were allowed to work and take diverse professional positions. However, this aspect did not change the societal perspective about gender and women have been predisposed to unfair gender-based perceptions. The film industry has been a powerful tool to portray controversial gender narratives such as gender roles and stereotyping, an aspect that has led to growing cases of women marginalization and male masculinity. As such, men have been expressed as a superior gender to women whose roles are inferior and mostly mediocre (KCET, 2020). However, women have taken an active role to challenge gender-based narratives, an aspect that is most evidenced in the videos, Geena Davis & Media’s Portrayal of Women, The Mask You Live In. The attempt to challenge societal narratives in gender have also been challenged by the video 4 Ladies get the “cover model” makeover of their dreams and watch these four girls destroy the female stereotype like the monsters they are. Media and the film industry should make attempts to challenge gender-based narratives such as men masculinity and marginalization of women by indicating that an individual should be judged by their competencies, capabilities, and experiences rather than on the basis of their gender.

Myths, Stereotyping, and Gender Roles

Media is a powerful and pervasive tool that plays a crucial role in the manner in which women and men are perceived in society. Different types of media often perpetuate stereotypical, unrealistic, and limiting perceptions through women underrepresentation with the aim to imply that men represent a cultural standard while women are invisible and insignificant. This is most evident in the movie, Geena Davis & Media’s Portrayal of Women, where Geena Davis explains how the media has been twisted to showcase women from a negative and condescending manner. For example, the video shows women’s underrepresentation and false representation in a stereotypical manner in a bid to showcase socially endorsed gender perspectives. The narrator at minute 1:53 states, “males outnumber females three to one” (KCET, 2017).  It is this stereotypical representation that serves to depict or establish a foundation for traditional roles most of which are against the growth of women in society. Through her research, Geena realized that men are represented three times more than women such that the entire women population is a mere 17% in the industry (KCET, 2017). As such, this cultural distortion and misrepresentation cause men to believe that they are the cultural standard as they are portrayed in business deals and rescue missions among other exciting adventures while women are shown as mere subordinates who are controlled by men.

Media is a stereotypical tool that often portrays personalities in a manner that limits their perception of human abilities and possibilities. Media often portrays men as powerful, adventurous, and active individuals who are involved largely in human life and success while women are showcased as incompetent, beautiful, passive, and young whose success is dependent on their looks and on the man’s prowess to rescue them in time of need. The film about 4 Ladies get the “cover model” makeover of their dreams shows the devotion of female energy to improve their appearance to assume the perfect look of a beautiful woman as portrayed in media (Gilkey, 2014). These ladies represent the struggles of women to achieve the media narrative of beauty which is almost unattainable. As explained by Geena Davis, the position of women in a career is often invisible or underrepresented. They are few in cartoon networks while those who are represented are shown in a manner that softens and feminizes their tasks to become more consistent with societal values and narratives. In the same manner, the video, The Mask You Live In shows the continued struggle of men to become a version of themselves that is portrayed by the media as masculine enough. The term “man up” or “be man enough” is one of the most destructive terms that causes men to assume a cover-up mask and causes them to lose their true identity (The Representation Project, n.d). Along with such terms, comes the creation of characters in films that portray a “man enough” or “a man worth their name” who has a high position in power or politics, is non-emotional, and violent, which distorts a male’s perception of self. The image of a perfect man is one who has achieved “masculine accomplishments” and is independent and aggressive (The Representation Project, n.d). As such, men have lost touch with themselves and have lost their gentleness and aspect of humanity, thus the increasing rate of suicide, depression, and murder among men while women have become demoralized and underutilized versions of themselves.

Media influences gender roles, self-perception, and interpretation of the world. Films and videos often represent women differently from men in terms of their characteristics, abilities, and gender roles. In the video, “Watch these four girls destroy the female stereotype like the monsters they are,” the girls make an effort to represent themselves in a different light from the societal narrative. The speakers in this video are showcasing how they can become a different version of themselves other than the societal narrative of a girl in a Halloween event. At minute 2.37, they insist saying, “let it be, my choice” (Warryn, n.d.). However, their effort to achieve their monster look has been limited by a lack of appropriate costumes which are made to depict a sexual woman rather than a professional woman who is physically and emotionally strong. In the same manner, Geena Davis explains how men in cartoons are given roles that depict them as leaders and competent individuals while women get mediocre roles, most of which are a translation of societal gender roles. As such, efforts have been made to challenge this narrative in a bid to create a society where gender equality prevails. However, as KCET (2017) explains, gender equality can only be achieved where both men and women are given platforms that enable them to showcase their true self that is far from gender-based narrative. Although women make better homemakers and care-givers than men, the role of media should be to portray a balanced society where a woman can be a CEO while a man can be a successful caregiver and provider without being subjected to societal discrimination.

Conclusion

Media and the film industry should make attempts to challenge gender-based narratives such as men masculinity and marginalization of women by indicating that an individual should be judged by their competencies, capabilities, and experiences rather than on the basis of their gender. Media is a pervasive and stereotypical tool that plays an essential role in portraying the societal perception of men and women in a manner that influences their self-perception, roles in the community, and interpretation of themselves and others. In order to resolve gender inequalities, the media should take a powerful role to portray accurate, fair, and honest depictions of men and women. Additionally, it should challenge societal stereotypes and narratives attached to gender roles while striving to address inherent gaps in society.

References

Gilkey, M., (2014).  Ladies get the ‘cover model’ makeover of their dreams … And then hate the results. (n.d.). Upworthy. Retrieved from http://www.upworthy.com/4-ladies-get-the-cover-model-makeover-of-their-dreams-and-then-hate-the-results-11113?c=reccon1

KCET (2017). Geena Davis & Media’s Portrayal of Women | Full Frame. (2017, October 25). Retrieved from https://www.kcet.org/shows/full-frame/episodes/geena-davis-medias-portrayal-of-women

The Representation Project (n.d). The mask you live in. Retrieved from http://therepresentationproject.org/films/the-mask-you-live-in/

Warryn, R., (n.d.). Watch these 4 girls destroy the female stereotype like the monsters they are. Upworthy. Retrieved from http://www.upworthy.com/watch-these-4-girls-destroy-the-female-stereotype-like-the-monsters-they-are-rw1-9b