Since the beginning of media history, women have always been represented as either being sexual objects, or staying in the house cooking and cleaning waiting for the men to return home. This goes way back to the 1950’s, where TV shows and movies portrayed women in society as this way as well. In fact, in those years, only 20-35% of characters in the media were female. However, as time goes on and things like this change in society, the same goes for the media and the representation of women as well.
Aside from seeing women in the home, more recently, women have been portrayed as needing a man in their lives and depending on men to. Even in magazines we see this, such as the front cover of Cosmo. We don’t see women giving advice on jobs, money or anything of importance, rather we see women giving advice on how to get the perfect guy, how to have the perfect sex, and how to have the perfect relationship. Aside from that factor, the idea that women must always be perfectly put together with hair and makeup done is really proved in the media.
Basically, popular culture is reinforcing the typical stereotype of men working and women staying at home, ultimately inferring that they are powerless. This is a problem because the audiences watching these shows don’t see women in the public sphere, making decisions and making money.
A great example of stereotypical gender roles, as well as some that are not, is the show The Office. The show itself has five consistent female leads who are strong, working class females, which you would never see in previous year of TV.
The value of masculinity and femininity is displayed through the character Todd Packer, who is always yelling and drinking. Also through the idea that the men are the ones who display the leadership roles, while the women are seen as subordinates. This set up shows the stereotypical “male boss, female assistant” roles.
The warehouse workers in the show are primarily male. Working in a warehouse requires strength, in order to do heavy lifting and manual labor. We rarely see a women down in the warehouse at all.
Lastly, Kelly Kapoor is one of the women roles on the show. She is more of a sensitive type of person, and is always seeking male attention. This shows a more stereotypical woman in the media.
Aside from the show itself, there are plenty of episodes where the women are constantly offended by the men. In media today, we see a lot of these serious topics being taken sort of lightly. It is interesting to see how times have changed in the media with the roles of gender. More and more shows with powerful and independent women are happening.
Discussion Questions:
1.Would you describe this media text as high or low culture?
2.Can you think of any other TV shows or movies that display similar gender roles?
3.Would you chose not to watch a show or a movie because of the stereotypical gender roles that are shown?
4.What kind of impact do these types of shows have on our views and perspectives of society, and how do you think gender roles in the media has changed since the beginning?
Mediated Pop 
“The Office” is one of my all-time favorite TV shows of all time, but I completely understand the sexism that you’re talking about. Michael Scott, the lead of the show, says some extremely offensive statements throughout his run in the show- and yet, he was everybody’s favorite character, an aspect which I find quite a bit shaking. Although Todd Packer isn’t a primary character who appears regularly, I’m always shocked by the things he says when he does. While it is a TV show, I’m shocked that a company like NBC would approve a character with negative statements to that degree.
Nevertheless, I think that one TINY outlier with this idea within this show specifically is Jan. Jan acts as Michael’s boss, as her position is higher than his, and this shows the fact that not ALL females in the show are seen as the second-hand receptionist-type figure like Pam. Although Jan is seen often telling him what to do, I do think that the double-standard is extremely visible here, as if she were a man, she would be “commanding” her significant other, but because she’s a woman, she’s often seen as “bossing them around”.
This doesn’t change my opinion of the show being problematic in many ways, but I think it’s important to show how there are a couple of outliers. I think that characters like Pam and Kelly are definitely more of the “female norm” in this series, but it’s nice to see NBC branching out to other ideas.
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