stereotypes of men and women.

Stereotypes of women and men.

This essay will discuss the stereotypes associated to men and women in the media ,it will also show where it has been used in Blurred lines by Robin Thicke ,also where it has been used in Asda’s christmas tv advertisement.

The stereotypes of women are generally them being represented as sex objects, this means when these stereotypes are used women tend to have no agency ,meaning that it seems like that have no purpose other than to be used for intercourse ,for example women tend to be silent this shows that they have no purpose.Furthermore this stereotype usually shows women being used by men for this act ,as they always are underdressed when this stereotype is used, additionally the stereotype represents women as disposable e.g once they have been used they are replaced. A good example where this has been shown is Blurred lines by Robin Thicke because the girls are underdressed and do not have a word to say in the video. The ‘male gaze’ theory backs this up, due to the idea that men will look when women are underdressed for visual pleasure. A second stereotype used to represent women is as mothers ,we often see them doing the shopping,cooking,cleaning,looking after the kids. When we see this stereotype in use it seems to be underappreciated by the rest of the family, for instance in Asdas christmas advert, the woman is shown doing all theses roles  such as cooking  and she doesn't get a proper seat at the table which shows no one appreciated it enough to let her have the good seat ,after she had done everything. Lastly women are associated with the head of the domestic world when the stereotype of being mothers is used.

The main stereotype used in the media to portray men is to show that they focus on sex, for example in Robin Thicke’s Blurred lines is shows this by the use of audio codes “i know you want it” this connotes to talking about sex because this phrase is constantly repeated it seems to be his main focus. Moreover when this stereotype is used, the men are further stereotyped into being successful by using visual codes, such as there dress code , in Blurred lines the males were wearing suits and sunglasses, as it portrays them as wealthy. Another stereotype used to portray men is to show them as clueless in terms domestic jobs, they are shown to be menial and lazy towards chores like cleaning. This is shown in the Asda christmas video , the dad character gets frustrated with his wife while she is making domestic decisions this is shown ,in the audio codes when he sighs ,also he is shown as lazy while his wife is preparing for dinner and his sitting down doing nothing.

However some adverts do not use stereotypes, for example the 'This girl can' advertisement shows women competing in sports in the visual codes ,which contradicts typical stereotypes of females, this is because it does not represent women as sex objects or housewives ,in addition this is the same for the audio codes. The advert shows women of all shapes and sizes,which yet again goes against female stereotypes ,as women tend to be shown with slim figures ,which is considered as the 'ideal' body type in society , it is also done to appeal to all women because they may feel like the relate to at least one of then due to there being such a large variety of women.

Overall women are stereotyped as sexual objects of desire and housewifes depending on the purpose of the item, whereas men are stereotyped as having a main focus on sex and someone who does very little housework. Although ,on the odd occasion we see an advertisement that challanges these stereotypes completely.