Gender Identity In The Media

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From the youngest age I can remember, everything I had seen in the media, altered my perception on gender - what it was, what it meant, and what society saw as fit. Gender has often been confused with having to do with biology, when in fact, gender is a social construct. In today’s society, gender has mixed up the construction of masculinity and femininity. This plays an important role in many individuals lives because they define themselves through gender over other identities such as sexual, ethnic, or social class. Identity is shaped by everyday communications, such as what we see through the media, therefore as society continues to evolve, so does the way we perceive identities and select our own.
Although gender identities are performed …show more content…

This story caused a lot of controversy but got people thinking about the transgender community and the importance to …show more content…

Hegemonic masculinity is defined as “A cultural ideal that emphasizes dominance, strength, accumulation of material goods, aggression, risk-taking, and adventurousness” (Connell, 1995). When we continue to allow this behavior to exceed and deny anything below it, such as looking down on feminine traits in men and too much feminine traits in women, the harder the image becomes in society. These media platforms are able to showcase that it is acceptable to express yourself how you want - gender identity should be not confined into specific categories and it can be mutable. Boys can express their femininity and girls can express their masculinity. I believe that this is ethical, because there is nothing wrong will allowing individuals to identify themselves however they desire. The entire idea is that people can value how they want to present themselves with no limits. I think that there is a lot of these examples in the media but not as much in television or movies, therefore I would like to see more talk about gender identity in those. This will speak to a larger audience, an audience who might not be involved as much in the social media world or entertainment

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