The Importance Of Male Stereotypes In The Media

People organize their knowledge about the world around them by sorting and simplifying received information. Therefore, they create cognitive schemes, which are certain representations of the reality displaying its most typical and fundamental elements and properties. These schemes are responsible for defining the essence of our worldview and have a significant influence on social cognition: understanding, anticipation, situation and emotion control.

Mass media play a significant role in a modern world, by broadcasting information in a fast pace. They consist of press, television, radio, books and the Internet. By creating a certain type of message, media can manipulate people’s attitude and opinions. One of the most important types of schemes

Males are stereotyped in movies, books, magazines, television, almost any type or medium with a male figure exhibit some type of male stereotyping. The most common male stereotypes in the media are often very well known and referred to as normal traits that men are supposed to posses. They can be a result of our own observations or be adopted from the influence of the significant others, such as family, friends, teachers and media. Because of many simplifications and generalizations that they produce, stereotypes present incomplete, subjective and sometimes false image of the reality. When analysing male stereotypes, in the context of gender equality. Male stereotypes, function as an aspect of a larger structure. For example in Julia Serano’s “Why Nice Guys Finish Last” Serano attempts to explain why women tend to prefer “assholes” over “nice guys” and in the process she also illustrates how gendered stereotypes are detrimental

Stereotypes present incomplete, subjective and sometimes false image of the reality. They are often based on tradition and are resistant to change. Although they can both have positive and negative nuance. Roxane Gay’s “Bad Feminist” Gay examines her own identity as a feminist in the context of cultural expectation and categorization or as she likes to call it the “myth” of essential feminism. Gay mentions in her essay collection that feminism “doesn 't allow for the complexities of human experience or individuality” Which does feel true we all see feminism as angry females that hate men, the objectification of women, and what we all assume no shaving of the arms, legs, underarms, etc. which is not all true maybe some feminist can be what we all assume but not all. Women should be allowed to believe in women’s right but also be able to get married, have kids, dress, like a girl, or shave their legs and not feel obligated to hate all those beliefs. Gay mentions that she does/wants all those things but by doing so would make her a “bad feminist”. By her looking past the essential feminist “guidlines” Gay concludes that “she rather be a bad feminist than no feminist at all”. Nevertheless, many social institutions based on the assumption of stereotypes that they are well known to