Television and the Perpetuation of Gender-Role Stereotypes

ARTICLE REPRINT • From the February 1998 AAP News, the official news magazine of the American Academy of Pediatrics

Since television is found in practically every American home and requires only minimal skills to understand, it is our nation's most common, constant and vivid storyteller. Its visual nature makes it particularly appealing.

Television plays a central role in most youngsters' social lives, providing the fuel for conversations and peer group cohesiveness. Despite ongoing and seemingly endless changes in programming, the prime-time television world transmits a compelling and fairly stable set of images about gender roles.

The most consistent image we have of women on television is that of under representation. Since the early days of television, during prime time hours (8 p.m. to 11 p.m. EST), men have outnumbered women by two or three to one. The ratio of men to women is most uneven in the violence-laden crime and action adventure programs, while somewhat more equal in situation comedies. Women are likely to be younger than men on television, but they age faster. The typical woman on television is in her early 30's, while the typical man is in his mid- to late-30's. More problematic, however, is the distinction between men and women over the age of 65: the men are more likely to be cast in younger roles, still employed and involved romantically; women over age 65 are typically categorized as elderly.

Children's cartoon programming accentuates gender role differences. Women are more invincible in cartoons than other types of programs and often are found in stereotypical roles. Similarly, in commercials, roles for both men and women are stereotyped and gender-typed, with most of the talking done by the men.

Studies of TV's effects are generally hampered because it is almost impossible to find people who do not watch television. Nonviewers are quite rare and tend to be demographically eclectic. Nevertheless, research generally points to a relationship between watching television and having stereotypical conceptions about gender roles. Studies have found that viewing is related to giving more sexist responses to questions about the nature of men and women, how they are treated and their roles in society.

Those who watch more television also are more likely to exhibit gender role stereotypes for gender-related qualities (independence, warmth) and gender-related activities (sports, cooking). Similarly, there is a relationship between watching television and having gender-typed attitudes toward gender-stereotyped chores. Although we do not find a relationship between viewing and actually doing chores.

Finally, TV viewing is related to conceptions about work. A study of high school students from around the country found that TV viewing was related to (1) adolescents' wanting to have high-status jobs that would enable them to earn a lot of money and (2) wanting to have jobs that were relatively easy with long vacations and time-to-do-other-things-in-life attitudes that, in reality, conflict.

The world of work during prime time tends to overemphasize professional and white-collar workers and the more adventurous jobs, such as police work. While occupation is usually part of male characterizations, this information is often missing for female characters—fully a quarter of the women cannot be classified by occupation. Overall, women's work on television is more stereotyped than men's. Although the same proportion of men and women are classified as professionals, women often are cast in the lower status professions and in white-collar jobs, such as secretaries and clerks.

The world of television is one in which looks, good looks, truly count. While both women and men are attractive, the women are seen as more attractive than the men. Women are more likely to have blonde or red/auburn hair than black or brown. Moreover, they typically have almost perfect bodies; few on television have even the slightest problem with their weight.

The effects of TV's world of beauty on adolescents is seen in the results of an experiment comparing the attitudes of girls who saw "beauty" commercials with those who saw "neutral" commercials. Those who viewed the beauty commercials rated beauty as more important "to be popular with men," as well as personally more important, compared to those who saw the neutral commercials.

The typical pediatrician may not routinely address the topic of television with patients and/or patients' parents. Yet, I believe that children, especially young adolescents, need to be reminded by as many sources as possible, that the way television casts characters is not real. They must develop media literacy skills.

Watching too much television may give adolescents unrealistic expectations about what can happen as they grow up. For instance, trying to attain or mimic the physical attributes of television actresses is not a healthy goal for the average teenager. William Dietz, M.D., FAAP, has postulated that eating disorders, such as bulimia, may be the only way young girls can cope with the myriad of conflicting images about food and body types we find on television. Similarly, young people's expectations about work or school may be negatively impacted by what they see on television. Pediatricians can play a role in helping their patients begin to think constructively about how television can affect their expectations about life, love and their future.

Television's world continues to evolve. Its images have undergone numerous changes over the past 30 years, and it will continue to grow and change. People's attitudes about the roles of men and women in society also have evolved and changed during the past 30 years. How much greater, however, would society's changes be if television were truly reflective of the status and role of women in the United States. By asking your patients to take a few minutes to think about the kinds of people and/or values they see on television, you are in a unique position to help young people think about television in an entirely new way.

Television can be a positive force in a youngster's life, but only if that child is media-literate.

Nancy Signorielli is a noted researcher in the field of children and the media, and professor of communications at the University of Delaware.

Reprinted with permission. American Academy of Pediatrics, AAP News, February 1998.