Gender Roles

1. Stereotypes Obtained from Media Portrayals of Men and Women
Examine a set of television shows to see if and how the stereotypes of women and men have changed. You may focus on a particular type of program or sample across a variety of programs (e.g., drama, comedy, cartoon..etc). Then, examine one episode of 5 different programs and record the following for each character:
1. Character’s sex.
2. Character’s appearance.
3. Character’s role (housewife, doctor, detective).
4. Character’s personality traits.
5. Character’s behavior.

Conduct the same kind of experiment on a similar set of shows that appeared on television 20 or 30 years ago. Compare the two sets of stereotypes. A variation of this experiment is to review television commercials or magazine advertisements.