The Results Are In...

Aftering administering the Masculinity/Feminity Survey we gathered all of the results and here is what we found...

152 individuals took the Survey.

Out of the 152, 88 were female (58%) and 64 were male (42%).

The survey results showed that females had an average score of 35.5 which signified gender neutrality.

The survey results showed that males had an average score of 27.5 which signified a metro-sexual male.

Individual Question Averages

Which car would you prefer to drive? 3.33

Which career would you prefer to have? 2.54

What organized sport would you prefer to participate in? 3.20

After a serious relationship, your significant other breaks up with you. What do you do? 3.03

Which reality TV show would you prefer to watch? 3.10

In your opinion, what is the best movie of 2009? 3.49

How would you describe your normal, everyday hairstyle? 3.22

How long does it take you to get ready on a typical morning? 3.67

How often do you shop for clothing? 2.87

How often do you monitof your eating habits? 2.51

The mean for both genders, over all categories is 30.95.

Reliability

For a test of varibales to be reliable the reliability must be 0.70 or higher. The Masculinity/Femininity Survey resulted in a reliability of 0.736 making it significantly reliable.

Thank you to all who took the survey!

Objectifying Men?

According to a 2002 study by the University of Wisconsin, the new focus on fit and muscled male bodies in advertising is causing men the same anxiety and personal insecurity that women have felt for decades.

So I want to hear from the men, how do you feel when you look in the magazines?

Excerpt from "Resisting Stereotypes and Working for Change"

Many media activists argue that producers should be called to account, and that images of women should be forced to be more realistic.

Some producers have taken the lead. In the late 1990s, cereal giant Kellogg released an ad campaign for Special K which used pictures of older and larger women, and copy such as "the Ashantis of Ghana think a woman's body gets more attractive as she ages. Please contact your travel agent for the next available flight." The ads attracted such positive attention that in 1999 they were followed up by a TV campaign.

Teen magazines are also getting a makeover. Although stories about "The perfect boyfriend—three ways to find him" continue to grace the cover of magazines like Cosmo Girl, the features inside are expanding beyond the requisite beauty tips and fashion spreads. In 2002, the Christian Science Monitor reported that teen mags were running stories about homeless teens, a young female Palestinian suicide bomber, and an actress who refused to lose weight to get a movie role.

Christina Kelly, editor of YM, made headlines when she announced that the magazine would no longer run stories on dieting and would include pictures of bigger models. Media activist Jean Kilbourne applauded the move, saying, "Any magazine that purports to be for girls and young women, dieting has no place in it. This is a step in the right direction... It would be wonderful if some other magazine editors would be equally as courageous."

To read more, click here.

Media Awareness On the Web!

I found this website that provides more information about masculinity and femininity in the media and has a ton of articles on the topic. Check it out!

www.media-awareness.ca/stereotyping/men_and_masculinity

www.media-awareness.ca/stereotyping/women_and_girls

Shop Like A Man

I have never been a fan of shopping and I don't like wasting money. So when I shop, I make sure I need what I'm looking for and know what I want before I go looking. I try and get the best deals and do not mind getting last season's fashions on the clearance rack. My grandmother even said that I'm no fun to shop with because I shop like a man.

Who said that women have to love shopping? Why would my grandmother say that I am like a man?

The media has really fed this female stereotype. Movies like Clueless show women as wanting to spend their time and money shopping for the latest clothing. It also feeds the idea that women who do not shop like this are frumpy and manly.

In Clueless there was a girl, named Tai, who did not dress the same way as the others. She was labeled as frumpy, ugly, and needing help. Cher, the main character, took it upon herself to "help" Tai by changing her into a shopaholic.

Girls that don't like to shop are not frumpy, or manly. They do not need to be rehabbed into the stereotype. They are just women who prefer not to shop. We need to realize that the media creates these its own ideas about what women are like, and stop measuring real women against this standard.

Men in the Media Throughout Time

For the last sixty-plus years, the media perception of a man has changed drastically, but some stereotypes remained constant. From Clark Gable, to Sean Connery,Mel Gibson and Will Smith, men are always tough, suave and always get the girl. Here's just a sample of some of the male icons throughout history.

Best known for his appearance in Gone with the Wind, Clark Gable was the king of Hollywood during his film career.

Sean Connery has been around Hollywood for a long time, but he came to fame as the first actor to portray 007.

John Wayne, star of The Searchers, is one of the greatest western film stars of all time. Men still hold him as an icon to this day.

Mel Gibson was loved by women and made men desire to be like him. However, I will never where pantyhose like Gibson did in What Women Want.

Will Smith started as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, but is now one of the many male icons around today.

Women in the Media Throughout Time

There has been a shift in the role of women in the media throughout time. Back in the early stages women were portrayed as housewives, indicating that their only role in this world took place in the home. One such character that personifies this idea is June Cleaver from the 1950's hit show "Leave It to Beaver."



June is a mother of two young boys, who spends her days cooking and cleaning up after the men in her life. It was rare to see June without her apron on and she always had a smile across her face. This character was typical of that era.

Now the media has taken to portraying women as headstrong, office moguls in some instances. Such is the case with Meryl Streep's Oscar-nominated role as Miranda Priestly from "The Devil Wears Prada."



Miranda is a big-time magazine editor with a ruthless character and no nurturing qualities about her. She has left behind the typical role of a woman to pursue the professional life.

BUT sometimes we are delighted with characters that portray more of a real-life woman. They are mothers or working women, who have not lost their nurturing abilities, but are also not overly optimistic clones. They have senses of humor and are easy to relate to. Take Debra from "Everybody Loves Raymond" who is a stay-at-home mom but is not a June Cleaver by any means.



She is witty, sensible, and educated but is a loving mother and wife who deals with real-life situations. Hopefully we see more female characters like Debra in our media.

Stereotypical Males and Females

So here's some pictures of what the media depicts as typical male and female: I have one of a laid-back male. One of a crying, distressed female. Then I have two more pictures of a "hot" male and female. What do you think? Do these accurately depict males and females in real life? If you're a girl, do you spend a lot of time crying and being stressed out? As a male, do you just flow through life smoothly without many ups and downs?

I know I for one, don't always cry and feel stressed out. Yes, I admit I cry more often than males, but I have days when I feel stressed out. Also, when I go through a hard break up, I cry but I lose my appetite as well. My actions during a break up are according to stereotype with the crying, but not necessarily with the loss of appetite. Many people would assume that girls just sit around eating chocolate and ice cream, but how true is this idea? Anyone have any comments?

Ratios of Men and Women in the Media

So I found this interesting website listing stunning statistics comparing the rates of how often women versus men are portrayed in the media: www.mediareporttowomen.com/statistics.htm

I had no idea that men were showed more often in news and talk shows. The ratio is 4-to-1 for males vs. females who are shown on these shows. Not only are there more men than women on these shows, but the men are mostly white. This just goes to show the effect media has on the world; even reality talk shows have a stereotypical bias. We should show more of other races and more of women in order to accurately depict the people of America. Children who watch these shows won't know the real ratios of genders and races in the world if all they ever see is a majority of white males on these shows.

Another interesting thing listed on this website was the fact that male actors on television are predominantly older than the female actors. At first glance, we may not see this as very significant, but one could see this as another influencing factor supporting the idea of women seen as sex appeal and objects in the media. As I learned in a psychology class of mine, aging in men is more respected than aging in women. In fact, men with gray hair and older facial features is seen as more attractive because it shows their maturity level and presumably we attribute this to more wisdom and glamor, making older men more attractive. Women are not seen as attractive when they follow the natural aging process. No one wants a fat wrinkly woman; everyone wants the skinny, hip, in-shape females. Therefore, it would make sense that producers of television shows allow older men to act longer, while on the other hand these producers don't allow older women to play the part of "sexy" stars. But just because it makes more sense why, that doesn't make it right. Look at Brad Pitt, for example, he is definitely not a young man anymore, but he still plays the part of a handsome dreamy man. Brad Pitt is actually about as old as my dad; in fact, I think he's older. The media has inserted into our minds this idea that this older, middle-aged man is actually the epitomy of handsome. But what we need to ask ourselves is whether or not we would actually feel this way about the attractiveness of men and women as they age and lose their young beauty.

The media has such a strong hold and persuasion on our thoughts and core beliefs. We grow up seeing these biases and stereotypes on the media, but we never really have the time to develop our own feelings and opinions on the matter. It just makes me wonder what life would be like without this constant influence of the media in our lives. This website had many interesting facts and statistics, but I only covered a few. You should click on it and read the rest and learn to gain opinions about your own idea of gender in the media!

I'm no Rambo, but I'm still a manbo

In the media, real men are portrayed as macho men; like Rambo, Bruce Willis in Die Hard and Jack Bauer. These men all have several traits in common. One is that no one ever beats them in a fight. Second is their abdomens, pectorals, biceps and triceps are something that every man desires for them self. And finally, they always tend to get the very attractive women in the end.

Me on the other hand, I've only been in one fight in my entire life and that was broken off before it could get too serious (although I like to point out that I was winning). I've never had the best looking abdomens, my pectorals some might say are lacking and my arms are most comparable to pencils (in my defense, I do have very soft hands). And if the attractive women don't like my humor, they will pass by me and go after the more muscular men without giving it a second thought.

While I don't think there's anything wrong with being able to defend yourself, being physically fit and strong, and for women to be attractive to strong men; I do think that the media does not teach what a real man really is. The Bible says, "Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong," (1 Corinthians 6:13). A real man is someone who is strong in moral character and puts faith before anything else, like Jesus Christ himself. Jesus didn't get into a fight every time he got into a debate, but he taught to turn the other cheek. Women complain a lot about how men are attracted to the playboy bunnies or the skinny blondes in bikinis at the beach. I feel that men get chastised for that (and for good cause I guess), but women I know always complain the men they're with are too egotistical and stuck up. Maybe if these attractive women gave guys like me a chance and looked more on the character of the man than the appearance, they would be happier.

The media needs to do a better job at portraying men with character as the main characteristics of a man instead of his pectorals. Tell me, am I right or wrong on this???????