Month: January 2018

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The Shattered Bridge_ Men’s Gender Roles In Advertisements

Are we going to manipulate the future of gender stereotypes or will the gender stereotypes itself, shape our future?

The Huffington Post reports state that gender roles are immensely used in advertisements which frequently retain hidden depth and unperceivable messages. In accordance with Medialit, it claims that the division of gender roles are deeply rooted for some groups of people. Right beneath our nose, almost every advertisement are encompassed by gender stereotypes which both men and women are adversely affected by it. For men, gender roles and stereotypes are very influential in term of shaping their beliefs and attitudes, especially when it displays anti-male stereotypes.

“Virtually all groups of people suffer from stereotypes and men are no exception. Stereotypes are powerful because they capable of affecting our expectations of what men should and should not be like.”

Medialit also remarks that there is a high probability of seeing male as the first person when you turn on the television. The Krytyka states that outdoor environments are mainly used for men, while characterizing them with a common interest and enjoy of spending time together with friends and family. Additionally, lots of advertisements are presenting men in the fields of being professional, successful, athletic, caring and supporting to his family. In contrast, men used to be viewed and portrayed as stupid, foolish, oafish, and clumsy.

In regard to the Men Are Becoming the Ad Target of the Gender Sneer article, it states that anti-male stereotypes are leading young boys to experience the lack of development and growing up with a weak foundation of their identity. These stereotypes are telling them what they should be and what they should not be; what is right and what is wrong. Men are discouraged to express their feeling in a range of emotions; hurt, fear, and hopelessness, if they do, they will be considered as unmanly, weak, coward, or even gay. Contrary, men are profoundly pushing to cooperate in teams with the need for control, and predominantly, violence is a great way to solve conflicts.

“I tried my best to live up to the masculine stereotype, more often than not quite successfully, despite it making me painfully unhappy”_Jake Milli

Those male victims that were getting affected by the stereotypes are messily struggled, depressed and lost. The anti-male stereotypes causes them to be frightened and viewed themselves with negatively, and feel atrocious for being man when they can’t meet the criteria of being a “real” man. that come with being male.

“…as men, we have to conform to stale and damaging expectations of what it means to conform to this stereotype. By forcing ourselves to abide by ridiculous guidelines, we’re hurting ourselves and those.”_Independent.

Men are incompetent, faint, and pathetic growing up seeing those stereotypes displaying on television every time they opened it. They felt like they are not strong and powerful enough to be standing on their ground and going against those anti-male stereotypes; being who they really are.  

Dr. Nathanson, in an interview within the Men Are Becoming the Ad Target of the Gender Sneer article, stated that “how do boys form a healthy identity?” if they are constantly exposed to anti-male stereotypes.” Has it been done accidentally or with purposes? Some industries don’t even realize that the path they walked on to build the relationships with their customers are abhorrent not only to the users but to everyone who watched, saw, and experienced it, the nightmare.

 

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