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Natalia Rubiano

Dr. Angela Mitchell

UWRT 1103-003

April 30, 2018

Stereotypes: The Means of Visualizing a Woman

If society is constantly evolving to live up to current trends, why do stereotypes still have

a prominent influence on the interpretations of an individual? If the twenty-first century society

is part of the new diverse cultural changing era, why do stereotypes still have a prominent

influence on the interpretations of an individual? The Oxford English Dictionary defines

stereotypes as a “preconceived or oversimplified idea” that labels individuals with certain

characteristics. The definite characteristics of stereotypes were developed over half a century

ago, yet, are still seen and have evolved into newer labels that are illustrated in modern-day

films, television series, and populous music albums. Pop culture’s ability to manipulate and

influence the minds of society disempowers the individuals to create their own personal

characteristics. Instead, stereotypes have become the administrator that determines the

composing factors of an individual.

Stereotypes is equivalent to visual literacy in the ideas of interpretations of visual images

and the effect of the conscious minds in society. Visual literacy has become an essential

component that augments an individual’s learning process and skills of interpretation. Since

technological advancements of radios and televisions, visual and auditory images portrayed on-

screen have become prominent interpreters of emotional and physical tendencies of an

individual. Images have adopted a powerful force of influence unlike that of the connotations of

words, they allow society to physically examine the minor details that words lack to prescribe.
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Most the labels established throughout the past centuries have portrayed a negative impression of

culture in society “[ignoring the] differences between individuals” (McLeod 2008).

After World War II, stereotypes arose when women were fired from their industrial

occupations because their husbands had returned from war and since they were labeled as the

suppose bread-winners, not women, they needed the job more. In addition, media was vastly

growing after the war considering that the first video recorders and movies were being created

forming a correlation with media and stereotypes. According to a study conducted by Gaye

Tuchman, she noted that “mass media [has] some sort of detrimental impact on both an

individual’s consciousness and collective social life.” The women discourse community has

become victims of stereotypes produced by the mass-media causing their injustices of being not

being treat equal to be unveiled. The Marilyn Monroe stereotype that was created in 1950s

generated a current trend of “obsessive feminine beauty [that] limits women” (Coman 2016) in

today’s pop culture industry. The preceding stereotype restricts women to peacefully express

their inner beauty and proudly accept their body without judgement. Marilyn Monroe, also

known as the Blonde Bombshell, became a primary sex symbol that every woman desired to be.

Her lumpatious curves and substantial blonde curls caused women to alter themselves back when

she was featured in every film around the nation. Today, these women are seen in movies like

Legally Blonde which depicts a young girl who was underestimated for her intelligence because

of her promiscuous looks. The great amount of films with women who had the perfect figure has

increased the number of women who altered themselves to look like the actresses. The American

Society of Plastic Surgeons collected data that the use of plastic surgery has “risen 115%,”

however, only majority of the surgeries where body alterations that were not for medical reasons.

Women had a strict image to uphold depending their social class, influence of pop culture, or
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cultural requirements. Women were not allowed to live happily with their body figure instead

they were judged if they were too fat or skinny. Either women had to be the submissive

housewife or the desirable sex object that was portrayed in the media industries.

A woman’s identity and cultural association are vulnerable to the victimization of

stereotypes and the emotional damage it has initiated. For instance, Sonja M. Brown Givens

from the University of Alabama states that in the African American community, the women are

labeled intro three separate categories: “the Mammy, the Jezebel, and the Sapphire.” The film

industry is a common offender in generating the sense of victimization towards the community

of women by emphasizing these stereotypical roles with prominent actresses who serve as role

models for society. Hattie McDaniel, one of the first African American actresses to win an Oscar

award, obtained a notorious role in the infamous film Gone with the Wind. She is identified as

“the Mammy” of the century, as reported by Kat Eschner from the Smithsonian, for her physical

characteristics of being an older over-weight caretaker for white American families. McDaniel

was mocked my critics for his demeaning role, however she believed that her role as a maid

allowed “black [female] actors [to gain] recognition for their work.” This stereotype is still

actively applied today causing a sense of injustice by identifying African American women as

the equivalence of maids or nannies during the harsh times of slavery. The roles have caused

women with the occupation of caretaker to become underappreciated by certain families because

of the stereotypes that are depicted in films.

Modern-day celebrities have either been the offender or victim of the stereotypical

natures that certain women endure. The music industry is a culprit of creating offensive rap

music about a woman’s body type and their sexuality. Infamous twenty-first century rapper

Eminem created an album titled The Marshal Mather LP (2000) were women were titled as “a
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bitch, a ho, or a trick” in about eleven of his fourteen songs. Rappers were labeling women as

these titles because they finally fighting for their proper self-respect and were tired of being

brought down by the male population. These offensive comments are known as misogyny which

is “a prejudice against women” (Oxford English Dictionary) and intensified the necessity for the

female community to follow and believe these stereotypes if not there would be consequences of

humiliation and ridicule. On the other hand, the ambassador of United Nation’s Women society

is an actress who was a victim of stereotypes produced by the film industry. Emma Watson is an

advocate for equality in women’s rights who also obtained a bachelor’s degree from Brown

University and her role ad Hermione Granger in the saga of Harry Potter. At the 2014 UN

ambassadors meeting Watson unveiled that at the “age of fourteen she was sexualized by certain

element of the media” causing her to be victimized for her physical appearance that did not

comply with the social norms. She was also victimized by her family when she was just eight

years old, she was labeled “bossy when she wanted to direct the plays [she] would put on for

[her] parents” (Watson 2014). Being a female in a male industry has limited women to either

become a stay-at home mother or doing a profession that does not overpass a man’s finances.

The title of domestic mother was given to women who are only able to complete house chores

and tend for their families while men were titled as breadwinners who arrived home to be

pampered by their wives. This stereotype was created by society but was enforced by the movie

industry, such as Paramount, when these industries created films like The Stepford Wives. This

film created the idea that women needed to be programmed to be the perfect wife controlled by

men to fulfill their manly needs at their desire. Women are portrayed not being able to

accomplish their own goals and live a successful life for themselves, they were unable to wear

the pants in their relationship.

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Films have portrayed women as the sentimental and emotionally unstable due to their

biological aspects but also the stereotypes themselves influence that tendency to easily break

down. Women believe they are portraying what society wanted them to be however, they are

harming their emotional stability and truism to themselves through these stereotypes. Every

woman during the menstrual cycle is different depending on their personality but television

series and films had identified women to always be PMSing or having premenstrual syndrome.

Throughout high school dramas such as One Tree Hill or Gossip Girl, various of these teens are

developing as young adults and both shows involve an episode where the main female character

is being rude, emotional, or snappy, therefore they always assume the female is at the time of her

month. Therefore, whenever an angered woman is walking the streets for a personal reason she is

always assumed to be in her menstrual cycle because that is what the screens demonstrate.

Not only are older women affected by these stereotypes but so are young girls as they

mimic the roles that are currently available on their television screens. Girls are the next

generation that may possibly end the epidemic of stereotypes or so various people believe they

will. The National Public Radio (NPR) published an article by Katherine Hobson that exposed a

study that demonstrated that a low percentage of girls labeled themselves as the intelligent

gender. Some “might think [that] stereotypes start in college but…children are incredibly attuned

to social signals” (Hobson 2017) proving that the visual literacy displayed on screens do

influence individuals. Throughout television series, women are always overshadowed by the so-

called superior men and are rarely acknowledged for their purposefully hidden intelligence. For

instance, CBS hit tv show The Big Bang Theory undermines one of their principle characters

Penny Hofstadter by giving her the role of the stereotypical “dumb blonde” who has the

incapability to learn. In Season 3 Episode 10 Sheldon who is one of the three male brainiac of
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the tv show tries to teach Penny the fundamental basis of physics as if she were a “Gorilla” yet

she still fails to capably understand. However, there have been a scarce number of breakthroughs

in the modern-day society of the media industry. Hidden Figures, directed by Theodore Melfi, IS

A 2016 drama of the African American female mathematicians who influenced the successful

launch and rescue of a NASA space shuttle. This is one of the first films of the century that omits

the stereotypical norms of an unintelligent woman instead highlights the equal or greater

intelligence level of women compared to men. The unintelligent women stereotype falsely

portrays the development of the female community and how these women are currently

overpowering the male community.

Women have suffered for years to be granted the opportunity of equal rights that men

possess and the difficulty to prove themselves as worthy, yet still being ordered to perform a

specific way. The media industries have created a difficult road for women to walk on because of

all the negative and positive stereotypes that have limited them to a certain perspective. Simply

Psychology identifies stereotypes as a “fixed, over-generalized belief abut a particular group of

people or class” (Cardwell 1996). The industries have tried omitting stereotypes but their efforts

are not successful, instead society can be easily manipulated to believe that the identities of

women in pop culture is who they should be. Women have completed breakthrough that have

lighten their paths and have guided them through an easier lifestyle but the lack of artists,

directors, and actors to alienate themselves from these roles have diminished most of the light. I

believe that stereotypes still have a prominent influence on the interpretations of an individual

because society follow social norms and never want to break them because they feel that they

would be judged for being different.

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Works Cited

Brown Givens, Sonja M., and Monahan, Jennifer L. “Priming Mammies, Jezebels, and Other

Controlling Images: An Examination of the Influence of Mediated Stereotypes on

Perceptions of an African American Woman.” Media Psychology 7.1 (2005): 87–106.

Communication & Mass Media Complete.

https://librarylink.uncc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.librarylink.uncc.edu/lo

gin.aspx?direct=true&db=ufh&AN=15838771&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Coman, Alina. “A Broader Perspective of Gender Socialization Across Four Social Institutions.”

Bulletin of the Transylvania University of Brasov. Series VII: Social Sciences. Law, vol.

9, no. 2 July 2016, pp.75-72. Academic Search Complete.

https://librarylink.uncc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true

&db=a9h&AN=121252453&site=ehost-live&scope=site

“Emma Watson at the HeForShe Campaign 2014 – Official UN Video.” Youtube, uploaded by

United Nations, 22 September 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkjW9PXBRfk

Garcia Beaudoux, Virginia. “U.N Women Aims to Tackle Global Gender Stereotypes in Media.”

The Conversation, 24 Oct. 2017, LexisNexis Academic,

http://www.lexisnexis.com/lnacui2api/api/version1/getDocCui?lni=5PT4-JGH1-JCKG-

J4V2&csi=297647&hl=t&hv=t&hnsd=f&hns=t&hgn=t&oc=00240&perma=true

Hobson, Katherine. “Young Girls Are Less Apt to Think That Women Are Really, Really

Smart.” NPR, 26 Jan. 2017,

www.npr.org/sections/healthshots/2017/01/26/511801423/young-girls-are-less-apt-to

thinkwomen-are-really-really-smart.
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McLeod, Saul. “Stereotypes.” Simply Psychology, 2015,

https://www.simplypsychology.org/katz-braly.html

"Misogyny, n." OED Online, Oxford University Press, March 2018,

www.oed.com/view/Entry/119829.

Puri, Lakshmi. “Countering Gender Discrimination and Negative Gender Stereotypes: Effective

Policy Responses.” UN Women, 31 July 2011,

www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2011/7/coutnering-gender-discrimination-and-

negative-gender-stereotypes-effective-policy-responses.

Ross, Adam. “New Statistics Reflect the Changing Face of Plastic Surgery.” American Society

of Plastic Surgeons, American Society of Plastic Surgeons, 25 Feb. 2016,

www.plasticsurgery.org/news/press-releases/new-statistics-reflect-the-changing-face-of-

plastic-surgery.

"stereotype, n. and adj." OED Online, Oxford University Press, January 2018,

www.oed.com/view/Entry/189956.

Tuchman, Gaye. “Women’s Depiction by the Mass Media.” Signs, vol. 4, no. 3, 1979, pp. 528-

542. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org.librarylink.uncc.edu/stable/3173399

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