How the Media Influences Gender

This week in class, we focused on two essays about stances on gender. One of them was about how a woman carried around a gun wherever she went, despite being a peaceful person. This is because she had been in many dangerous situations with men and wanted to balance the power out. The solution in this essay was to arm women with protection against men. The other essay took a stance on educating men psychologically to make them less drawn to “toxic masculinity”. It claimed how men earned their place in society by seeming aggressive and dominant, which was actually damaging their mental health and self-esteem. With new guidelines in place, this article suggested changing the root of the problem, rather than providing protection against it. 

Though these were interesting and informational stances on gender, I began to wonder why gender norms are so prominent anyways. I believe that the media has a big impact on the way we view genders. Powerful, influential women are seen as threatening by society. An example of this was when Kim Ng made history as the first female and first Asian-American general manager in Major League Baseball. Because she was the first, society felt threatened by this change. The comments of many posts and articles about this breakthrough are filled with cruel, racist, sexist comments. When other women and even young girls are exposed to these comments, they might be afraid to be different as well, they might be afraid to be powerful. I think this is a large contributor to why women feel weak and powerless in society sometimes. As for men, they are rarely seen in their most raw and vulnerable state especially in the eyes of the media. Male leaders, celebrities, and influencers are portrayed as assertive and powerful by the media, which may be why other men and young boys feel the need to look the same. This could be an explanation for the “toxic masculinity” that occurs when a man is trying to earn their manliness. The society that so badly wants to abolish these gender norms is the exact same society that builds them up higher and higher everyday.