Our Expression Of Gender

I think there are definitely still stereotypes of women portrayed in the media. The media creates values that never exist, and women are subconsciously left feeling pressure to conform and act accordingly. I think it can be dangerous because we digest so much media content, whether it be things we purposely consume like TV shows and movies, or the social cues and popular cultural trends that we passively experience. Because we see it everywhere, it inherently normalizes what we see, no matter how inaccurate or misrepresenting it may be. All of these media encounters in our everyday lives give us images of what people are supposed to be like, particularly for women because their standards are especially trivialized by the media. Overall, at the core, a lot of the media represents women as fragile and dependent on others, and not really in control of themselves and it does this with a strategy. It has implications on our society that basically creates a blueprint or guideline for what women should be; but these are not real values. Everything we see is just created by the people in power that have control over the media. I think being a woman can mean so many different things. We should never strive to come up with one image of what a woman should be. We don’t have to categorize women into what is ideal and what isn’t, like the media usually does. We should just allow women to be whoever they want to be without having to justify it. You should never have to try to dress, or act, or be any particular way at all, but especially not in the way the media tries to influence us in our expression of gender.