Question

How do images represent genders inaccurately or unfairly? Be sure to define gender, gender roles, and gender stereotypes.

Answer 1

While 'sex' is a biological term, 'gender' is more of a social term. Gender is related to the concept of gender roles. Gender roles are referred to as the behaviors that each gender (male or female) are expected to perform. Stereotypes refer to pre conceived notions about an individual or a group. Thus, gender stereotypes are preconceived notions about how men and women are (or should be).

Images present or circulated within mass media or social media offer inaccurate representations of gender. First of all, they assume gender binarism i.e.. there are only two opposite genders: males and females. Secondly, within this binarism, men are women are presented as stereotypical. Men are portrayed as dominant while women as submissive. While men are supposed to be tall and bulky, women should be thin and short. The image of a 'nurse' is almost always a female while that of a 'doctor' is almost always male. The primary role of women is supposed to be caregiving while men are breadwinners. If we take the simple example of a washroom symbol, we can find many problems within it (it is binary, it assumes that skirts and long hair are characteristics of women while short hair and pants characterize men).