Gender Correct?

Media has to change with the times. Back in the earlier days, gender representations upheld the the stereotypical male female roles. Males were strong, powerful and women were nurturing, and somewhat weak. Times have changed and the roles in the media obviously have to change to keep up with the trends. While it still has areas to work on, at least the genders are more diverse than the once black and white roles portrayed.

I loved the quote in David Gauntlett's Media, Gender and Identity about this change: "But in the past ten or fifteen years, things have been changing quite considerably. Men and women are seen working side by side, as equals, in hospitals, schools and police stations of television land. Movie producers are wary of having women as screaming victims, and have realized that kcik-ass herioines do better business. Advertisers have by now realized that audiences will only laugh at images of the pretty housewife, and have reacted by showing women how to be sexy at work instead. Gay characters have slowly started to be more prominent on TV and in the movies, and discussions the rights of marginalised groups have also surfaced within popular culture" (56).

Writers, producers, companies and others are taking note of this ever changing idea of gender and are doing all they can to keep up with it. As I read the first few pages of the chapter, an example of this immediately came to mind and then it was actually mentioned within the chapter.

Friends was one of the first shows to redefine what it means to be male and female in modern society. There are 6 main characters; 3 male, 3 female. All have typical stereotypical traits of their gender but also possess some non-gender like qualities as well:

Ross:

job: palentologist.

male qualities: strong, responsible, intellectual, good job, decent amount of money

feminine qualities: tenderness, nurturing, sensitive.

Rachel:

job:waitress for first few years until decides she wants a "real" job and goes to work for department store as an assistant buyer.

feminine qulaities: beautiful, vain, ditzy, interdependant.

masculine qualities: strong, strong willed.

Joey:

job: actor

masculine qualities: physically strong, "chick magnet".

feminine qualities: sensitive, interdependant, weak emotionally.

Phoebe:

job: masseuse/musician

feminine qualities: sensual, flirtatious, always looking for a man.

masculine qualities: intimidating, strong.

Chandler:

job: accounting

masculine qualities: independant, responsible (somewhat), prestigous job.

feminine qualities: physically weak, sensitivity, interdependant.

Monica:

job: chef (sometimes seen as a masculine position)

feminine qualities: beautiful, sensitive, emotional.

masculine qualities: competitive, physically strong.

All the qualities I listed above could be male or female. Where we run into problems is when qualities or aspects of a person get categorized as strictly one gender or another. When we expect a certain quality to be present in a person of a certain gender and it is not, or vice versa, we can get uncomfortable, confused and possibly question that person's solidness in their individual gender.