Gender Stereotpyes In Film

At the tender young age of 4-years old, children begin to recognize that there is a difference between boys and girls. And although children might not understand the biological difference, they begin to subconsciously partake in a phenomenon known as the gender-schema theory. Basically children learn to first decide if an object, activity, or behavior is female or male, then use the information gathered to decide whether or not they should learn more about it. Research conducted by Lawrence Kohlberg on the cognitive theories and gender identity in children, have concluded that once a child understands gender, “it’s as if they see the world through special glasses that allow only gender-typical activities to be in focus” (Kail 286). Children inevitably developed an understanding that boys like blue and girls li

In “The Accused”, Jodi Foster plays a woman who is gang raped in a bar while other patrons ignore her pleas for help. The movie discusses the responsibility of the victim to keep her sexualness under control. She is accused of giving off the wrong signals and messages. Perhaps it is not the social etiquette of men that needs to be studied and rather it is their understanding of basic, universal vocabulary. “No” means “no” in every language imaginable, except for some reason that of men in times of an overly active sex drive. Compounding this problem is the fact that the women are blamed, not the men’s lack of self control. Again, I go back to the expectancy of women to cultivate all this sexuality for men only to have it used against them.

The creation of the beauty myth had forced women to focus primarily on their body image and less on their personal accomplishments. Subsequently, “during the past five years, consumer spending doubled, pornography became the main media category, ahead of legitimate films and records combined, and thirty-three thousand American women told researchers that they would rather lose ten to fifteen pounds than achieve any other goal.” (Wolf 482) All this concentration on women as the ideal in society would lead one to think that women hold a very powerful position in society. Men just can’t get enough of women. Even women can’t get enough of women. Yet, instead of building an empire in which women are comfortable with who they are and what they look like, women have turned this focus against themselves. Despite the fact that “more women have more money and power and scope and legal recognition…in terms of how [they] feel about [themselves] physically, [they] may actually be worse off than [their] unliberated grandmothers” (Wolf 482). The concentration that has been placed on a woman’s looks and her acceptance by the opposite has worked against her. Despite all accomplishments, if a acquiring a man (and chances are, an over-weight one at that) is not among them, then she has failed.

The concept of a prostitute supports the thought that men associate sex, not with emotion, but with pure physical satisfaction. So while women primp and prime in preparation for their journey into the mall of men, men are out there looking for an attractive woman to satisfy them for the moment. Psychologist J. James conducted research on prostitution and found that in order for a prostitute “to be habitually used solely as a sex object would appear to require, among other things, a learned method of detachment and the availability of other sources of self-esteem” (Bartol 372). Reinforcing the belief that women view sex as a gift of oneself while men see it as satisfaction.

With all of the importance that is placed on marriage, it is no wonder that women learn from such a young age the importance of their looks. Women take responsibility not only of their looks, but also of the image they want to portray. So while men want sex, and dream of sex, women take the initiative to find sex. In its discovery women find that its effects expand beyond the confinement of temporary satisfaction and venture into the land of emotion and commitment. Why can’t us women just sleep around? Not only does society disapprove, but most women are unable to succumb to the physicality without bringing with it emotionality.

More so, the social expectation of women and men in various controversial situations varies from gender to gender. There is a very dominant opinion that “the male has the prerogative to initiate sexual behavior and to use some pressure to achieve this. The myth of the seductress who provokes the innocent male is also very persistent”. (De Judicibus & McCabe 6) Women are not supposed to be overly sexed; they are expected to play hard to get, so when a man encounters such a situation it is not seen with the seriousness that it deserves and instead it is se

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