Young, flash men living life to the max and with a constant stream of women are known as bachelors. The female equivalent is a spinster- pictures of old, bitter and twisted women sitting at home knitting usually spring to mind!.
Even within our own Royal Family, gender bias is evident! One day William will be King- meaning he will "dominate and rule the nation with force and nobility". Spare a thought though for his Grandmother, Queen Elizabeth. The word "Queen" might often recall memories of "Queens" such as Dame Edna and Lily Savage! The dictionary definition of a Queen is "wife of a king"- no comment. (Prince Philip - not a king!).
Within the media, sexism is evident. The tabloid press, with such joyous works as "The Sun" and the "News of the World", tend to pigeon hole women - if they've got blonde hair then they"re bimbos. Even when dealing with serious issues, these delightful pieces of literature always find it essential to inform the reader of what the women look like and how brave and gallant the men are. An extract from the "News of the World" details the story of Fran Burke, a leukaemia victim who gave birth to a baby boy and is now facing a battle to stay alive. Even though the newspaper has printed the story in a sensitive manner, they still manage to slip in the fact that Fran is blonde. This seems to portray that women are valued and judged by appearance only, and not through bravery, strength or knowledge.
In women's sporting events, they are not taken seriously by men; with comments such as "great legs!" being slipped into a particular commentary of a Tennis match. Women sport stars are expected to be genteel - maybe that's why sports such as Rugby, American Football and Ice Hockey are male dominated -women are obviously not strong or tough enough for these extremely physical contact sports.
The media on television, particularly news readers, are encouraged to try and not use sexist terms.
