Content Analysis Of Gender Stereotypes in Magazines
Research Assignment 2: A Content Analysis on Gender Stereotype Usage in Magazines
Research Question It only takes a second to attach a strong feeling or idea to a character in a movie, advertisement, or video game. Many characterization used are based on the assumed stereotypes, and are usually one-dimensional characters. Typically, these characterizations usually come from inherited family values, education, and the media. While stereotypes existed long before mass media, the media machine certainly helped to accelerate the cultural growth of all kinds of stereotypes. It is beyond this paper to answer why magazines employ these gender stereotypes, instead this research is designed to analyze whether the content (writing, pictures, and advertising) in magazines employs the use of stereotypes in their depiction of gender.
Initial Investigation Before conducting the research, I went to library and looked through two different magazines, Sports Illustrated (SI) and Chatelaine, which were both released in November 2011. SI is a sports magazine with a gender-neutral name, but there is one long-held view that women are not equal to men in the realm of sports. I’m not talking about the performance levels of athletes, but the idea that accomplishments of female athletes are not celebrated equally to those made by male athletes. As for Chatelaine, which means a woman who owns or controls a large house, it is a Canadian magazine focused on female interests, and according to the magazine, those interests are fashion, beauty and decor, to current affairs, health and food.
The cover of SI shows a male basketball player in mid-air about to score a point, which isn’t anything that is grounds to claim that SI is gender biased. However, the editorial content on the cover provides more interesting tidbits as it promotes a list of the premier college basketball teams in the United States, but the list for women’s college basketball is
Research Question It only takes a second to attach a strong feeling or idea to a character in a movie, advertisement, or video game. Many characterization used are based on the assumed stereotypes, and are usually one-dimensional characters. Typically, these characterizations usually come from inherited family values, education, and the media. While stereotypes existed long before mass media, the media machine certainly helped to accelerate the cultural growth of all kinds of stereotypes. It is beyond this paper to answer why magazines employ these gender stereotypes, instead this research is designed to analyze whether the content (writing, pictures, and advertising) in magazines employs the use of stereotypes in their depiction of gender.
Initial Investigation Before conducting the research, I went to library and looked through two different magazines, Sports Illustrated (SI) and Chatelaine, which were both released in November 2011. SI is a sports magazine with a gender-neutral name, but there is one long-held view that women are not equal to men in the realm of sports. I’m not talking about the performance levels of athletes, but the idea that accomplishments of female athletes are not celebrated equally to those made by male athletes. As for Chatelaine, which means a woman who owns or controls a large house, it is a Canadian magazine focused on female interests, and according to the magazine, those interests are fashion, beauty and decor, to current affairs, health and food.
The cover of SI shows a male basketball player in mid-air about to score a point, which isn’t anything that is grounds to claim that SI is gender biased. However, the editorial content on the cover provides more interesting tidbits as it promotes a list of the premier college basketball teams in the United States, but the list for women’s college basketball is