Stereotypes Of Women In Popular Culture

It’s safe to say that we all know how women were treated in the past, in comparison to men. And therefore it would also seem obvious that these portrayals of women would also be depicted in popular culture. We could conclude that the way women were depicted in the media was not great. In fact, it was terrible. Typically, men were portrayed as strong, independent, powerful, active and sexually dominant individuals. Conversely for women, the views that were consistent with cultural representations of female stereotypes were young, beautiful, male dominant, passive and most definitely incompetent women.
Traditionally the media portrayed two representations of women; the ‘good’ and the ‘bad.’ The ‘good’ woman or perhaps the ‘good’ wife would be portrayed as attractive, subordinate to men and usually casted as a victim, however in the most desirable, angelic way
For example; Walt Disneys award winning, The Little Mermaid actively embodies the idea of womens dependence on men in a very vivid form. Ariel the protagonist of the childrens princess film, actively gives up her voice, her identity as such, for the acceptance of her human lover, Eric. In this extreme instance, Ariel is quite literally giving up ‘who she is’ for the ability to feel accepted by her male lover. She is most definitely depicted as a ‘good’ woman. In fact, there are countless children productions that reflect the male-female, dominant-submissive roles. It seems almost shocking to think that children, as young as the age of 2, are already overwhelmed with gender representations. Not only does is this representation dominant in childrens stories but immensely depicted in adults everyday life too. For instance, a huge range of commercials manifest powerful cues that reflect the man in a position of power over the women, not to mention the amount of times women are heavily