Representations of Gender

Gender is the psychological characteristics and social categories that are created by human culture. Gender is perhaps the basic category we use for sorting human beings, and it is a key issue when discussing representation. Messages about how a male or female is supposed to act come from many different places. Schools, parents, and friends can influence a person. Another major factor that influences millions of impressionable females and males is television. It is undeniable that the media shapes our conceptions of what it means to be male or female. We encounter many different male and female role models in the course of a day's media consumption Not only does the television teach each sex how to act, it also shows how one sex should expect the other sex to act. In the current television broadcasting, stereotypical behavior goes from programming for the very small to adult audiences. In this broadcasting range, females are portrayed as motherly, passive and innocent, sex objects, or they are overlooked completely or seen as unimportant entities.

Mass media are powerful factors that influence society's beliefs, attitudes, and the values they have of themselves and others as well as the world. If a male is seen in media doing "feminine" things, such as shopping or cleaning he is seen as weak, and women who are seen doing "masculine" things such as car repair and management positions she is seen as callous and cruel. Sherri Inness sums it by saying, "in other words, American culture has become so accustomed to the notion of male/masculinity and female/femininity, that anything else looks like a travesty" (Inness 1999:21). Now, more than ever, however, there seems to be a rise in the representation of tough women in the media and popular culture. Women no longer only play roles of homemakers and wives, but are being given roles that are seemingly more masculine than feminine. Inness, also author of "Boxing Gloves and Bustiers: New Images of Tough Women" agrees that "recent years have witnessed an explosion of tough women in the popular media--including films, television shows, comic books, and video games" (Inness 2004:1). More and more women are being portrayed as independent and tough.

It is undeniable that the media shapes our conceptions of what it means to be male or female. We encounter many different male and female role models in the course of a day's media consumption. The issue is, that although these different role models may at first glance appear to be very varied, do they actually represent enough of a range of men/women? Are we simply given variations on a stereotype that become sub-stereotypes in themselves? By adopting role models and parading them through the media as people it is desirable to 'be', are we stunting individual growth?

HBO's television series, "Sex and the City," follows the loves and lives of four single women living in New York City. It is an outrageously funny comedy/drama, created and written by Darren Star, and is about nothing else but sex in the big city of Manhattan. As a newspaper columnist, Carrie Bradshaw writes about love and sex in the big apple, through the

experiences of all of her single best friends, including her own single love life. They encounter everyday dilemmas and exchange useful advice amongst their busy lives of self-evaluation. This show portrays women as power beings through their sexuality. The show, while defining the twenty-first century through the eyes of sexually promiscuous women,

tackles issues far beyond the scope of modern day sexuality. One of Carrie's three best friends, confident and sexy Samantha Jones, played by Kim Cattrall, is one of the interesting women characters that I see as "tough."

In the show, Samantha plays a very successful PR executive in the advertising field. Inness believes that women in politics are often identified as tough and "along with women in politics, successful professional women are apt to be categorized as tough" (Inness 1999:20). The personality that she tries to portray is one of extreme confidence. In Tom Reichert and Charlene Melcher's essay "Film Noir, Feminism, and the Femme Fatale: The Hyper-Sexed Reality of Basic Instinct", they analyze the woman character of Catherine in the movie Basic Instinct. Much like how Reichert and Melcher describe the character of Catherine, Samantha is also "highly intelligent, independent and articulate" (Meyers 1999:292). They also go on to say that Catherine "blurs the lines of gender indentity by behaving mannishly ... she is 30, unmarried, and apparently unconcerned about finding a husband" (Meyers 1999:292). This statement perfectly describes the character of Samantha as well. She rejects traditional female roles because she is dominating and in control and rejects the role of a submissive female. Because she has a career, is single, sexy, and successful shows that she does not need a man to support her or take care of her. Inness observes this by saying that, "popular culture's new tough women do not need men to rescue them from peril. Even though many of these women might be attractive and feminine, they do not graciously accept their places in society" (Inness 2004:7).

Samantha is far and away the most sexually promiscuous member of the group of women. She takes the most stereotypically male approach to

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