Research Proposal

Introduction

As a woman of the twenty-first century, I get to live in the unique era it is: women are working, men are staying home, married couples don’t want children, and couples who aren’t married are having children. These shifts in social norms have brought many changes to how people have to view gender roles, but the media has yet to get the memo. This difference in realities is what sparked the idea for this paper.  The media uses subliminal techniques to promote the world that they want, this includes ideas of how women and men should look and act as well as their place within the family and society. This paper will look at the types of techniques used and the effects of such messaging. It will also look to answer questions such as: How can one avoid getting unwanted messaging? Why should one care about what message the media is sending? How big an impact does this have children and their views on the world growing up? Although it seems like an insignificant topical, the impact the media has will affect all of the process made in gaining equality.

Review of Literature

So far my sources include: Amy Jones’ paper “Visual and Verbal Gender Cues In the Televised Coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics" published in The Social Science Collection in 2010. Her article argues that within this world wide sports coverage, women were televised differently than men. Through the use of vocal cues, coverage time, and description of sport/athlete, women were received the short end of the stick while men received better coverage with better social cues. My second source is Malgorzata Wolska’s “Gender Stereotypes in Mass Media. Case Study: Analysis of the Gender Stereotyping Phenomenon in TV Commercials" published online in 2011. She argues that within everyday commercials and advertisements, women and men are cast in traditional gender roles. By placing women and men within the traditional roles, the media is telling everyone who sees them that this is the way the world should work. The third source is from Diane Negra’s  "Gender Bifurcation in the Recession Economy: Extreme Couponing and Gold Rush Alaska” published in the Cinema Journal in 2013. She argues that when the US was in the recession, the media broadcasted shows that enforced gender conformity to traditional roles. Women were portrayed as homemakers in Extreme Couponing while men were portrayed as bread makers and “real men” braving the rough terrain in Alaska for gold. My fourth source is from Nicholas Winter’s "Masculine Republicans And Feminine Democrats: Gender And Americans' Explicit And Implicit Images Of The Political Parties" published in Political Behavior in 2010. He argues that even in politics, there is the traditional gender roles in how men and women are associated within their political parties and that then affects how the public and their peers view them within the world of politics. The media comes into play here based on how each representative of the parties are broadcast and talked about. My fifth academic source is from S. Chant’s “Researching Gender, Families and Households in Latin America: From the 20Th into The21st Century" published in the Bulletin of Latin American Research in 2002. This paper goes over the changes in gender roles in reality and the changes within the depiction of gender roles in the media once it became predominant within the twenty-first Century. This compares and contrasts the differences within gender roles before and after the media became the center of our lives.

My sixth source comes from the Huffington Post, “My Son Was a Princess for Halloween, and I Became a Better Parent” written by Laurin Mayeno in September 2015. This article talks about one parent’s struggle with breaking gender roles. Boys aren’t supposed to be a princess that is a girl’s costume. She learned that even though it was a “girl” costume, there really wasn’t anything wrong with it. My seventh source comes from the National PTA, Dr. Stacy Smith and Amy D. Granados wrote “Gender and the Media” in 2006. They talk about a study that was done about the effects of the media’s presentation of men and women within children’s shows-most of which are negative. They then go into what can be done to help stop and reverse the effects. My eighth source is Aleicha Williams’ “My Culture Taught Me to be a Homemaker. Thanks, but I Want More” published in the Huffington Post in 2015. She talks about how her cultural background created a sense that all she would amount to was being a mom. She explains how she felt that must have been true because the media agreed with what her parents were telling her and that it wasn’t until high school that she realized she could do more. My ninth source is a book written by Kath Woodward -Questioning Identity: Gender, Class, Ethnicity published in 2004. She explains how teens go through a phase where they question everything about themselves and how most of them will turn towards the media and internet for answers which can have a very negative effect on them. She explains how the media can use this vulnerability to conform the next generation into thinking and feeling one way verses another. My final source is from David Schneider and his book The Psychology of Stereotyping published in2005. He shows the effects of what stereotyping can do. He traces the origin of stereotyping and how it the media can reinforce these stereotypes causing an overall negative effect of those being stereotyped. It can instill fear or unreasonable praise. Both of which are out of place and can be detrimental.

Plan to Collect Information

As I continue looking at my sources and shaping my paper, I will begin to taper my sources and find new ones by looking through databases such as JSTOR and the online library. I will also take a trip to the Poulsbo and Bremerton libraries to see what kind of information and sources I can find to improve the overall quality of my paper. Furthermore I will be looking through some more studies to see if I can find a table or graph to help organize my information in a way that makes sense and can further explain the information I am presenting.

Project Timeline

For the timeline I am looking at mainly following the syllabus. So the Third of November I will turn in my Bibliography. On the Nineteenth I will turn in my outline and will have my final paper ready to turn in by the Seventh of December. Within the next week or two I hope to head over to the libraries, and after that I will do a comb through of the databases. Once that is done I hope to start writing my paper. I will have my Uncle and Sister read and critique my paper once I reach my halfway point and again after I have finished the first draft of the paper. I will then review my own work, make changes and then have the two of them review my paper once more before I turn it in.

Working Bibliography

Chant, S. "Researching Gender, Families and Households in Latin America: From the 20Th into The21st

Century." Bulletin of Latin American Research 21.4 (2002): 545-575. Academic  Search Premier.

Web. 6 Oct. 2015.

Jones, Amy H. "Visual and Verbal Gender Cues In the Televised Coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics."

The Social Science Collection 6.2 (2010): 199-216. Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 Oct. 2015

Mayeno, Laurin. “My Son Was a Princess for Halloween, and I Became a Better Parent.” Huffington

Post News. Huffington Post News, 30 September 2015. Web. 13 Oct. 2015

Negra, Diane. "Gender Bifurcation in the Recession Economy: Extreme Couponing and Gold Rush

Alaska." Cinema Journal 53.1 (2013): 123-129. Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 Oct. 2015.

Schneider, David. The Psychology of Stereotyping. New York: 2005. Print.

Smith, Stacy L., Dr., and Amy D. Granados. "Gender and the Media." National PTA. AXA Foundation,

2006. Web. 13 Oct. 2015.

Williams, Aleichia. “My Culture Taught Me to be a Homemaker. Thanks, but I Want More.” Huffington

Post News. Huffington Post News, 22 Sept. 2015. Web. 13 Oct. 2015.

Wolska, Malgorzata. "Gender Stereotypes in Mass Media. Case Study: Analysis of the Gender

Stereotyping Phenomenon in TV Commercials." .Krytyka.org. N.p., 9 Sept. 2011. Web.

13 Oct. 2015.

Winter, Nicholas. "Masculine Republicans And Feminine Democrats: Gender and Americans' Explicit And

Implicit Images of the Political Parties.” Political Behavior 32.4 (2010): 587-618. Academic

Search Premier. Web. 6 Oct. 2015.

Woodward, Kath. Questioning Identity: Gender, Class, Ethnicity. London: 2004. Print.