"Gender and Sexuality in the Media"
Critical Focus: A Forum on Media Today, SCAT Studio, Somerville, MA
February 15, 2007
Description:
This episode of Critical Focus looks at the subject of portrayals of gender roles and stereotypes of sexuality in the media, asking what kinds of stereotypes are prevalent in the media, if they really do influence audiences, and if so, how? How have media depictions of gender roles and sexuality stereotypes changed over the past two decades? Don't we see a wider representation of women in charge, gay men playing lead roles and people starting to come out in Hollywood these days? Are transgender people well represented in movies like "Boys Don't Cry" and "Transamerica"? Some have argued that we have moved past a media saturated society to a fully mediated society whose members are so inured to media manipulation that we refuse to believe anything we see or hear that we don't want to believe. Is this true? And if so, do stereotypical depictions in the media still have the power to affect us in our daily lives? How so? What is the media's responsibility regarding its depiction of gender and sexuality? Dr. Lisa Henderson appears in the forum as one of the three panelists.
