11

Gender-Role Socialization in the Twenty-First Century

Nancy Signorielli

Television and Gender

Gender-role socialization has been a critical element in the study of mass communication since the late 1960s. Most of the research and attention on the socialization of gender roles have focused on television as one of the most important agents of socialization in today's society. This chapter will focus specifically on television's gender roles, looking at what we know about these messages at the start of the second decade of the twenty-first century and what we know about how these messages and images may influence conceptions about being men and women.

As we progress in the twenty-first century, although we spend more and more time with “screens,” the screen we watch most is television (Blair, 2009). Television has become an “on demand” medium. We can purchase whole seasons of favorite programs and can call up movies and programs whenever, and to some extent wherever (using computer, phones, etc.) we want.

Nielsen (2009) reports that the amount of time spent viewing has been rising for the past few years. At the end of 2008 the average person watched TV in her/his home for about five hours a day. In addition, the most recent report of the Kaiser Family Foundation found that children's media use averaged more than seven and a half hours a day that expanded to almost 11 hours a day when multitasking was taken into account (Rideout, Foehr, & Roberts, 2010).

Television's role for the past 60 years as the central and most pervasive mass medium in US culture has not changed. Television still plays a distinctive and historically unprecedented role as the nation's most common, constant, and vivid learning environment. Television, whether we watch on a traditional set, on our mobile phone or on the Internet is still our primary storyteller, telling most of the stories to most of the people, most of the time (Chapter 2, this volume). These stories, however, are the product of a few multinational and centralized commercial institutions. Television's stories show and tell us about life – its people, places, power, and fate – as well as how things work and how to solve problems. Characterizations represent the good and bad, the happy and sad, successes and failures, and they show who's on the top and who's on the bottom of the economic ladder and/or pecking order.

This chapter will examine the portrayals of men and women in the media paying most attention to prime-time broadcast television programming as this is where the lion's share of the research has been conducted. These portrayals will look at the intersection of gender roles in relation to age, race, and occupations. It will focus, as much as possible, on research that has been conducted and published during the first decade of the twenty-first century. In addition, the review will present data from the author's ongoing yearly content analyses of prime-time network programming broadcast in the fall of each year. This data set, collected between 2000 and 2009, consists of 783 programs and 3,268 major or leading characters. The methods used in this ongoing research can be reviewed in several recent publications (see, for example, Signorielli & Bacue, 1999).

Theoretical Orientations

Socialization is the way people learn about their culture and acquire its values, beliefs, perspectives, and social norms. It is an ongoing social process; we are socialized and resocialized throughout the life cycle. Traditionally, parents, peers, teachers, and the clergy have had the major responsibility for socialization. Numerous studies have found, however, that the mass media play a very important role in the socialization process (Berry & Mitchell-Kerman, 1982). Stereotypes, in particular, are important in television's role as an agent of socialization (Chapter 13, this volume). Stereotypes are conventional or standardized images or conceptions; they are generalizations or assumptions often based on misconceptions. Stereotypes lack originality; they fall back upon commonly known and often one-dimensional elements of portrayal. They appeal to people's emotions rather than intellect. Television programs with limited time to devote to character development often resort to stereotypes in the storytelling process. The concern is that viewers, especially children, continually exposed to television's stereotyped roles, may develop conceptions and perceptions about people that reflect the stereotypical images they see in the media.

The actual processes of media socialization, however, are different from those used by more traditional agents of socialization and may involve observational and/or social learning. Social or observational learning theory examines the role of modeling in a child's social development. It posits that viewers, especially children, imitate the behavior of television characters in much the same way they learn social and cognitive skills by imitating their parents, siblings, and peers (Lefkowitz & Huesmann, 1980). Bandura's (2009) extension of cognitive processing to social learning theory (social cognitive theory) added rules and strategies (the “how to”) to the traditional why, what, and when of behavior change.

Bandura (2009) notes that this perspective is based on four subfunctions or processes: attention, retention, production, and motivation. Viewers must pay attention to the models; those who are more attractive or more salient may be more important. Attention, however, must be followed by retention: we cannot be influenced by models unless we remember what we have seen. Moreover, repeated exposure to the same images and/or models facilitates remembering. The third process, production, necessitates that viewers incorporate these images into their own behaviors. Finally, viewers must be motivated to incorporate these behaviors. Seeing media characters rewarded (or punished) when they behave in either traditional or nontraditional ways may facilitate learning specific sex-typed behaviors (Smith & Granados, 2009). Overall, television's stereotypes are particularly suited to the processes of social learning/social cognitive theory because they provide simplistic, often one-dimensional models of behaviors, strategies, and rules that appear regularly in many different genres of programs.

A second theoretical orientation relevant to the media's role as an agent of socialization is cultivation theory (Morgan, Shanahan, & Signorielli, 2009; Chapter 2, this volume). This theory explores the general hypothesis that the more time viewers spend with television the more likely their conceptions about the world and its people will reflect what they see on television. Thus, television must be studied as a collective symbolic environment of messages with an underlying pattern or formulaic structure. Due to commercial constraints, television presents a common world view and common stereotypes through a relatively restrictive set of images and messages that cut across all programs in all delivery systems. The term cultivation refers to “the specific independent (though not isolated) contribution that a particular consistent and compelling symbolic stream makes to the complex process of socialization and enculturalization” (Gerbner, 1990, p. 249).

Gender-Role Images

The most consistent and pervasive gender-role image on television is the underrepresentation of women. Beginning in the 1950s (Head, 1954) and through the 1970s men outnumbered women by three to one on broadcast network television (Signorielli, 1985). Women's representation began to increase during the mid-1980s. By the end of the 1980s the male-female distribution was roughly two-thirds male and one-third female and by the end of the twentieth century the distribution was about 60% male and 40% female (Signorielli & Bacue, 1999). The underrepresentation of women in prime-time network broadcast programs has remained steady during the first decade of the twenty-first century. Data from the author's ongoing research of yearly samples of prime-time broadcast network programming (situation comedies, dramas, action programs, and reality programs) show that yearly male-female distributions in the past 10 years have not veered from a 58% male (F = .8446, df = 1,9, ns) to 42% female (F = .7340, df = 1.9, ns) distribution. Consequently although the distribution of men and women in prime-time network programs is more equal today, it does not come close to parity with the US population (51% female and 49% male).

Portrayals and Behind the Scenes Personnel

An interesting line of research shows that the distribution of males and females in prime-time programs is related to the gender makeup of those who create the programs – the writers, directors, producers, and other behind the scenes personnel. Lauzen and Dozier (1999) found that male characters outnumbered female characters and that men were three-quarters and women one-quarter of the behind the scenes personnel. The women, however, had fewer prestigious positions; they were the assistant directors or associate producers compared to the men who were producers or directors. Interestingly, there were more female characters when women were in more powerful behind the scenes positions (executive producers and producers).

The sex distribution of behind the scenes personnel is related to other aspects of male-female portrayals in prime-time programs. Female characters in programs with women executive producers were more verbal (spoke, interrupted, used more powerful language, and had the last word in a discussion or argument) than female characters in programs with male executive producers (Lauzen, Dozier, & Hicks, 2001). In addition, when women were behind the scenes, characters exhibited more equitable on-screen portrayals by reducing the number of males in leadership roles rather than increasing the number of female characters (Lauzen, Dozier, & Bradley, 2004). Interestingly, when women were the writers or creators, both male and female characters appeared in interpersonal (home, family, romance) roles; when men were the writers and creators, both male and female characters were often seen in work-related roles (Lauzen, Dozier, & Horan, 2008). Finally, Lauzen and Deiss (2009) found that female characters spoke directly to the camera (broke the fourth wall) more often when women were behind the scenes.

Minorities and Gender

In the 1970s and 1980s, studies found that the numbers of Blacks on television began to reflect their proportion in the US population (Greenberg, 1980). Recent analyses show an even greater degree of parity. At the end of the twentieth century in broadcast prime-time network programs, Blacks reached a level of representation that accurately reflected their numbers in the US population but other minorities were practically invisible (Hunt, 2002; Mastro & Greenberg, 2000; Chapter 13, this volume).

The racial composition of prime time's leading characters is very much tied to program genre. Since the mid-1990s, Blacks achieved parity with their numbers in the US population because they were most often found in situation comedies that featured all-Black casts, and until 2006, on the WB network. However, when the WB and the UPN networks merged to form the CW television network in 2006, the all-Black sitcoms almost ceased to exist. Thus, given the continued ongoing demise of the situation comedy during the first decade of the twenty-first century, Blacks may lose ground in television representation.

A critical element in the representation of minority groups is gender representation. Minority women are consistently underrepresented in prime time (Elasmar, Hasegawa, & Brain, 1999). Similarly, Hunt (2002) found the distribution of Black men and women was similar to the distribution of White men and women – 60% male and 40% female. Signorielli (2009a) found similar distributions by both race and gender; Whites and Blacks had a 58% male and 42% female distribution while the distribution for other people of color (Asians, Native Americans, etc.) was 55% male and 45% female. In another analysis of this data set, Signorielli (2009b) found that more racially diverse programs were more likely to underrepresent women while segregated programs (all/mostly White characters or mostly minority characters) had a more gender equitable distribution of characters.

Age

Study after study shows that the world of prime-time network broadcast television overrepresents young adult and middle-aged characters while underrepresenting children, adolescents, and the elderly and that women are cast as younger than men. Signorielli (2004) found fewer than one in ten male and female characters were youngsters while elderly characters appeared even less frequently. Young adults and middle-aged characters, by comparison, appeared most frequently. Interestingly, more females than males were classified as young adults while more males than females were portrayed as middle-aged.

Character portrayals in the first decade of the twenty-first century show little change from previous analyses. The author's ongoing research shows that children, adolescents and the elderly continue to be underrepresented while young adults and middle-aged characters are overrepresented. Female characters are still more likely than the males to be cast as young adults (40% of the females compared to 32% of the males) while males are still more likely to be cast as middle-aged (59% of the males compared to 51% of the females). Thus, television programs at the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century are still populated by those age groups advertisers most wish to reach – young adults and the middle-aged.

Occupations

Until the end of the 1980s and the middle of the 1990s, television consistently stereotyped the way male and female characters were cast in occupations. Male characters were often seen in “male” jobs (doctors, lawyers, politicians) and females in “female” jobs (nurses, secretaries, and household workers) (Elasmar et al., 1999).

Signorielli and Kahlenberg (2001) found that the world of work on television is determined by dramatic rather than educational considerations. Television programs revolve around those jobs that help tell a good story. The work of doctors, lawyers, police, and forensic specialists is more interesting and exciting than the everyday work of laborers and bus or truck drivers. Overall, fewer women than men were categorized as having an occupation – only six out of ten females compared to three-quarters of the male characters. But women were not always cast in traditional female jobs. By the end of the twentieth century, women were just as likely as men to be cast as professionals (doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc.) and in white-collar (managers, clerical) jobs. Race and gender were also intertwined in occupational portrayals. Specifically, women of color were more likely than White women to be cast in blue-collar (service) jobs or in law enforcement.

Racially segregated (all/mostly White or mostly minority characters) and racially diverse (integrated) programs also differed in the types of occupations and levels of occupational prestige of the characters (Signorielli, 2009b). Women in racially segregated programs were not often depicted as having an occupation. Only four out of ten Black women in mostly minority programs were seen working outside the home and of those who were seen working, few were cast as professionals. Similarly, White women in all or mostly White programs were less likely to have prestigious jobs. Overall, the jobs of women in segregated programs, whether programs had mostly minority characters or mostly White characters, were the least diverse and the least prestigious. Men's jobs, on the other hand, had little to do with whether the men were cast in segregated or integrated programs.

Since the turn of the century, the author's ongoing analysis shows that fewer women than men are still seen as having a specific job: three quarters of the men but only six out of ten women are portrayed in an occupation. At the same time, only one in five women is cast in a traditionally female job while about one-third have traditional male jobs and another third have gender-neutral jobs. Half of the males, on the other hand, have traditional male jobs and one in three has a gender-neutral job. Less than 5% of the male characters have traditionally female jobs. Women are as likely as men to be cast as professionals but while one in five men is cast in law enforcement related jobs, only one in ten of the women is so employed. Finally, television continues to overrepresent glamorous and more exciting jobs – doctors, lawyers, police, crime-scene investigators. The more mundane jobs, in which most people spend their work life, are rarely found. Moreover, television does not present work or occupations very realistically because while we know that characters have jobs, we rarely see them actually working. Interestingly, recent and very popular crime-scene programs (CSI; Law and Order) present these jobs as more glamorous and exciting than they actually are; the day-to-day, but important tasks, are often overlooked (Houck, 2006). Overall, content studies show that work, on television, typically appears to be easy and exciting and characters are almost always successful.

Gender Images in Children's Programs

As children spend so much time with television it is necessary to understand the nature of the images in these programs. Children's animated cartoons have traditionally been very sex-typed. Thompson and Zerbinos (1995) found considerable stereotyping consistent with traditional gender roles. There were more male than female characters, both in lead and supporting or minor roles. Male characters spoke more often than female characters. There were, however, some time-related differences. Cartoons produced after 1980 had more female characters than cartoons produced prior to 1980. Moreover, females in the post-1980 cartoons were more independent, intelligent, and competent than females in pre-1980 cartoons. There were also differences by cartoon type. The fewest female lead characters were found in chase-and pratfall cartoons (Tom and Jerry), followed by continuing adventure cartoons (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), and “teachy-preachy” cartoons (Smurfs).

Cartoons broadcast in 2000 continue to be stereotyped. Leaper, Breed, Hoffman, and Perlman (2002) found that male characters outnumbered female characters by four to one in traditional adventure cartoons (Spiderman), two to one in comedy cartoons (Animaniacs), and 1.5 to one in educational/family cartoons (Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, The Magic School Bus). There was, however, an almost equal representation of males and females in nontraditional adventure cartoons (Sailor Moon, Gargoyles). At the same time, males showed more physical aggression, particularly in the traditional adventure cartoons, than the females. Overall, females were more fearful, more supportive, more polite, and more interested in romance. Finally, males outnumbered females in all types of children's cartoons particularly adventures (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), except those geared toward teens (Hannah Montana, That's so Raven) (Signorielli, 2008).

Superheroes are particularly stereotyped. Baker and Raney (2007) found that two-thirds of the superheroes were very muscular males and one-third were average-sized females. Female superheroes were more emotional, attractive, concerned about their personal appearance and asked questions while the male superheroes were more likely to exhibit angry behaviors. Although all of the superheroes were physically aggressive and powerful, female superheroes were more stereotyped because they often worked under a mentor while the male superheroes had positions of leadership and operated independently.

The Children's Television Act of 1990 mandated that stations must air three hours of educational and informational (E/I) programming each week (Chapter 34). Barner's (1999) analysis of E/I programs with social interaction as an important plot element (e.g., Sweet Valley High, Bobby's World, Ghostwriter), found that a majority of the programs had males as central characters and included a boy's name in the title. On the other hand, no programs had a female in the central role or a girl's name in the program's title. Males outnumbered females 59% to 41% among foreground characters, percentages that mirror the male-female distribution in prime-time programs. Males also did more than females: males exhibited 2.1 behaviors, often gender-stereotyped, per scene compared to 1.5 behaviors per scene for females. Males made and carried out plans and sought attention, were more aggressive, dominant, and active; behaviors that elicited consequences. Female behaviors, on the other hand, were deferential, nurturing, and dependent; behaviors that typically do not result in consequences to the character.

Movies and Music Videos

Movies have consistently underrepresented female characters and perpetuated gender stereotypes. Lauzen and Dozier's (2005) analysis of the top films of 2002 found a male-female distribution of three-quarters male to one-quarter female. Men in movies are typically cast as older (in their 30s and 40s) than the women (usually in their 20s and 30s). Moreover, males, particularly those more than 40, were often seen in powerful and leadership roles while older women were largely invisible. Finally, older female characters were very negatively stereotyped and perceived as less attractive, less friendly, and less intelligent (Bazzini, McIntosh, Smith, Cook, & Harris, 1997).

The top teen movies distributed between 1995 and 2005 (e.g., Clueless, Mean Girls, She's All That, Freaky Friday) had more female than male characters – 55% female to 45% male. Interestingly, there were few if any adult characters; 99% of the characters were high school or college students (Behm-Morawitz & Mastro, 2008). Although socially cooperative behaviors appeared more often than socially aggressive behaviors and were not gender-related, female characters were significantly more likely than male characters to engage in socially aggressive behaviors (e.g., illustrating the mean girl) that were typically not punished and often rewarded.

Disney movies, a staple of children's viewing repertoire, are quite gender stereotyped. From the earliest movies, (e.g., Snow White), to more recent films focusing on heroines (e.g., Pocahontas, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid), studies consistently show the films rely upon gender stereotypes in telling the story (Wiersma, 2001). Dundes (2001) notes that one modern Disney heroine, Pocahontas, is defined both by her romantic relationship and her nurturing role. Similarly, Ariel in The Little Mermaid, shows both her romanticism and her willingness to embrace life as a human in order to marry the prince. Beres (1999), a clinician whose practice has largely focused upon providing counseling to women involved in abusive spousal relationships, notes that movies, such as Beauty and the Beast, tend to romanticize men's controlling relationships with women as well as perpetuate gender stereotypes. Finally, Tanner, Haddock, Zimmerman, and Lund (2003) note that Disney films typically stereotype male–female relationships by presenting couples (mothers and fathers, for example) in traditional gender stereotypes.

Music videos, particularly rap videos, continue to present differences in gender portrayals with men overrepresented and portrayed more positively than women (Conrad, Dixon, & Zhang, 2009). Women were likely to be dressed provocatively, objectified, placed in positions of submission and often found in videos with controversial themes (misogyny and materialism). Males, on the other hand, were in videos with both controversial and community-oriented themes (e.g., community unity, political awareness).

Images in Commercials

Research has consistently shown that television commercials are very gender stereotyped, with males outnumbering females in all but commercials for beauty, health-related, or household domestic products (Ganahl, Prinsen, & Netzley, 2003). Stern and Mastro (2004), for example, found more males than females in commercials and that females were most underrepresented as children and in middle age and least underrepresented as teenagers. Young adult females were the most attractive and very thin, while older women were less attractive and heavier. Analyses also found that traditional female roles were closely related to age: girls and older women were seen in relation to home and family, while young women were seen in the work-world and doing other activities outside the home. Coltrane and Messineo (2000) found the racial groups that appeared least often (Latinos and Asians) had the highest proportion of female characters but they were presented as children. In general White men were presented as powerful, African American men as aggressive, White women as sex-objects, and African American women barely existed. Blacks appeared more frequently on commercials aired on BET and were portrayed with more respect (Messineo, 2008). Although Black women were seen more often and as sexually desirable on BET, the images were more gender stereotyped and demeaning. Finally, voiceovers were predominantly male.

A study of national commercials, portraying domestic chores in prime-time network broadcast programming, found that almost two-thirds of those seen doing domestic chores were women, typically mothers, who performed childcare related activities, cooked, or cleaned (Scharrer, Kim, Lin, & Liu, 2006). Most women were not employed outside the home. Men's performance of domestic chores, however, was often presented humorously sending the message that men are not really capable of helping around the house. Overall, most of the chores were stereotyped in terms of who did them; consequently, portrayals of both men and women were traditional rather than nontraditional or counter-stereotypical.

Commercials in children's cartoons are also very gender stereotyped (Browne, 1998). Boys were more likely to show how to use the product, even when the products were gender-neutral. Adult women and men were seen in very gender-typed roles with the women as homemakers and the men working outside the home. Interestingly, a study of images on cereal boxes (Black, Marola, Littman, Chrisler, & Neace, 2009) found evidence of considerable gender-role typing. Males outnumbered females by two to one and were more often portrayed as animals (e.g., Tony the Tiger) or adults while females were children or adolescents.

We thus find at the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century that television images have not undergone many changes in terms of gender-role stereotypes. Women remain underrepresented, are younger than men, and race is often related to representation. While television does have some positive occupational portrayals for women, other media (e.g., videos, commercials, and cartoons), typically fall back on very traditional stereotypes.

Effects of Media Images

The description of television images is an important and necessary first step in understanding the role of television in society. Clearly, one cannot assess effects without knowing what people see. The rest of this chapter will discuss the effects of gender-role stereotypes, focusing, as much as possible, on studies conducted in the last 15 years. This chapter will focus only on research related to the possible effects of gender-role images. For more information about related topics the reader is referred to Chapter 13 for a discussion of racial and ethnic stereotypes, Chapter 15 for issues related to body image, and Chapter 19 for more information about sexual portrayals. This chapter will focus on how gender-role images influence children's perception of, identification with, and cultivation of conceptions about the roles of men and women in society.

Perception of Gender-Role Images

Viewers, particularly children, are aware of and expect to find stereotyped images on television (Reeves & Greenberg, 1977). Thompson and Zerbinos (1997), for example, found that children perceived stereotyping in cartoons – boys were active and violent while girls were concerned with appearances and were found in domestic settings. Children, as young as kindergarten age, are aware of television's gender stereotypes and are able to predict whether men or women, boys or girls, would be found in different activities on television (Durkin & Nugent, 1998). More recently, however, Ogletree, Mason, Grahmann, and Raffeld (2001), looking at two cartoons produced during the late 1990s, found that elementary school children perceived the cartoon Powerpuff Girls as more aggressive than Johnny Bravo. Although the Powerpuff Girls themselves were seen as more androgynous, they did giggle often and sometimes resorted to typically stereotypical female behaviors (e.g., kisses) to achieve their goals.

Identification

Identification with characters in the media is influenced by gender-role stereotypes, particularly those on television. Children identify with television characters. As was true in the 1960s and 1970s (e.g., Reeves & Greenberg, 1977), boys are still more likely to name only a male as their favorite character while girls are equally likely to name both males and females as favorite characters. Hoffner (1996) extended this effect to what she calls wishful identification – wanting to be like characters, particularly those characters perceived as successful or attractive. This line of research finds that girls select as favorites female characters when they are physically attractive and select male characters when they intelligent and/or exhibit typical masculine traits such as physical strength. Hoffner's interviews with 7- to 12-year-old children show that wishful identification is more pronounced with same-sex characters and more pronounced for boys than girls. Interestingly, girls who choose males as favorite characters see them as “pseudo friends” rather than role models and perceive them as intelligent. At the same time, the girls show more parasocial interaction with same sex favorite characters, selected because they are attractive.

Aubrey and Harrison's (2004) study of first and second grade children found that the boys who preferred stereotyped content and male cartoon characters said they valued the traits of humor and hard work. Girls, who indicated they preferred male characters (in both stereotyped or counter-stereotyped roles) did not identify with or were not attracted to female characters. On the other hand, those girls who said they preferred female characters cast in gender-neutral roles were attracted to and identified with female characters.

Identification continues into young adulthood. Undergraduates who watched more teen movies (e.g., Mean Girls, 10 Things I Hate about You) expressed greater identification with the characters in these movies (Behm-Morawitz & Mastro, 2008). Moreover, college women who said they identified with female action heroes (e.g., Buffy the Vampire Slayer) believed that they had traits, such as confidence and assertiveness, in common with these female action heroes. These women also perceived that female action heroes were smart, confident, powerful, and attractive (Greenwood, 2007). In addition, Hoffner, Levine and Toohey (2008) found that while male college freshmen's favorite characters were males, only half of the freshmen women chose a female television character as their favorite. These students said that they liked characters portrayed with good paying and higher status jobs and did not particularly identify with characters whose jobs required a higher level of intelligence or skill.

Identification with television characters and their roles is but one way in which sex-role stereotypes and imagery may affect viewers, particularly children. Moreover, even though viewers, particularly children, realize that television characters are often gender stereotyped and may identify with them, another important question is how these stereotypes influence their attitudes and behaviors; that is, the cultivation of attitudes and conceptions about sex roles. The general and simplest hypothesis of cultivation theory and analysis is that those who spend more time with media, particularly television, will have views that reflect the dominant messages that they see (Morgan et al., 2009). Studies in this tradition thus compare the views, attitudes, and behaviors of those who watch more television (heavy viewers) with those who watch less television (light viewers). As television tends to be a gender-stereotyped world, using this general paradigm, we can posit that those who watch more television have more gender-role stereotyped views about men and women.

It is important to note, however, that studies of television's impact or effects are generally hampered because it is almost impossible to find control groups who do not watch any television. Moreover, those who do not watch television tend to be a small but quite eclectic group (Jackson-Beeck, 1977). Consequently, the overall effects of many of these studies are small because even light viewers watch several hours of television a day and experience many of the same things as those who watch more television (Morgan et al., 2009). Consequently, on one level, the deck may be stacked against finding relationships between viewing and espousing specific conceptions about the world, such as gender roles.

Cultivation of Gender-Role Images

The influence of the mass media, especially television, upon conceptions relating to gender roles examines how media may shape people's, and especially children's, views of what it means to be a man or a woman. This, in turn, may aid or abet goals (occupational, educational, personal) a person may set out to achieve. Clearly the evidence points to the fact that society's notions of appropriate roles for men and women have changed (Signorielli, 1989). But, as noted above, television's images have not kept pace.

The research, including several meta-analyses, points to the existence of a relationship between television viewing and having more stereotypic conceptions about gender roles. Several meta-analyses have found support for this relationship. Herrett-Skjellum and Allen (1996) examined 19 nonexperimental and 11 experimental studies dealing with television and gender-role stereotypes and found an average effect size of .101. They also found all positive relationships and no age-related patterns, concluding that for these studies, particularly those using nonexperimental designs, television viewing is particularly related to conceptions about occupations. Morgan and Shanahan (1997), in a meta-analysis of all published studies relating to cultivation theory, found an average effects size of .102 in the analysis of 14 cultivation studies relating to gender roles. Likewise, Hearold's (1986) meta-analysis of 230 studies found that television viewing had a significant effect on gender-role stereotyping. Finally, the most recent meta-analysis (Oppliger, 2007) examined 31 primarily nonexperimental studies of adults. This analysis found a positive and statistically significant relationship (r = .117) between exposure to gender-role stereotypes and gender- typed behaviors and/or attitudes between both adults and children. Moreover, the correlations were similar for both males and females and were somewhat stronger for measures of behavior than attitudes.

One of the first studies conducted in the paradigm of cultivation theory looking at the relationship between viewing and espousing more or less sex-typed views, found support for this relationship. Signorielli (1989) in an analysis of the NORC General Social Surveys fielded between 1975 and 1986, found support for a general hypothesis that those who watch more television have more sexist views. She also found support for a mainstreaming hypothesis that groups of respondents, who espouse very different views when they are light viewers, have more similar outlooks in regard to women's role in society as heavy viewers. This analysis found that even though there was a decrease in the number of respondents who agreed with sexist statements between the 1970s and 1980s, television viewing was related to the maintenance of notions of more limited roles for women in society, particularly in regard to politically-oriented issues.

A recent reexamination of this hypothesis using data from the GSS fielded between 2000 and 2006 (Shanahan, Signorielli, & Morgan, 2008), found that this relationship had diminished. The authors suggest several reasons for this finding. First, and maybe most important, the GSS questions used to create the dependent measure in the two analyses are different because the questions asked between 1975 and 1986 in the GSS were no longer part of the questionnaire fielded between 2000 and 2006. Hence, the second analysis used different questions relating to gender roles. Second, people's conceptions about gender roles may have reached the ceiling because today most people are cognizant of real-life demographics that have pushed more women into jobs, choosing smaller families, lower marriage rates, and so on. While television is slowly catching up with social reality, it is not surprising that cultivation relationships have diminished or disappeared in all but a few groups. Moreover, there is also some evidence that television may cultivate acceptance of nontraditional families such as unmarried women having children (Morgan & Shanahan, 1997).

Nevertheless, several studies show evidence for the relationship between media use, particularly television viewing, and expressing more sex-role stereotyped views. In particular, television cultivates more sexist attitudes in specific race/ethnically defined subgroups. Rivadeneyra and Ward (2005) examined the relationship between gender role attitudes and television viewing among Latino high school students in the Los Angeles area. Using a check list of English-language and Spanish-language prime-time programs, soap operas and talk shows, students' average monthly viewing was determined. Two measures of viewer involvement, motivation for viewing and identification with16 specific television characters, were also collected. Gender-role attitudes were measured by a three-item feminism scale that included items such as “the husband should make all the important decisions in the marriage” and “a wife should do whatever her husband wants” (p. 462).

In general, Latino youth watch more television than European-American youngsters and, in this sample, the Latino girls watched more television than the boys. Those girls who watched more television, especially talk shows and situation comedies, were more likely to endorse more traditional gender-role stereotypes. In addition, watching more Spanish-language programs contributed to the expression of more traditional gender-role attitudes. Finally, perceived realism and viewer involvement were also related to expressing more gender-role stereotyped attitudes. The boys in the sample did not show the same degree of stereotyping, perhaps because they did not watch as much television as the girls, particularly those programs with more overall stereotyping. Moreover, the authors suggest that more stereotyped views for the boys were not found because the boys began with more traditional attitudes and findings may not have emerged because of existing ceiling effects.

In a study of 287 adolescents using measures taken at two points in time, Morgan (1987) found that television viewing made an independent contribution to adolescents' gender-role attitudes over time, but that television viewing was not related to some of their specific behaviors in relation to seven specific chores. Signorielli and Lears (1992), in a cross-sectional replication of this analysis with a sample of children in the fourth and fifth grade, also found statistically significant relationships between viewing and having gender-typed attitudes toward chores but no relationship between viewing and actually doing gender-stereotyped chores. Moreover, attitudes toward gender-stereotyped chores and actually doing girl- or boy-chores were related but gender-specific. Children, particularly those who said they watched more television, had more stereotyped ideas about who should do which chores, and were more likely to do those chores traditionally associated with their gender.

One area in which we continue to find relationships between viewing and conceptions about sex roles is in relation to occupations. While family and friends play a large role in children's socialization about work, television's images have consistently made important contributions because television characters are seen frequently and are attractive role models. As noted above, however, television presents a rather limited picture of occupations, particularly for women and minorities, which over-represents exciting jobs and shows few characters actually working.

Signorielli (1993) found support for the relationship between television viewing and conceptions about male and female roles in a study analyzing data from the Monitoring the Future survey fielded in 1985. This analysis found that high school students' conceptions about work reflected two contradictory views about work that often appear on television. Television viewing was related to (1) adolescents wanting to have high status jobs that would also give them a chance to earn a lot of money and (2) wanting to have jobs that were relatively easy with long vacations and time to do other things in life. Hoffner et al. (2008), in a study of college freshmen, found that parents' views and the types of jobs their parents held as well as television contributed to students' attitudes and aspirations about work. Those youngsters whose favorite characters had an “easy job” also said that they would like to have a job that was easy; in short, they wanted to be like characters rarely seen working.

Similarly, Levine and Hoffner (2006) found that high school students got information about working and job requirements from parents and having a part-time job. At the same time they cited the mass media, although with some skepticism about the degree of accuracy, as providing information about work. The students said that dramas presented more negative views about work and gave the impression that work was difficult and stressful but that situation comedies provided positive information but mostly that work was easy and enjoyable.

Watching other media is also related to having more gender-role stereotyped views. Behm-Morawitz and Mastro's (2008) study of undergraduates found that those who watched and enjoyed teen movies (e.g., Mean Girls) saw female friendships in more stereotyped ways and did not have very favorable attitudes toward women. Moreover, watching and liking these movies led to the perception that being more socially aggressive may increase popularity with peers. Similarly, an experiment found that gender-role stereotypes may be influenced by commercials (Pike & Jennings, 2005). First and second grade students were placed in one of three conditions: (1) traditional who saw toy commercials in which boys played with gender neutral toys (e.g., Harry Potter Legos and Playmobile Airport Set), (2) nontraditional who saw the same commercials with the boys' faces digitally replaced by very feminine girls' faces, and (3) a control group who saw non-toy commercials (e.g., Chuck E. Cheese Restaurants and Lucky Charms). The results indicated that those children, particularly boys, in the nontraditional group were likely to say both boys and girls could play with gender-neutral toys while those in the traditional group said that only boys should play with gender-neutral toys.

Studies have also found relationships between watching music videos, especially rap videos, and conceptions about gender roles. As noted above, music videos tend to present very gender-stereotypical behaviors with rap videos often presenting women as sex objects (Arnett, 2001). Bryant (2008) found that greater exposure to rap videos was related to Black adolescents having more adversarial ideas about male-female relationships and agreeing with the negative images of men and women in these videos. Interestingly, those youngsters who expressed higher levels of spirituality were less likely to accept the negative images of women, men, and male-female relationships portrayed in these videos. Studies have shown that younger African Americans do not necessarily like the way women are presented in rap music videos but, at the same time, are not necessarily opposed to these portrayals (Kitwana, 2002).

Ward, Hansbrough, and Walker (2005) found that African American high school students who watched more music videos and more sports programming had more traditional gender-role stereotyped attitudes and said that attributes such as being cool, athletic, rich, and attractive were important. On the other hand, viewing prime-time situation comedies, dramas, and movies was not related to more gender-role stereotyped views. In addition, an experiment, conducted as part of this study, found that those students who saw clips of music videos with very stereotypical portrayals of both men and women expressed more stereotyped and traditional views about sexual relationships and gender.

Conclusion

This review has explored gender-role socialization looking particularly at studies conducted at the end of the twentieth century and during the first decade of the twenty-first century. Overall, research shows, in venue after venue, that women are underrepresented, typically making up 40% of the characters. Moreover, the presentation of gender roles on television reveals a stable image that, in most cases, is very supportive of the status quo, especially in relation to race, and age. Interestingly, women who do not fit stereotypical molds on one dimension of their characterization, such as their occupation, often revert to very traditional gender-role stereotypes in relation to their interpersonal relationships with men. These images serve to support the notion that women should not outshine men, particularly those to whom they are married and/or have an ongoing romantic relationship (IMHI, 1997).

Recent studies on the impact of such images in regard to conceptions about gender roles are somewhat limited but still point to the existence of a relationship between television viewing and having more stereotypic conceptions about gender roles particularly among high school and college students. Support comes from studies conducted in both experimental and nonexperimental settings. In essence, television may be contributing to the maintenance of notions of more limited roles for women in society because the images seen on television typically foster the maintenance of the status quo compared to men's and women's roles in society.

Finally, we are just beginning to make inroads in understanding the powerful impact of this medium on our lives. It is imperative, however, that we continue to expand our research on television's effects, as well as continue to monitor how men and women are portrayed in the media because new venues for viewing, particularly for children, may increase exposure to media images. This research, however, must be driven by specific information from ongoing studies of television content rather than suppositions about images in television programs. At the very least, continued research can help raise awareness of television's potentially stereotypical and perhaps problematic images and how such images may impact our lives.

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