Gender Issues

The last cycle in Media Literacy & Current Events class we had the opportunity to cover the unit of Gender Issues, in which we learned different parts of issues that occur because of the way society views the male and female genders. We have learned about how genders are portrayed in Media, perception of men, perception of women, common stereotypes for both genders, the unequal payment of genders, and double standards. We learned about how women and men are portrayed in media and magazines, since they are portrayed totally different. Women are normally portrayed in magazines and media as skinny, big breasts, thin hips and thighs, a perfectly outlined face with defined jaws, large neck, and perfect hair, which basically portray them as “flawless” human beings. On the other hand, men are portrayed in media and magazines with a defined strong body, strong muscles, defined jaw, and a flawless face with a strong hairline. In this unit we also learned about the perceptions of genders in society. The perceptions of men in society are normally as they are portrayed in media and magazines, but besides this, the society’s perception of men is that a man needs to be both physically and emotionally strong and they need to make money. However, society's perception of women are totally different, since women are seen as stay-at-home women, who don't work or produce any money, who are normally weak in both physical and emotional aspects. Another point we covered in this unit is the unequal payment of people based on their genders, in which we learned how women and men are paid differently not because of their capabilities, but because of their genders. A research study shows how women earn 83% of what men earn, working on very similar schedules and work positions. Also, we researched about how women need to work much longer than men to get a work promotion, no matter what their performance is, which is totally unfair. The last point we covered in this unit was double standards, which is how a conduct of a person only applies on a gender and doesn't penalize the other gender. We learned about different double standards that are totally unfair to men, like how men can't be sexually assaulted or harassed, women can hit men but men can hit women, and many more. In my opinion, this was a very interesting unit and I look forward to learn more about this issue.