Sex role stereotyping in Australian television advertisements

Television has attracted considerable attention in recent years because of alleged bias in its sex-role content. Studies of television in Great Britain and the United States have generally fuelled concerns that the medium presents male and female characters in traditionally stereotyped ways. Comparatively little research has focused on the way men and women are depicted in other nations' television. Such analyses contribute towards a more comprehensive account of sex role stereotyping and to cross cultural investigation. The present study examined the portrayal of male and female characters in a sample of contemporary Australian television advertisements. A sample of evening commercials was analyzed using measures developed in North American and British work. Strong evidence of differences in the presentation of male and female characters was obtained, and the differences were consistent with those reported in studies of television content in the northern hemisphere. There is little reason to suppose that this area of Australian media is changing substantially in response to public debate. The implications of possible differences between nations in terms of sex role stereotyping in commercials are discussed.     

Sex stereotyping in children's toy advertisements

Forty-eight categories of toys were rated in terms of sex appropriateness by 48 students. A sample of 392 pictures of children with toys in 12 toy catalogs and 538 pictures of children with toys on toy packages in four retail stores was coded according to toy type and sex(es) of children shown. The rated sex stereotype of the toy category proved to be very strongly related to the sex(es) of the children shown with the toy in catalogs (r=.89) and on toy packages (r=.87). Toys rated as moderately sex typed by raters were just as strongly stereotyped in toy advertisements as those rated as strongly sex typed.An earlier version of the paper by Lori A. Schwartz received the Howard W. Odum for the outstanding undergraduate paper of 1983 from the Southern Sociological Society.     

Gender role stereotyping in children's literature: An update

The impact of gender role stereotyping in children's literature has been examined in numerous studies over the past two decades. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the sex bias portrayed in picture books is still as prevalent as in the past. In particular, we were interested in whether the frequency of males and females in pictures and their characterizations had changed. One hundred and fifty children's picture books were analyzed for gender role content. It was found that while the frequency of males and females depicted in the stories had indeed become more evenly distributed over the past 50 years, the roles played by males and females have changed in a more subtle way. Girls are now being pictured in more instrumental activities, but are as passive dependent as 50 years ago. Boys are occasionally shown as passive dependent today, but are no less instrumental than 50 years ago. The findings suggest that increased effort is needed on the part of publishers and authors to provide children with literature that more closely parallels the roles of males and females in contemporary society.Preparation of this article was supported in part by a Faculty Grant from Monmouth College awarded to the second author.     

Gender stereotyping in young children: Evidence to support a concept-learning approach

Two studies on early gender stereotyping based on a concept-learning approach were conducted. With the use of a forced choice format, study 1 found that both 2 1/2 and 3 1/2-year-old children showed significant and equal stereotyping of both gender-labeled infants and animals. These findings suggest both early learning and generalization of gender stereotypes. In study 2, although 5-year-olds stereotyped more strongly than 3-year-olds, both groups stereotyped others significantly more than themselves. When attributing traits to themselves, children chose the more socially desirable rather than the gender-traditional attributes. These findings are discussed in terms of the acquisition of gender stereotypes as a process distinct from the necessity for related self-schemas.The authors would like to express their appreciation to Pam Newman, Laurie MacGavin, Rebeccah Warren, Sheryl Wilson, Gail McCollum, and Cheryl Hessen for their invaluable assistance in running subjects for these studies.     

Gender displaying television commercials: A comparative study of television commercials in the 1950s and 1980s

Recent researchers have argued both that there has been change in the way gender is portrayed in television commercials and that gender images have remained stereotypical. Comparing television commercials from the 1950s/early 1960s to commercials from the 1980s, this study explores the issue of how much, if any, change has occurred in gender images. Additionally, the study focuses on the gender display of main characters and the circumstances under which it varies. Results indicate that there has been change in the images of women but not men. The activity that women are pictured in significantly changed from the 1950s to the 1980s, and a change in activity has the strongest effect on the display of gender.Partial funding for this research was provided by the Academic Senate of the University of California, Riverside. Statistical assistance was provided by Masako Ishii-Kuntz. Research assistance was provided by Kathryn Bigelow, Saralyn Caloff, and Eloy Zarate. We gratefully acknowledge the use of films housed at the UCLA Film and Television Archive. Our thanks to the anonymous reviewers atSex Roles for their helpful comments.     

Gender role stereotyping in Australian radio commercials

Most previous research into gender role stereotypes in the mass media has concentrated on television or print. Only one content analysis (Furnham & Schofield, 1986) has examined radio content, finding patterns of bias in British radio commercials consistent with, though less marked than, those in television commercials. The present study sought to determine whether similar patterns obtain in another Western country’s radio commercials collected approximately a decade later. Over 100 Australian radio ads were content analyzed, and results very similar to those of the earlier study were obtained. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for studies of gender role development and audience reactions to media content. We are grateful to Elyse Frankel and Jason Low for assistance in data coding and checking, and to two anonymous reviewers for constructive commentaries on an earlier version.     

The stereotyped portrayal of men and women in British television advertisements

This study examined the portrayal of men and women in a sample of British television commercials, attempting to replicate and extend past investigations done in America, Britain, Canada, and Italy. The aim was to update British research and to compare findings across cultures. One hundred and eighty daytime and evening commercials were content analyzed by two white raters, one male and the other female, to check reliability. The attributes of each of their central figures, who were over 90% white, were classified into 11 categories: Gender, mode of presentation, credibility, role, location, age, argument, reward type, product type, background, and end comment. The findings were that sex role television stereotyping in Britain was more or less constant across time, compared to studies done 5 and 10 years ago, but were weaker than in Italy and comparable to North America. The implications of such findings for the maintenance of sex roles are discussed.     

Sex-role stereotyping of nurses and physicians on prime-time television: A dichotomy of occupational portrayals

Utilizing the methodology of content analysis, this study investigates the sexrole variables in prime-time television portrayals of nurses and physicians from 1950 to 1980. A 20% sample of 28 relevant series yielded 320 individual episodes, 240 nurse characters, and 287 physicians characters. Results show extreme levels of both sexual and occupational stereotyping. Television nurses are 99% female, and television physicians are 95% male. The cluster of sex and occupational role characteristics, personality attributes, primary values, career orientation, professional competencies, and the tone of nurse-physician relationships converge to yield an image of the female professional nurse as totally dependent on and subservient to male physicians. The development of this dichotomous sex and occupational role imagery has resulted in male television physicians who not only have outstanding medical competencies but also embrace all the attractive competencies of professional nurses. Television nurses largely serve as window dressing on the set and have little opportunity to contribute to patient welfare. Action is needed to improve the quality of nurse portrayals by making them more congruent with the real world of work in health care.This study was supported by a research grant from the U.S. Public Health Service, Health Resources Administration (NU 00579).     

Violence and sex in television programs do not sell products in advertisements

Adults (N = 336) 18 to 54 years old watched a television program containing violence, sex, both violence and sex, or no violence and sex. Programs were shown in a comfortable room containing padded chairs and tasty snacks. Each program contained the same 12 ads. Embedding an ad in a program containing violence or sex reduced (a) viewers' likelihood of remembering the advertised brand, (b) their interest in buying that brand, and (c) their likelihood of selecting a coupon for that brand. These effects occurred for males and females of all ages, regardless of whether they liked programs containing violence and sex. These results show that violence and sex in television programs do not sell products in advertisements.     

Memory for television advertisements as a function of advertisement–programme congruity

An experiment tested memory for a beer advertisement (placed either at the beginning or the end of the centre advertisement break) within four programme contexts featuring beer drinking either before and after, before or after the centre break, or not at all. The relationship between subjective audience evaluation of the programme and memory for advertisements was also investigated. The sample consisted of students (N = 79) aged 17 to 26 years. Brand recognition of the beer advertisement was significantly related to programme content, showing memory for the advertisement being enhanced when relevant programme material followed the break. Congruent material shown before the centre break had the reverse effect of impairing memory for the advertisement. Increased levels of programme involvement were found to be associated with improved recall and recognition of embedded advertisements but higher rated ‘happiness’ of the programme was associated with poorer memory for advertisement content. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Gender stereotyping and decision processes: extending and reversing the gender bias in fame judgments

M. R. Banaji and A. G. Greenwald (1995) demonstrated a gender bias in fame judgments--that is, an increase in judged fame due to prior processing that was larger for male than for female names. They suggested that participants shift criteria between judging men and women, using the more liberal criterion for judging men. This "criterion-shift" account appeared problematic for a number of reasons. In this article, 3 experiments are reported that were designed to evaluate the criterion-shift account of the gender bias in the false-fame effect against a distribution-shift account. The results were consistent with the criterion-shift account, and they helped to define more precisely the situations in which people may be ready to shift their response criterion on an item-by-item basis. In addition, the results were incompatible with an interpretation of the criterion shift as an artifact of the experimental situation in the experiments reported by M. R. Banaji and A. G. Greenwald.     

Gender roles portrayed in Kenyan television commercials

A content analysis of 105 television advertisements aired on Kenya's television networks (KBC and KTN) during an 8-week period (July and August) was carried out. Commercials were coded according to the sex of the central character, spokesperson, the nature of products/services presented, setting, and occupation of the central character. There were no significant differences in the proportion of women and men serving as central characters in commercials. However, both men and women were depicted in traditional roles. Significant gender differences were apparent in relation to the products and services presented, preferred spokesperson, commercial settings, and occupational cues. Generally, the stereotyped nature of Kenyan commercials is consistent with findings obtained in developed countries. The results are discussed in relation to the prevailing cultural milieu.This article is based on a paper presented by the author at the 1992 Department of Educational Psychology National Seminar, Gender Issues in a Changing Society, Kenyatta University, Nairobi.     

Danish Ethical Demands and French Common Goods: Two Moral Philosophies

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The portrayal of men and women in television advertisements: An updated review of 30 studies published since 2000

Furnham, A. & Paltzer, S. (2010). The portrayal of men and women in television advertisements: An updated review of 30 studies published since 2000. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 51, 216–236. In 1999, Furnham and Mak published a review of 14 content‐analytic studies of sex roles stereotyping in television commercials. All these studies were based on the McArthur and Resko (1975) content categories. This paper updates that review considering 30 studies in over 20 countries published between 2000 and 2008. Studies were from Australasia, Austria, Bulgaria, Ghana, Hong Kong, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Malaysia, Mauritius, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. They examined over 8,000 advertisements. National and cultural differences in gender stereotypes are also considered in the light of this data. The popularity of, and the problems associated with, the research paradigm are considered.     

A multicultural study of stereotyping in English-speaking countries

Citizens of 9 different English-speaking countries (N = 619) evaluated the average, or typical, citizen of 5 English-speaking countries (Great Britain, Canada, Nigeria, United States, Australia) on 9 pairs of bipolar adjectives. Participants were drawn from Australia, Botswana, Canada, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, the United States, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. There were statistically significant similarities in the rankings of the 5 stimulus countries on 8 of the 9 adjective dimensions and a strong convergence of autostereotypes and heterostereotypes on many traits. The results relate to previous stereotyping research and traditional methods of assessing the accuracy of national stereotypes.     

Gender differences in visual attention to television form and content

Formal features (i.e., rapid action, dialogue, and animation) and content variables (i.e., violence, theme, and sex of characters) were analyzed as possible determinants of gender differences in children's television viewing. Two studies are reported. In Study 1, 5- and 7-year-old boys' and girls' visual attention was observed during four animated programs representing four combinations of high and low action with high and low violence. Boys' visual attention was greater than girls'. Attention was higher to high violence than to low violence. Boys' attention did not vary across treatments, but girls attended more to programs with low action than with high action. In Study 2, nine earlier laboratory studies, each with an independent sample, were subjected to a secondary analysis. The procedures were similar to Study 1; the samples ranged from 3 to 11 years old. Across experiments, boys attended significantly more than girls. The secondary analysis was designed to identify program form and content variables that might account for gender differences. Most content and form attributes failed to account for the pattern of gender differences in attention across or within studies. There was weak support for the notion that violent content and animation appeals more to boys than girls. Boys' greater visual attention was not associated with greater comprehension relative to girls'. It was proposed that girls focus more on the verbal auditory content of television, and boys focus more on the visual content.     

From Compassion to Obedience: Gender and Emotion in Two Danish Prayer Books

Drawing from recent scholarship on prayer, identity formation and the history and sociology of emotion, this article explores the intersection of gender and emotion in two Danish prayer books dating from before and after the Lutheran Reformation in 1536. It is argued that the introduction of Lutheranism in Denmark resulted in a more strictly gendered understanding of family prayer. In this, the social and emotional ideal of obedience to paternal authority came to eclipse the expression of compassion with the suffering Christ that was a characteristic feature of late-medieval prayer.     

Gender detransition: a case study

Within the last decade, there has been a sharp global rise in the number of young people identifying as transgender. More recently, there appears to be an increase in the numbers of young people detransitioning or returning to identifying with their natal sex after pursuing medical transition. A case is presented of a young woman who pursued a gender transition and returned to identifying as female after almost two years on testosterone. The author considers and critiques the affirmative model of care for gender dysphoric youth in light of this case.     

Gender Agreement in the Processing of Spoken French

The two experiments presented in this paper tested the effects of gender agreement on lexical decisions by presenting grammatically congruent and incongruent noun phrases in different context-target combinations. In the first experiment, a condition in which the target noun was directly preceded by a gender-marked determiner was contrasted with a condition in which an invariable adjective intervened between the determiner and the target. In the second experiment we compared the effects of gender marking in the latter condition with a condition in which both the determiner and the intervening adjective carried an overt gender mark. It was shown first, that lexical decision times to target nouns were longer for incongruent context-target combinations than for a congruent baseline condition. Second, the magnitude of the congruency effect was stronger when the target noun was preceded by a determiner plus an invariable adjective than by a determiner only. Third, the magnitude of the effect did not vary according to whether or not the intervening adjective carried a phonetically realized mark of gender. These results are discussed in terms of the automaticity of syntactic processes, and the crucial role of determiners in setting agreement features for the entire noun phrase when processing languages such as French.