GROUP 5
GENDERED COMMUNICATION AND
GENDERED MEDIA
I. GENDERED ORGANIZATIONAL
COMMUNICATION
A. GENDERED STEREOTYPE IN THE
WORKPLACE
Workers are perceived and treated by
the influence of social expectations
attached to sex and gender. It is
because people are often not aware of
using stereotypes to view others, they
do not notice, much less question, the
stereotypes.
1. STEREOTYPES OF WOMEN
Women in the workforce are often
viewed in terms of the four stereotypes,
each of which is deeply gendered: Sex
object, Mother, Child, and Iron Maiden.
(Kanter, 1997; Wood & Conrad, !983).
Sex Object
Thought of in terms of sexuality. This
assumes women’s value is defined by
their sexual attractiveness. This leads to
perceiving women workers based on
their appearance rather than their
qualifications and job performance. e.g.,
Hooters, Victoria Secret, and
Abercrombie & Fitch.
Federal law forbids discrimination based
on sex, race, national origin, age,
disability, and religion. Some qualities
are considered bona fide occupational
requirements.
Mother
Women are expected to take care of
emotional labor and often given pink
collar positions, e.g., secretaries,
assistants, clerks, and other jobs that,
like those of mothers’ support and care
for others.
Child
“Protecting “Women from “dangerous or
challenging jobs” that involve more labor
and higher pay, etc. Excludes them from
experiences required for promotion and
raises, as well as from the personal
development that comes with new
challenges.
Iron Maiden
Women who are independent, ambitious,
directive, competitive, and tough may be seen
as “iron maidens.” They are regarded as
competent because they get the job done but
unlikable because they are not sufficiently
feminine.
2. STEREOTYPES OF MEN
Men are also stereotyped in ways that reflect
cultural views of masculinity which affects how
men are perceived and treated. Three
stereotypes of men are particularly prevalent in
organizations: sturdy oak, fighter, and
breadwinner.
Sturdy Oak
Self-sufficient pillar of strength that is never
weak or reliant on others. Individual who
believes in independence.
Fighter
Superman-like warriors, aggressive, and
competitive individuals who put work in front of
others.
Breadwinner
Within organizations, stereotyping men as
breadwinners has been used to justify paying
them more than women. Those who identify
with power and earning money.
3. NONBINARY GENDER IN
ORGANIZATIONS
Similarly, with women and men, lesbian, gay
bisexual, and trans workers are often met with
hostility for challenging gender in the workplace,
and they may have fewer legal protections.
There are no consistent federal protections for
sexual orientation and gender identity and
expression. Thus, it remains legal in many
places to discriminate against LGBTQ people in
employment, eligibility for public services,
education, credit, and housing (Human Rights
Campaign Foundation, 2017).
In organizational setting, LGBTQ people are
subject to mistreatment and discrimination
without legal recourse. Narrow gender
stereotypes limit the potential of all workers and
the possibilities for robust and humane
professional lives.
 B. MASCULINE NORMS IN
PROFESSIONAL LIFE
Masculine norms fill the workplace. We may be
unaware of it but men originally designed the
workplace therefore men shape the
expectations and conduct in the workplace.
families and earning income. The
lack of institutional support also
influences some workers’ career
choices. Some workers are
dropping out of careers that do
not provide support for families
(Easton, 2015; Lien, 2015; van
Ogtrop, 2015).

Work Schedules
Traditionally Masculine Images of Leaders Rigid work schedules are
The skills required to manage and lead are another reflection of outdated
widely associated with communication skills that career models that assumed
are cultivated more in masculine speech men were breadwinners and
communities than in feminine ones. women were at home taking care
of families.
In general, men tend to find having authority to Women are more likely
be intrinsically rewarding, whereas women are than men to take time off to care
more likely to find authority rewarding if it is for children, a pattern that
coupled with having influence. reflects and reinforces gendered
assumptions that women put
All of us can develop communication skills families first and men put careers
when we find ourselves in positions that require first.
abilities not emphasized in our early
socializations.
Informal Practices
Unwelcoming Environments
In some organizations,
Traditionally Masculine Norms for Career language and behaviour that
Paths emphasize men’s experiences
Most professionals during the previous eras and interests are normative.
were mostly men who had stay-at-home wives Consider the gendered nature
to care for the home and children. of many terms taken from
sports, sexuality or sex organs
Organizations with the best chance of thriving in and the military. Intentional or
the future will adapt to the realities of not, language related to sports,
contemporary workers and their families. sexuality, and the military binds
men into a masculine
Many mothers encounter employers who prefer community in which some
to hire women who are not mothers. women and LGBTQ people feel
unwelcome.

C. GENDERED PATTERNS IN The Informal Network

ORGANIZATIONS
Formal Practices
Leave Policies
In 1993, the Family and
Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was
passed so that U.S. employees
could take up to 12 weeks of
unpaid leave to care for new
babies or sick family members.
In 2010, President Obama
announced family leave was
extended to workers in more
than 50 million Americans have
taken family leave.
The lack of paid family
leave forces many workers to
choose between taking care of
Coworker relationships give one
a sense of belonging and give
one access to crucial information
that might not be available
through formal channels. Since
most workplaces were first
established by men, many
informal networks were
developed primarily or entirely by
men, giving rise to the term "old
boy network." Within these
networks, decisions regarding
hiring and promotion are
frequently made informally.
Mentoring Relationships
A mentor is an
experienced person who guides
 the development of a less-
experienced person. A mentor is
at least helpful, and sometimes
indispensable, to career
advancement.
In an effort to
compensate for the lack of
networks and mentors available
in existing organizations, some
professional women have formed
their own networks, in which
women share ideas, contacts,
strategies for advancement, and
information. In addition to
furnishing information, these
networks provide women with
support and a sense of
belonging with other
professionals like themselves. As
men and women become
accustomed to interacting as
colleagues, they may become
more comfortable mentoring one
another and forming sex
integrated communication
networks.
Workplace bullying,
which involves repeatedly acting
toward a person or people in a
way that undermines the target's
professional credibility, is
another difficulty in professional
settings
-(Einarsen, Hoel, Zapf, &
Cooper, 2010; Fox &
Lituchy,2012).
Glass Ceilings and Walls
Glass ceiling is an
invisible barrier that limits the
advancement of women and
minorities. The term glass walls
is a metaphor for sex
segregation on the job, in which
women are placed in “pink collar”
positions that require skills
traditionally associated with
women.
D. EFFORTS TO REDRESS GENDERED
INEQUITY IN INTITUTIONS
Five efforts to reduce discrimination in schools
and the workforce are equal opportunity laws,
affirmative action policies, quotas, goals, and
diversity training.
1. Equal Opportunity Laws
- focus on discrimination against
individuals.
- does not ask whether a group
(e.g., women, Latinas, and gays) is
underrepresented or is treated inequitably.
- focus on present practices, so historical
patterns of discrimination are irrelevant.
2. Affirmative Action Policies
- based on three key ideas.
• First, because discrimination has
systematically restricted the
opportunities of groups of people,
remedies must apply to entire groups,
not just to individuals.
• Second, to compensate for the legacy
of discrimination, there must be
preferential treatment of qualified
members of groups that have suffered
discrimination.
• Third, the effectiveness of remedies is
judged by results, not intent.
- Attempts to compensate for the effects of
a history of bias by giving preference to
members of groups who are qualified despite
discrimination.
3. Quotas
- Most controversial effort to redress
discrimination is quotas.
- specifies a number or percentage of some
group that must be admitted, hired, or
promoted.
4. Goals
- A stated intention to achieve
representation of minorities or women.
- Ironically, both quotas and goals can work
against women and minorities.
- When goals or quotas are in effect,
members of institutions may assume that
women and minorities got in only because of
their sex or race.
5. Diversity Training
- Aims to increase awareness of and
respect for differences that arise from distinct
standpoints shaped by a range of factors
including race, economic circumstances,
ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity,
and religion.
- An important limitation of diversity training
is that it requires strong personal commitment
from participants.

II. GENDERED MEDIA
A. MEDIA SATURATION OF
CULTURAL LIFE
We are the most media-saturated and media-
engaged people in history. Mass media are
pervasive. Currently 99% of U.S. households
have at least one TV and 65% have three or
more (Television Watching Statistics, 2016).
The average U.S. citizen watches more than
five hours of television a day, and children
spend more time watching television than
attending school (Television Watching
Statistics, 2016). While walking, driving, or
biking, we stream music or podcasts and take in
an endless procession of billboards that
advertise various products, services, and
companies. Social media take up more of our
time than mass media. Most of us use social
media to connect with others, organize in our
communities, and find out what’s happening in
the world. In addition, many of us become
producers of media as we create blogs,
podcasts, and videos to post on sites such as
YouTube.
B. MEDIA IMPACTS
Like Cece, many people believe others are
affected by media but they are immune to
media’s influences. In fact, that belief is so
prevalent that it has a name: third person effect,
which is the belief that media affect others more
than they affect us (Davison, 1983). However,
research shows that most of us are not immune
to influence from mass and social media
(Douglas, 2010a, b). In this section, we’ll
discuss three ways that media are related to
gendered attitudes and behaviors: (1) media set
the agenda, (2) media regulate images of
gender, and (3) media motivate us to consume.
Set the Agenda
A primary impact of media is agenda setting,
the process by which media tell us what we
should attend to. Mass media and some web-
based media have the ability to direct public
attention to particular issues, events, and
people (Vivian, 2011). In setting the agenda,
media may not tell us what to think, but they tell
us what to think about—which issues, events,
and people merit our attention; and which
aspects of people and events are most
important. Issues on the front page of the
newspaper appear most important; a hashtag or
video that goes viral seems more consequential
than one that does not
The term gatekeeper refers to people and
groups that control which messages get through
to audiences of mass media. Gatekeepers
include editors, owners, bloggers, producers,
and advertisers. The gatekeepers for
newspapers and news programs shape our
perceptions by deciding which issues to
spotlight, which points of view get a hearing,
and how to depict women, men, people of
diverse sexual orientations and gender
identities.
Regulate Images of Gender
Acting as gatekeepers, media regulate the
images of gender that reach us. In turn, this can
affect our views of what women, men, and
gender nonconforming people are supposed to
be, feel, think, and do. Media underrepresent
women as well as people of color and LGBTQ
people, and they portray all genders primarily in
stereotypical ways that reflect and reproduce
conventional views.
Underrepresent Women, Minorities, and
LGBTQ People
Although we are increasingly demographically
diverse and women outnumber men, media
overrepresent cisgender heterosexual white
men, particularly as substantive characters.
These issues are compounded by race for
women of color, as media also underrepresent
and often negatively portray minorities. Films
also give scant representation of people who
are not straight and cisgender.
Portray Men Stereotypically
The majority of men on prime-time television
are independent, strong, aggressive, and in
charge and other extreme stereotypes of
masculinity: like tough, independent, confident,
totally in control of all emotions, and—above
all—in no way feminine. Equally interesting is
how men are not typically portrayed. The most
obvious deficiency is the scarcity of nonwhite
men and nonwhite versions of masculinity, a
phenomenon that enforces white, cisgender,
straight masculinity as the norm. Also, men are
seldom shown nurturing others or doing
housework. Media have done little to reflect
men’s increasing involvement in home life and
child care. As important as alternative images of
men are, they are exceptions in mass media.
Version of masculinity that predominates in
films and music features “social control and
domination by force, a power orientation, and
physical strength and determination as the
means to achieve social status and prestige”
Portray Women Stereotypically Media
continue to portray girls and women primarily in
ways consistent with traditional stereotypes.
Media show female characters shopping,
grooming, being emotional, talking about and
flirting with men, being sexual, and engaging in
domestic activities. The most traditional
stereotype of woman is sex object and that
continues to dominate media portrayals of
women and, increasingly, young girls.
Gendered Images in Advertising The
gendered stereotypes we’ve discussed appear
not only in films, games, and programs but also
in advertising. For several reasons,
advertising’s influence on our views of gender
may be even more powerful than that of
programmed media content. First,
advertisements on TV, in magazines, on
billboards, online, and so forth are repetitive, so
we are constantly exposed to them. Second,
most ads emphasize visual images, which we
tend to analyze less critically than verbal claims.
Third, advertising can affect us significantly
because we mistakenly think we’re immune to
it. Research suggests ads do affect what we
purchase and what we consider attractive,
desirable, feminine, and masculine.
Motivate Us to Consume
Media encourage us to consume. In fact, some
media analysts say that the primary purpose of
media is to convince us we need to buy more
products and spend, spend, spend. Media
encourage us to think that that buying whatever
is advertised will make us happier, more
attractive, and more successful. Advertising
plays on these insecurities by associating
certain products and procedures with happiness
and success. It’s understandable to wish we
weighed a little more or less, had better-
developed muscles, and never had pimples.
What is not reasonable is to regard healthy
bodies as unacceptable or defective. This,
however, is precisely the perception that
predominant media portrayals of women and
men cultivate.
C. GENDER AND SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media are seamlessly woven into
our lives. We rely on them for everything from
checking the weather to shopping to playing
games and staying in touch with friends.
There are some important and unique
intersections between social media and gender.
In this section, we’ll discuss four distinct
functions of social media that are related to
gendered attitudes, identities, and activism. We
use social media to (1) to network, (2) learn and
share information, (3) hold others accountable,
and (4) engage in activism (Cox & Pezzullo,
2016).
4 Distinct Functions of Social Media
1. Social Networking
One of the most popular uses of social
media is networking. Girls, women, and
LGBTQ individuals are more inclined than
heterosexual, cisgender boys and men to
regard the online environment as a resource for
creating and enriching relationships. Boys and
men are more likely to verbally express support
in online communication than in face-to-face
communication (High & Soloman, 2014).
Social networking technologies have also
been adapted by LGBTQ and gender non-
conforming people in ways that reflect their
experiences. Research demonstrates that
LGBTQ-identified youth use social networking
for identity exploration and formation, locating
LGBTQ-positive resources, navigating the
process of coming out to family and friends, and
building friendships and community with other
LGBTQ people (Craig & McInroy, 2014; Fox &
Ralston, 2016).
Social networks can be—and too often
are—used for cyberbullying, which includes
text messages, comments, rumors,
embarrassing pictures, videos, and fake profiles
that are meant to hurt another person and are
circulated through email or social media.
Cyberbullying differs from face-to-face bullying
in two keyways. First, it can be and often is
perpetrated anonymously. Through fake
accounts and other online maneuvers, an
individual can post horribly hurtful messages
and photos without ever being accountable for
her or his actions. Second, cyberbullying has
no geographic boundaries which can follow
the victim anytime and anywhere.
2. Learning and Sharing Information
The digital world has boundless sources of
news and information about gender issues. For
instance, strong interest in gender issues led
online newspaper Huffington Post to create
sections devoted to news for women
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/section/women)
and LGBTQ communities
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/section/queer-
voices).
Providing information about gender issues is
not restricted to big organizations and high-
profile reporters. Social media allow ordinary
individuals to document what’s happening in
their communities and broadcast those reports
(Cox & Pezzullo, 2016).
3. Holding Others Accountable
Mass media have historically been voices
against corrupt, immoral, or harmful actions by
powerful interests. The long-airing Sixty Minutes
television show often exposed corporate and
political misconduct as have courageous
journalists throughout history. Social media
have emerged as vital forces in holding
corporations and other powerful interests
accountable for sexism and gendered violence.
4. Activism
Activism is the practice of taking direct
action to achieve political or social goals.
Activist is the person advocates or practices
activism.
Social communities are fertile ground for
cultivating activism. Social media are ideal
platforms for activism, allowing for community
organizing that is nimble and almost
immediately responsive.
Overall, social media allow us to
communicate in multiple ways that are related
to gendered attitudes, identities, and activism.
We use social media to network, learn and
share information, hold others accountable, and
engage in activism.
D. CONSEQUENCES OF GENDERED
MEDIA
The images and messages that media
advance is not innocent; they have
consequences.
Normalize Unrealistic Standards
Media's unrealistic images of men, women,
and relationships encourage us to see
ourselves as inadequate. Even celebrities
don't really look like they appear in magazines
and on-screen. Media efforts to pathologize
natural bodies can be very dangerous. The
emphasis on excessive thinness contributes to
severe and potentially lethal dieting and eating
disorders. Nonetheless, most of the top female
models are skeletal. Seeing anorexic models as
the ideal motivates many women and girls to
diet excessively in an effort to force their bodies
to fit a socially constructed ideal that is
unrealistic and unhealthy.
The selfie culture invites online evaluations
of appearance and also encourages people
to view themselves as objects for others'
evaluation. As people post photos of
themselves, others respond, sometimes very
judgmentally. In her study of how teenage girls
use social media, Nancy Jo Sales reported an
example of a girl who posted photos of herself
in casual clothes and received few likes from
others. She then posted photos of herself that
were more revealing and sexy and got more
likes. Our students report that photo apps that
feature filters and other editing options often
invite harsh peer criticism of appearance,
especially for girls and young women, many of
whom respond by carefully editing their photos
before posting them.
The abundance and availability of
pornography create unrealistic standards
for sexual partners and sexual activity. A
growing number of men are reporting that they
can't have sex or have difficulty having sex with
women they find sexy because they have
watched so much porn that they can't respond
to "normal" women and sex. Some doctors
have labeled this problem PIED), porn-induced
erectile dysfunction. Gabe Deem watched a lot
of porn as a young boy and adolescent. He
reports. "I got with a gorgeous girl and we went
to have sex and my body had no response at
all". After determining that his problem was
what he calls porn addiction, Gabe started
Reboot Nation, which is an online video channel
that provides support and advice to people
experiencing PIED.
For girls and women, mainstream
pornography poses a different problem.
Many girls watch pornography out of curiosity or
interest or to learn how sex occurs. Because a
majority of porn includes some aggression
toward women who often respond pleasurably,
young girls may learn that this is how sex
happens. They also see porn actors writhing
and moaning and responding very actively to
sex. A girl in her senior year of high school
explains that "I'll be hooking up with some guy
who's really hot, then things get heavier and all
of a sudden my mind shifts and I'm not a real
person: it's like. In other words, their sense of
their own female sexuality is obscured by an
effort to perform sexuality in ways that please
men. Feminists have long debated whether a
feminist alternative to mainstream pornography
is possible. Although many do not think so,
some feminists argue that making sexually
explicit. material "more politically progressive for
those who consume it and making [filming] sets
safer for performers are critical issues for
feminist intervention".
You might think that we know the difference
between fantasy and reality, and we don't
use media images as models for our own
lives. Research, however, suggests that the
unrealistic ideals in popular media do influence
how many of us feel about ourselves.
Normalize Violence against Women
Gendered violence is so pervasive. Although it
would be naïve to claim that media cause
violence, some studies have linked exposure to
violent media with aggression, violence, and
antisocial behavior. Studies he also shown
that men who watch music videos and pro
wrestling are more likely to believe that
forcing a partner to have sex is sometimes
okay. When we continually see violence in
media, we may come to view it as a normal and
increasingly acceptable as part of ordinary life.
Video games push the envelope of mediated
violence because they invite players not just
to watch violence (as with films and TV) but to
engage virtually in violence, including violence
against women. Male characters outnumber
female ones in video games and female
characters are frequently sex objects. When a
website published instructions for unlocking the
scene, the video's rating went immediately from
M (Mature) to AO (Adults Only)-but not before
more than six million copies had been sold. In
addition, gaming culture sometimes
promotes psychological violence. At the
2012 Cross Assault video game tournament,
competitive gamer and contestant Miranda
Pakozdi was asked, on camera, what size bra
she wore and told to take off her shirt. She
finally forfeited when she overheard a man at
the tournament say that sexual harassment is
part of the community of fight game