Men in the Media

Essay by JacobHomeworkHigh School, 10th gradeA, October 2014

download word file, 12 pages 0.0

Within the last two centuries, society has made a tremendous push for gender equality. Up until very recently, over half of the world's population had been relegated to a subservient role; the men - strong, brave, providers - dominated the women - delicate, naïve, caretakers. Even today in many of the underdeveloped nations of the world, women remain submissive. In Saudi Arabia, women may face death if they are caught driving, while in Afghanistan, the average woman has a life expectancy rate of only 45-years-old (The Femenist eZine). Outside of these select few third-world countries, however, women have slowly gained themselves complete political equality in addition to social equality from most everyone. Yet, many feminists still argue that women are not equal in the developed world. This fight for gender equality which has erupted over the past two centuries has become a fight for women's equality, inciting an unwarranted condemnation of men in the media.

The media have conveyed to the public many different inaccurate messages about the expectations of men in society. News and movies expect men to always provide for the family, dying for the women and children if need be. Commercials and sitcoms depict men as oblivious, less-than-human buffoons who seemingly cannot function without the sensible women. Television, movies, and even music have glorified violence to demonstrate their expectation that men must be strong and powerful, ignoring the fact that men and women alike have emotions. Today, men are the most frequent victims of the media misrepresentation epidemic. To begin, society expects men to always provide for their families, putting their lives before those of their partners or children, due to the media exploiting men as "disposable." Historically, gender inequality began during the very beginnings of civilization as a survival tactic. Without the technology or knowledge humans...