On August 23, 2013, The New York Times published an op-ed piece, I Have A Character Issue, penned by actress Anna Gunn, wherein she responds to vitriolic criticisms of her portrayal of Skyler White on AMC’s criminal drama television series Breaking Bad. Centering around the story of Walter White, a chemistry teacher turned methamphetamine producer and seller, the series is noted by Guinness World Records as the most critically acclaimed television series of all time. While accolades of the show are fervent and widespread, so too are the vilifications of Anna Gunn’s Skyler White. Gunn plays the role of Walter White’s wife, initially unaware of her husband’s criminal behavior. Upon discovery of his illicit activities Skyler consistently and strongly opposes him. While recognizing her character’s opposition to the protagonist as, in a narrative sense, antagonistic, Gunn (2013) highlights that “at the end of the day, [Skyler] hasn’t been judged by the same set of standards as Walter” (para. 9).
Gunn attributes differing expectations of male and female characters in media as an explanation for the audience’s simultaneous exception to Skyler’s interloping and the acceptance of Walter’s morally objectionable behavior. She muses:
I finally realized that most people’s hatred of Skyler had little to do with me and a lot to do with their own perception of women and wives. Because Skyler didn’t conform to a comfortable ideal of the archetypical female, she had become a kind of Rorschach test for society, a measure of our attitudes toward gender. (Para. 13)
The actor’s assessment is the latest contribution in a long conversation on double standards that includes criticism of other iconic TV wives such as Carmela Soprano of The Sopranos and Mad Men’s Betty Draper (Gunn, 2013, para. 11).
The strong, adverse reaction towards female characters that subvert established archetypes is indicative of the limiting gender roles imposed on both women and men. In the study of human sexuality, gender is defined as the cultural and social attributes correlated with sex. While sex is determined biologically by genetic or anatomical characteristics, gender is a phenomenon rooted in culture related to masculinity and femininity. Additionally, a gender role is the behavior, rights, responsibilities, and attitudes that a culture associates with each sex. Gender roles are learned through socialization, and in the field of sexual research are studied increasingly from a social construction perspective. In addition to parents, peers, and teachers serving as socializing agents, media has a strong influence on established or glorifying gender norms. Inspiration for characters in media is drawn from cultural mores, and in turn, those cultural mores are taught or reinforced by media as representations of culture. In a digital age where media are readily accessible, an individual’s socialization and learning of gender roles is often through mass media. The portrayal of men and women in mass media perpetuates restrictive gender roles that are in opposition to changing attitudes towards the gender binary.
Journalism, Media Studies, and Communication
In addition to fictional characters, social construction theory approaches gender as behaviors and performances by way of language. It is often easier to recognize gender role stereotyping in fictional media, such as books, television, and cinema where characters exhibit demonstrative behaviors characteristic of specific gender norms. However, social construction theory suggests these gender establishments are also present in linguistic patterns of everyday speech. In Where Is the Gender in Gendered Language? Thomson, Murachver, and Green (2001) outline a pair of studies designed to examine the reaction and accommodation to gender-preferential language by male and female participants. The first experiment had participants correspond with two “netpals”, one employing male-preferential language and the other using female-preferential language. In Experiment 2, the two netpals had gender labels and language styles that were manipulated independently producing instances of preferential language patterns inconsistent with characteristic gender. In Experiment 1, both male and female respondents matched the language style of their netpal. Experiment 2 showed that this sort of language mirroring was affected by the disclosure of the netpal’s gender, but only in instances where the language style and gender were at odds. When the netpal’s preferential language conformed to their gender, accommodation was demonstrated by participants. Thomson, Murachver, and Green suggest participants maintain their own gender-preferential language as a signal of non-acceptance to perceived gender nonconformity (p. 174).
The study demonstrates that, unlike biological sex, gender categories are socially constructed and influenced by situation. The findings affirm the notion of gendered language that is easily discernable. The refusal, whether consciously or unconsciously, to accommodate gender-preferential style in instances of perceived gender nonconformity suggests that, even at a linguistic level, there exists a somewhat rigid set of gender norms.
Since gender roles are often learned or reinforced by media, wider representation of gender in media can have a large benefit on challenging restrictive social pressures. However, another study, “She” and “He” in New Media Messages: Pronoun Use Reflects Gender Biases in Semantic Contexts, suggests that media representation is largely skewed in favor of men. Sendén, Sikström, and Lindholm (2015) ran a latent semantic analysis (LSA) on 400,000 Reuters news messages published from 1996-1997 and compared the instances of pronouns “he” and “she”, as well as their contexts. Their findings showed the frequency of use of “he” to be 9 times that of “she” (p. 40). Additionally, usage of “she” included more gender-descriptive contexts and a higher degree of homogeneity indicating male representation as a norm in journalism. Regardless of reason, Sendén, Sikström, and Lindholm posit that this severe discrepancy in male and female representation in news has a significant impact on gender roles and whose voices are deemed important to the culture (p. 41). Furthermore, their findings on homogeneity of female descriptions aligns with studies on primetime television representation – fictional women were represented in family roles or in limited, traditional career roles while men had agency and freedom to portray various roles (Sendén, Sikström & Lindholm, 2015, p. 41).
An evaluation of gender attributes and representation through the scope of communication brings to light subtle aspects of every day interactions that establish and reinforce gender scripts and roles. Too rigid a construct of gendered language results in pressure to conform to expectations. Gender inequity in media representation normalizes men as the “default” and establishes women as ancillary. When women are represented, a larger degree of homogeneity in description limits women to specific stereotypes.
Education
Education is integral in the development of young children. In addition to learning academic material, school is often the first place that children learn to socialize with peers and adults outside of the family. It stands to reason that education contributes largely to the formation of culturally driven gender roles.
An often-discussed phenomenon related to education is the discrepancy in gender makeup in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). In The Elimination of Sexism and Stereotyping in Occupational Education, Sayman (2007) says a dearth of female scientists and mathematicians has been attributed to differences in socialization and interactions between teachers and male and female students as early as middle school (p. 20). Sayman adds that often female students are deprived of one-on-one communication with their teacher due to classroom disruptions by boys, and teachers “ignore the needs of girls in the classroom, but the needs of boys and the social constructs of why their behavior demanded attention was not recognized as problematic rather only stated as a natural occurrence” (2007, p. 21). This is another example of how rigid gender roles are detrimental for both sexes. Girls are deprived of academic attention, and boys are taught that disruptive and rowdy behavior is biologically innate.
The assertion of any cognitive propensity or proficiency as inherent to biology is a grossly oversimplified explanation that ignores a multitude of cultural and environmental factors in favor of inflexible and dichotomous gender stereotypes. In Complex Questions Rarely Have Simple Answers, Barnett (2007) urges that “Efforts to understand why there are more males than females in mathematically intensive STEM-based careers are unlike to be successful until we have a theoretically based understanding of the cognitive and other requirements that determine success in these careers” (p. ii). Barnett’s main driving principle is the problem of identifying causation in STEM gender discrepancy. Do brain differentiations cause men and women to demonstrate different abilities and interests? Or do culturally defined interests result in brain differences? Barnett stresses the significance of environment in math performance, as the gap between boys’ and girls’ math SAT scores has closed rapidly in the last 25 years (p. i). Additionally, math performance between boys and girls varies greatly across different countries.
Teachers serve as a significant socializing agent in the formation of gender roles and gender identity in children and adolescents. Preconceived notions of academic ability as attributed to biological predispositions only serve to perpetuate gendered professions and abilities.
Feminism and Gender Studies
Feminism is an academic and political mindset with the intent of challenging and overcoming discrimination and injustice on the basis of gender. Dorer and Hipfl, in Current perspectives and future challenges in feminism and media studies, explores battling gender inequality in three aspects of recognition, representation, and redistribution (2013, p. 307). Beginning in the mid-2000s, third wave feminism stresses the importance of discussing and evaluating media, which is recognized as a significant factor in shaping self-identity. While there now exists, a legislature preventing discrimination on the basis of gender, the social landscape of Western society still fosters systems of gender inequity.
Still more evidence for culturally driven gender roles can be seen in response to feminism, which challenges the gender binary. In The Subtleties of Blatant Sexism, Johnson (2007) highlights male agitation in response to female liberation that threatens established norms of masculine conduct (p. 178). Traditional male gender scripts include physical strength, aggression, raw sexuality, and agency. Gender nonconformity in men is seen as weakness. Additionally, women entering traditionally masculine spaces can be emasculating, and as a result, is met with aggressive response. Such strong responses are an indication that there exists significant social pressure to conform to gender roles.
Self Reflection
In the research and synthesis of this topic, I feel my perspective on gender stereotypes has been further solidified. Reading peer reviewed journal articles from various disciplines allowed me to identify how far-reaching and influential aspects of our culture and socialization are. One challenge I found in the writing process was creating a unified thesis that could then be effectively supported by synthesizing ideas from all three disciplines. Once I developed my thesis, the research became significantly easier. In the process of writing this paper, I feel I have learned to evaluate media with a more critical eye.
Conclusion
As society gravitates towards less restrictive ideals of gender roles, it is crucial that mass media provide a wide range of perspectives and narratives. Media is often an individual’s first exposure to new ideas and subcultures, and as such, should be as diverse as possible. The development of self-identity does not occur in a vacuum; each individual is at least somewhat a product of the culture into which they are socialized. When media provides society with a limited scope of what it means to be a man, or what it means to be a woman, then the pressure to conform to unrealistic gender stereotypes is greater. The notion that all aspects of an individual’s personality are biologically predetermined is an insult to the complexity of humankind.
References
Barnett, S. M. (2007, August). Complex questions rarely have simple answers. Psychological Science in the Public Interest (Wiley-Blackwell). pp. i-ii. doi:10.1111/j.1529-1006.2007.00031.x.
Dorer, J. , & Hipfl, B. (2013). Current perspectives and future challenges in feminism and media studies. International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics, 9(3), 305.
Gunn, Anna. (2013, August 23). I have a character issue. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/24/opinion/i-have-a-character-issue.html
Gustafsson Sendén, M., Sikström, S. , & Lindholm, T. (2015). “she” and “he” in news media messages: Pronoun use reflects gender biases in semantic contexts. Sex Roles, 72(1), 40-49.
Johnson, A. (2007). The subtleties of blatant sexism.Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, 4(2), 166-183.
Sayman, D. (2007). The elimination of sexism and stereotyping in occupational education. The Journal of Men’s Studies, 15(1), 19-30.
Thomson, R., Murachver, T., & Green, J. (2001). Where is the gender in gendered language? Psychological Science, 12(2), 171-175.
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