Sunday, December 9, 2012

Final Draft Paper #2


December 9th 2012

Dear Parents and Future Parents,

The media has an extraordinary and often understated influence in the life and ideals of a modern citizen. In recent decades, the primary source of proper social norms and conduct outside someone’s family has been from the various forms of mass media. Because of this, the characters portrayed and discussed in television shows, commercials, and written media have played a large factor in acting as a reference point for gender roles in our society. The media’s traditional version of men and women has been clearly defined, with male characters portrayed as the providers of financial stability, and females as the master of a stable home life that caters to the needs of their husbands and children.  Times have changed, however, and gender roles have begun to blur and homogenize in a way that mass media has yet to mirror.  More and more men are choosing the life of homemakers, and women are becoming full time career-holders. With the many decades of the worn out message “women belong in the kitchen, men belong in the office” engrained into the minds of the American public, these stereotypes are hard to break but not impossible overcome, with the influence of equally evolving mass media. The American way of life is changing, and both the media and American public need to change with it, so that anyone who wants to take on the role of homemaker can do so and be proud of that role, regardless of his or her gender.

All too often, television commercials depict a woman in cleaning the house, making the meals, rearing the children, and fulfilling other stereotypical responsibilities of an older female, but how often do you see a man take on that position with ease in the media? The answer is rarely, if ever. In the past, the American media has portrayed men in homemaking positions as buffoons unable to manage the simplest homemaking tasks such as making a lunch or using a vacuum. For example, in the 1993 film Mrs. Doubtfire, 20th Century Fox displays Robin Williams in female clothes performing the work of a traditionally female housemaid. In his first attempt in the kitchen, he lights himself ablaze while trying to cook a dinner for his children. Even though the premise is slightly absurd, this film instills an underlying assumption that men, even when they’re dressed as women, should not be in the kitchen because they are incompetent at such tasks and likely risk burning the kitchen down. There have been many major film productions that have taken part in poking fun at the male homemaker, such as the 1987 film Three Men and a Baby, where, as the title suggests, three men take on the supposedly inconceivable and overwhelming task of attempting to raise a baby without the help of a woman.  These tasks are similarly difficult even with men in nuclear families, like Michael Keaton’s character in the 1983 film Mr. Mom. In the film, Keaton cannot manage traditionally female responsibilities without the help of his female companion. Male figures in the media are made out to be inherently incompetent and comical instead of capable homemakers and fathers.

These film examples are decades old, and America has begun to see a shift in the male homemaking positions portrayed in the general media, and especially in children’s shows such as Johnny Test on Cartoon Network, which portrays a father figure as a competent homemaker, alongside a full time working mother figure.  The comedic stories in Johnny Test do not mock the father figure staying home or acting incompetently, and instead focus on the everyday foibles of family life. However, on the same channel, viewers can watch the antics of father figure in a show called The Amazing World of Gumball. While the father in this show is accompanied by a full time working mother figure, he repeatedly acts incompetently and at times quite unintelligently performing his duties at home. Although young American viewers growing up now are beginning to see more instances of the male figure portrayed as caretaker in the home, these characters are still often portrayed, at best, as barely competent. While Johnny Test is a good example of portraying a male homemaking figure without using that concept as a source of comedy, in order for these types of TV shows to make a true difference to the growing generations of young Americans, these competent male figures must be norm and not the exception, with networks such Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon ensuring that both genders are portrayed as reasonable caretakers in the home. 

During the last decade, the number of stay-at-home dads in the United States has doubled.  In the year 2000, the amount of male homemakers was estimated to be around 94,000. According to the Census Bureau’s website, since 2010, the number of stay-at-home dads has gone from 154,000 dads in 2010 to 176,000 in 2011.  That increase of 22,000 in just one year alone is impressive, and should be acknowledged more in the media as a sign that gender roles are rapidly shifting. Many of the major media sites attribute this rise in “Mr. Moms” to the economic downturn of 2008, believing that the lack of jobs in the male dominated fields has lead for more women to take action and go out into the working world, with fathers left to stay at home.  This has been discounted by research done by Boston College’s Brad Harington, who told the Fox News channel in an interview in June 2012, “The hype around stay-at-home dads is due to the ‘man-cession’ but the census data shows that during the economic downturn the numbers were down. Though Harington discredits the statistical probability that this change was due to the recession, many continue to believe that men are staying home more only because they have lost their place in the workforce. The dissonance between the number of actual fathers that stay at home and the proportion portrayed as staying at home in the media is staggering. Not only does the media typically portray traditional and outdated imagery that inherently discourages the modern evolution of gender roles, but there is a danger that if child sees a family in a show or cartoon that doesn’t represent their family configuration, he or she might feel ostracized. Ultimately the media should work to remedy this inconsistency by offering a more common sight of male homemakers in various mediums.  

The man’s place in the office is a common sight in media, as well his place in construction work, as a doctor, as an engineer, and in many other jobs we as Americans often associate with men. This imagery of traditionally male-dominated careers, like the imagery of the women-dominated home, is outdated and deceiving. With the rise in men in the home has come the rise of women in the workplace. While the number of stay-at-home moms is still in the millions (5.02 million to be precise), this number is shifting, slowly but surely. With the societal acceptance of women working in high ranking and male-dominated positions, this is a chance for moms, and women in general, to help pave the way of acceptance of changing gender roles, alongside efforts of a changing media. Women have a long history of fighting for equality amongst the elite in our patriarchal society, and with this fight the “extreme feminists” have caused a riff in the system, calling for equality by pointing blame, and placing stereotypes of their own. To create equality, society must ensure that all involved are treated equally, and understand that people do not gain rights and equality by stripping someone else of theirs. The degree to which women’s rights groups have gone to offset the image of women depicted in the media is impressive, but in that same effort, what has been done to protect the image of fathers? To gain the gender equality in the media, it must be sought for both sides, and for the same reasons that are used to replace previously-instilled concept – the stay-at-home father must be defended just as much as the working mother. 

In addition to movies and TV shows, the American public is constantly bombarded with mom-focused product slogans. A common commercial the American public has been exposed to since 1978 is General Mills’ commercial for their cereal Kix, which coins that they are “kid tested and mother approved”. This slogan, among many, is directed to the approval of mothers for consumption, but completely ignores the opinion the father. Another well-known and recent catchphrase is the famous P&G tag that ran during the Olympics, stating that P&G is the “proud sponsor of moms”. This implies that Olympic athletes are accomplished due to the encouragement and hard work of their mothers, saying nothing of the father’s role. It is clear that many companies cater their messages to mothers to sell their products, but very few include the father figure, which may be a lost source of revenue from the growing population of stay-at-home fathers who are the primary caretakers and decision-makers for their children. Fortunately, not all companies have ignored the changing roles of fathers.  Jif, a company that produces peanut butter, has used the famous tagline “choosy moms choose Jif”, since the 1990’s, but recently has started using the newer line “choosy moms and dads choose Jif”. This is an example of the forward moving thought process that many companies should make, but much like cartoons and movies, the American public doesn’t see this as much in media as it should.

Single mothers have already begun to change the perception of family in the United States, and it is becoming more common and accepted for fathers to raise children on their own. Society no longer treats these single parent families as taboo or a derided concept. Having grown up in a single mother household full of women, my image of the ideal father did not come from my own family. I didn’t have a male figure in my life to base my understanding on, so I went to the next available source: the media. Fathers in the media I watched and read were usually these passing figures in cartoons - behind newspapers, in front of televisions and grills, usually in business attire with out a homemaking care in the world.  In fact, most of the father or male figures I remember from my childhood were animals in Disney films, which are characters that don’t give much of a real impression of the world at all. Although Timon and Pumba were great caretakers, they weren’t an accurate depiction of what a man’s role should be, or what it could be. Children often learn by listening and watching examples of what they should do in TV shows or movies, and although I knew and saw my father, I had the sneaking suspicion he didn’t quite live up to my impression of the father figures of the Serengeti. It may seem like a funny situation, but many children’s families aren’t represented in the media, and they may feel left out, or fell as if their families are atypical. This is where the media can make huge stride, by including the male figure in many different roles including homemaking and as single fathers.

Compassionate male figures taking homemaking and caretaking positions are an important image for children and Americans to be exposed to on a regular basis. If the media takes the important steps to show a wider range of possibilities for men in the home, then current and future generations of children and adults alike will be exposed and ultimately accustomed to the shifting gender roles in the country. In the media, women have forever held the reigns when it comes to keeping a house, and it’s time to let go and allow the new cowboys of the kitchen to take hold, because when America abolishes one stereotype it can abolish them all, one step at a time. This change in the media will drive the continued equalization of genders throughout the rest of society, and ultimately speed up the pace of this societal change by broadcasting to the entire country our new ideals, leaving behind outdated traditions and ignorant biases.


Sincerely,
A lover of media and equal rights
Krista S.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Revised Rough Draft Paper #2


December 4th 2012
Dear Parents and Future Parents,
            The media is an extraordinary influence in the modern person’s life. For decades the main source for identifying the proper social conduct outside someone’s family has been the media. Television shows, commercials, and written media have played a large factor in determining how one should conduct themselves in society based upon ones gender. The media’s version of men and women has been pretty straightforward in the sense that women had their jobs and men had theirs. Men have always been the providers of financial stability, and a woman job is traditionally to provide a stable home life for their husbands and children, but now times are changing and men and women must again look to the media to lead the way to establish a new world order to the masses. More and more men are choosing the life of homemakers, and women are becoming full time career holders. With the many decades of “women belong in the kitchen; men belong in the office” being pounded into the minds of the American public it’s going to be a hard stereotype to break, but with influence of the media it’s possible. The American way of life is changing, and the media and American people need to change with it encouraging anyone who wants to take on the role of homemaker to do so, and to be proud of that role regardless of gender.
            All too often television depicts a woman in a commercial cleaning the house, making the meals, rearing the children, and in general doing what a woman is supposed to be doing, stereotypically speaking, but how often do you see a man take on that position with ease in the media? A short answer to that question is rarely. In the past the American media has portrayed men in homemaking positions as buffoons unable to manage the simplest homemaking tasks like making a lunch or using a vacuum. For example, in the 1993 film Mrs. Doubtfire, 20th Century Fox displays a man doing women’s work through Robin Williams in drag, and in his first attempt in the kitchen his lights himself ablaze while trying to cook a dinner for his children. Even though the premise is slightly absurd the belief still rests behind the fact that men, even when they’re dressed as women, should not be in the kitchen because they’ll burn the place down. There have been many major production studios that have taken part in poking fun at the male homemaker such as, the 1987 film Three Men and a Baby where, as the title suggests three men take on the inconceivable task of trying to raise a baby without the help of a woman.  Even when there are men in nuclear families like Michael Keaton in the 1983 film Mr. Mom the man can not manage at first without the help of his female companion. Male figures in the media are made out to be incompetent and comical instead of capable homemakers and fathers.
These film examples are decades old, and America has begun to see a shift in the male homemaking positions in the media like Johnny Test a Cartoon network show that presents a competent father figure as a homemaker, and a full time working mother figure. Johnny Test doesn’t make fun of the father figure for staying home, and the comedy is based more in the everyday foibles of family life versus the father directly. However in the same instance, and on the same channel, viewers can watch a cartoon show with an incompetent father figure in a show called The Amazing World of Gumball where a fulltime working mother figure is also shown, but the father figure is incompetent and at times quite unintelligent. Although the American viewer and children growing up in this era are beginning to see more of the male figure in the home whether or not they are capable of their duties isn’t clear. Johnny Test does a good job of creating a male homemaking figure and not dwelling on the fact that there is a stay at home father as if it’s comedic, but to make a true difference many more shows need to follow suit in making it acceptable for a man to stay home.
            During the last decade the amount of stay-at-home dads in the United States has doubled.  In the year 2000 the amount of male homemakers was estimated to be around 94,000. According to the Census Bureau’s website since 2010 the number of stay-at-home dads has gone from 154,000 dads in 2010 to 176,000 in 2011 that 22,000 in just one year that amount alone is impressive, and should be acknowledged more in the media. Many of the major media sites attribute this rise in “Mr. Moms” to the economic downturn of 2008 believing that the lack of jobs in the male dominated fields has lead for more women to take action and go out into the working world, and for dads to stay at home.  This has been discounted by a research done by Boston College Brad Harington of the college tells the Fox News channel in an interview in June 2012 that, “The hype around stay-at-home dads is due to the ‘man-cession’ but the census data shows that during the economic downturn the numbers were down.Though Harington discredits the statistical probability that it was due to the recession many believe things like men in the home are only because they have lost their place in the workforce. The amount of fathers that are at home versus those that are represented in the media is staggering, and if a child sees a family in the cartoons that doesn’t represent their family configuration that child might feel ostracized, and the media should work to remedy that by offering a more common sight of male homemakers.
            The mans place in the office is often shown in the media, as well as the construction jobs, doctors, engineers, and many other jobs we as Americans often associate with men, but the other side of rise in men in the home is the rise of women in the workplace. While there has been a rise in the amount of men staying at home the number of stay at home moms is still in the millions, 5,020,000 million to be precise. The amount is shifting though slowly but surely. With societal minds opening up for women to work in high ranking positions, and positions more attributed to men this is a chance for Moms and women in general to help pave the way along with media. Women have long sense been fighting for equality amongst the elite in our patriarchal society, and with this fight the “extreme feminists” have caused a riff in the system calling for equality by pointing blame, and placing stereotypes of their own. To create equality people must insure that all involved are equal because people do not gain rights and equality by stripping someone else of theirs. The degree to which women’s rights groups have gone to offset the image of women depicted in the media is impressive, but in that same stride what has been done to protect the image of fathers? To gain the equality in the media that people seek it must be sought for both sides, and for the same reasons to replace a previously instilled image.
In addition to movies and TV shows the American public is constantly bombarded with mother focused slogans. A common commercial the American public has been hearing since 1978 is General Mills’ commercial for their cereal Kix, which coins that they are “kid tested and mother approved”. This slogan, among many is directed to the approval of mothers for consumption, but completely leave out the father. Another well-known catch phrase more recently used is the famous P&G tag that ran during the Olympics that states, “P&G the proud sponsors of moms” because Olympic athletes don’t have fathers right? So many companies use the mother angle to sell their products, and very few include the father figure, which may result in loss of revenue. However not all companies have missed the father band wagon, Jif a company that produces peanut butter has used the famous tagline “choosy moms choose Jif”, since the 1990’s, but recently has started to say “choosy moms and dads choose Jif”. This is an example of the forward moving thought process that many companies should make, but much like cartoons and movies the American public doesn’t see this as much in media as it should.
            Single mothers have already begun to change the look of families in the U.S. because with single mothers come single fathers. Single mothers and fathers are no longer a taboo thing that should not to be talked about amongst civilized society. Growing up in a single parent household full of women one would think that I would have a biased opinion on fathers, and the fact is that really isn’t what created my image of fathers. Men are important figures in the household whether you grew up with a father, uncle, grandfather, or any male figure of note they are important, and should feel that way.  Growing up I didn’t have a male figure in my life to base my understanding on, so I went to the next available source, the media. Dads were always these passing figures in cartoons, and they were behind newspapers, in front of televisions and grills, usually in business attire with out a homemaking care in the world.  In fact most of the father or male figures I remember from my childhood were animals in Disney films, which doesn’t give much of a real impression of the world at all. Although Timon and Pumba were great caretakers they weren’t an accurate depiction of what a males role should be, or what it could be. Children learn by listening and watching examples of what they should do through the media, and although I knew and saw my father I had the sneaking suspicion he didn’t quite live up to my impression on the father figures of the Serengeti. It may seem like a funny situation but many children’s families aren’t represented in the media, and they may feel left out, or they may feel as if their families are atypical. This is where the media can make huge stride by including the male figure in many different roles including homemaking and single dads.
            Compassionate male figures taking homemaking positions are important for children and Americans to see. If the media takes the first step to show a wider range of possibilities for men in the home, and people allow for this to be acceptable then as a country there will begin to be a bigger shift than what was previously seen. Women have forever held the reign’s when it come to keeping a house in the media, and it’s time to let go and allow the new cowboys of the kitchen to take hold because when America abolishes one stereotype it can abolish them all, one step at a time.
Sincerely,
A lover of media and equal rights
Krista S.

Rough Draft Paper #2


November 24, 2012
Women and Men
Dear Women and Men Who Enjoy Media,
            The media is an extraordinary influence in the modern person’s life. For decades the main source for identifying the proper social conduct outside someone’s family has been the media. Television shows, commercials, and written media have played a large factor in determining how one should conduct themselves in society based upon ones gender. The media’s version of men and women has been pretty straightforward in the sense that women had their jobs and men had theirs. Men have always been the providers of financial stability, and women’s job is to provide a stable home life for their husbands and children, but now times are changing and we must again look to the media to lead the way to establish a new world order to the masses. More and more men are choosing the life of homemakers, and women are becoming full time career holders. With the many decades of “women belong in the kitchen; men belong in the office” being pounded into the minds of the American public it’s going to be a hard stereotype to break, but with influence of the media it’s possible. The American way of life is changing, and the media and American people need to change with it encouraging anyone who wants to take on the role of homemaker to do so, and to be proud of that role regardless of gender.

            All too often do you see a woman in a commercial cleaning the house, making the meals, rearing the children, and in general doing what a woman is supposed to be doing, stereotypically speaking, but how often do you see a man take on that position with ease in the media? A short answer to that question is rarely. In the past the American media has portrayed men in homemaking positions as buffoons unable to manage the simplest homemaking tasks like making a lunch or using a vacuum. In the 1993 film Mrs. Doubtfire, 20th Century Fox displays a man doing women’s work through Robin Williams in drag, and in his first attempt in kitchen his lights himself ablaze while trying to cook a dinner for his children. Even though the premise is slightly absurd the belief still rests behind the fact that men, even when they’re dressed as women, should not be in the kitchen because they’ll burn the place down. There have been many major production studios that have taken part in poking fun at the male homemaker such as, the 1987 film Three Men and a Baby where, as the title suggests three men take on the inconceivable task of trying to raise a baby without the help of a woman.  Even when there are men in nuclear families like Michael Keaton in the 1983 film Mr. Mom the man can not manage at first without the help of his female companion. Now while these examples are decades old and we’ve begun to see a shift in the male homemaking positions like Johnny Test a Cartoon network show that presents a competent father figure as a homemaker, but it is still not nearly as common as it should be.

            During the last decade the amount of stay-at-home dads in the United States has doubled.  In the year 2000 the amount of male homemakers was estimated to be around 94,000. According to the Census Bureau’s website since 2010 the number of stay-at-home dads has gone from 154,000 dads in 2010 to 176,000 in 2011 that 22,000 in just one year that amount alone is impressive, and should be acknowledged more in the media. Many of the major media sites attribute this rise in “Mr. Moms” to the economic downturn of 2008 believing that the lack of jobs in the male dominated fields has lead for more women to take action and go out into the working world, and for dads to stay at home.  This has been discounted by a research done by Boston College Brad Harington of the college tells the Fox News channel in an interview in June 2012 that, “The hype around stay-at-home dads is due to the ‘man-cession’ but the census data shows that during the economic downturn the numbers were down.Though Harington discredits the statistical probability that it was due to the recession many believe things like men in the home are only because they have lost their place in the workforce.

            The mans place in the office is often shown in the media, as well as the construction jobs, doctors, engineers, and many other jobs we as Americans often associate with men, but the other side of rise in men in the home is the rise of women in the workplace. While there has been a rise in the amount of men staying at home the number of stay at home moms is still in the millions, 5,020,000 million to be precise. The amount is shifting though slowly but surely. With societal minds opening up for women to work in high ranking positions, and positions more attributed to men this is a chance for Moms and women in general to help pave the way along with media. Women have long sense been fighting for equality amongst the elite in our patriarchal society, and with this fight the “extreme feminists” have caused a riff in the system calling for equality by pointing blame, and placing stereotypes of their own. To create equality you must insure that all involved are equal because you do not gain rights and equality by stripping someone else of theirs.

            Single mothers have already begun to change the look of families in the U.S. because with single mothers come single fathers. Single mothers and fathers are no longer a taboo thing that should not to be talked about amongst civilized society. Growing up in a single parent household full of women one would think that I would have a biased opinion on fathers, and the fact is that really isn’t what created my image of fathers. Men are important figures in the household whether you grew up with a father, uncle, grandfather, or any male figure of note they are important, and should feel that way.  Growing up I didn’t have a male figure in my life to base my understanding on, so I went to the next available source, the media. Dads were always these passing figures in cartoons, and they were behind newspapers, in front of televisions and grills, usually in business attire with out a homemaking care in the world.  In fact most of the father or male figures I remember from my childhood were animals in Disney films, which doesn’t give much of a real impression of the world at all. Although Timon and Pumba were great caretakers they weren’t an accurate depiction of what a males role should be, or what it could be. Children learn by listening and watching examples of what they should do through the media, and although I knew and saw my father I had the sneaking suspicion he didn’t quite live up to my impression on the father figures of the Serengeti. It may seem like a funny situation but many children’s families aren’t represented in the media, and they may feel left out, or they may feel as if their families are atypical. This is where the media can make huge stride by including the male figure in many different roles including homemaking and single dads.

            Compassionate male figures taking homemaking positions are important for children and Americans to see. If the media takes the first step to show a wider range of possibilities for men in the home, and people allow for this to be acceptable then as a country we will begin to see a bigger shift than we have previously. Women have forever held the reign’s when it come to keeping a house in the media, and it’s time to let go and allow the new cowboys of the kitchen to take hold because when we abolish one stereotype we can abolish them all one step at a time.