In the media, there are many stereotypes that are used that portray different genders. These are usually used in a negative way. For example, women are usually portrayed in a very sexually provocative way and men are normally portrayed in a lazy way in a domestic environment, but in others they are perceived as strong and dominant. Men are also stereotyped with most of the male species seeming to 'need' to be as masculine as they can for some reason. That includes them being strong, handsome and cool.
Disgustingly, some woman are shown to be nothing more than something for men in a sexual context. For example, in Blurred Lines (the music video) there are women who are essentially naked and do not have an actual purpose in the video. They walk around and act like strippers while the two men look to be dominant over them. In addition to that, there is a more explicit video in which the women are fully naked. It is clear in the music video that the women are only there to be eye candy and do not have a role. This is visible by the fact that they say nothing during the course of the whole video apart from one woman saying "Meow". Another dreadful thing about the way that women are presented in Blurred Lines is the way that they look 'disposable'. They walk around and do stupid things and seem like they can be replaced at any time (in comparison to the men who seem to think they are a God of some sort).
Another enormously common stereotype of women is that they are housewives. This is prominent in the Asda Christmas advert in 2012. In the advert, the woman is clearly the main domestic worker in the family. This is evident as she does all of the cleaning, cooking, decorating etc. In fact, the whole video is based on her making Christmas for the family. The man in the video does absolutely nothing and is portrayed as lazy and someone who just doesn't do domestic housework. In addition to that, the woman is portrayed as selfless. Of course, this isn't a bad stereotype to have but it is still not entirely accurate for all women. Arguably, you could say that the women in the video is actually a step up from selfless and in reality, is some kind of slave to the man. Another example of this is in Meghan Trainor's music video for Dear Future Husband. In this, she is actually mocking the stereotype by pretending to clean floors and lyrically saying that she will not cook for a man.
Frequently, men are shown to be a dominant force in the form of an alpha male. This carries many traits to it which are shown in many different forms. However, they all have one thing in common-They are aspirational for men. For example, in the Bull car advert featuring Matthew McConaughey. He turns up in a nice car and a decent looking T-shirt which automatically implies that he is wealthy. He has a 'manly' looking stubble and is sweating which says that he has been on the road for a few days. He shows no fear for the bull which implies to me that men are 'fearless'. Generally, the video couldn't be more manly if it tried. This is fuelled by the end scene in which he has 'mutual respect' for the bull and turns around. This is a hugely stereotypical scene as it is false propaganda to wannabe men that they should be as masculine as a bull. A BULL.
Women
Sex objects
Disgustingly, some woman are shown to be nothing more than something for men in a sexual context. For example, in Blurred Lines (the music video) there are women who are essentially naked and do not have an actual purpose in the video. They walk around and act like strippers while the two men look to be dominant over them. In addition to that, there is a more explicit video in which the women are fully naked. It is clear in the music video that the women are only there to be eye candy and do not have a role. This is visible by the fact that they say nothing during the course of the whole video apart from one woman saying "Meow". Another dreadful thing about the way that women are presented in Blurred Lines is the way that they look 'disposable'. They walk around and do stupid things and seem like they can be replaced at any time (in comparison to the men who seem to think they are a God of some sort).Housewives
Another enormously common stereotype of women is that they are housewives. This is prominent in the Asda Christmas advert in 2012. In the advert, the woman is clearly the main domestic worker in the family. This is evident as she does all of the cleaning, cooking, decorating etc. In fact, the whole video is based on her making Christmas for the family. The man in the video does absolutely nothing and is portrayed as lazy and someone who just doesn't do domestic housework. In addition to that, the woman is portrayed as selfless. Of course, this isn't a bad stereotype to have but it is still not entirely accurate for all women. Arguably, you could say that the women in the video is actually a step up from selfless and in reality, is some kind of slave to the man. Another example of this is in Meghan Trainor's music video for Dear Future Husband. In this, she is actually mocking the stereotype by pretending to clean floors and lyrically saying that she will not cook for a man. Exceptions
There are examples that break these trends. For example, games such as Tomb Raider and The Last of Us feature female protagonist characters who are made to look like badasses and inspirations. They can fight, they can shoot, they can stick up for themselves and in general, they have what our society would call 'masculine traits'. This happens in other platforms too such as the movie 'Lucy' and the TV show 'The Walking Dead'. In that show, there are female characters such as Michonne and Maggie who are portrayed to be two of the strongest, most capable characters on the whole show.
Men
Alpha Male
Nerd
On the other hand, sometimes men are stereotyped as nerds. The most obvious example of this is Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory. Throughout the whole show he is shown to be a stereotypical nerd (on an extreme level) and nothing more. He is incredibly smart, he loves comic books, he is socially awkward and he isn't that attractive/athletic. The stereotype of men being nerds isn't as large as the other stereotype as typically, when there's a nerd, there's also an alpha male to bully them around. The alpha male is the one the the media try to sell to men in different forms to make them want to become like that.
Lad
Lastly, the other stereotype of men is that they are a typical 'lad'. An example of this is the Inbetweeners movie (and the trailer for it). There are four young men and all of the them (maybe with the exception of Will) are just stereotypical lads. The trailer follows the trend of sex, alcohol, messing around, sex and... sex. In fact, the men are shown to only really be interested in sex and the fantasy of being able to have sexual intercourse with a woman. This can be seen as a mix with the nerd stereotype as they are largely unsuccessful in their efforts. Another example of the lad stereotype is the WKD advert in which the young men are shown to be hugely inactive domestically. It is actually shown as a joke that one of the men does care about his own apartment being clean. The short advert results in them all going to the pub for a drink (ironically for a drink which isn't thought of to be very masculine nowadays).
In conclusion, both men and woman have strong stereotypes which are mainly there for the media to have the ability to sell products to naive consumers who want to be 'just like them'. It gives people false hope and leaves people in a viscous cycle of buying more products to lower their own insecurity.
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