1. reflect our beliefs and values, and shape
our actions and our identities
Stereotypes

2. Standardized conception or image of a specific
group of people or objects
Held in common by members of a group
Direct expression of beliefs and values
Stereotypes

3. Standardized conception or image of a specific
group of people or objects
Held in common by members of a group
Direct expression of beliefs and values
Stereotypes

4. Creating “categories”
Countertypes
Source for conventional characters
(character-types) in popular stories
Uses of Stereotypes

5. Negative stereotypes can be associated
with negative actions
Tendency to use internalize stereotypes
as models for behavior
Dangers of Stereotypes

6. Simple (and “simplify our experiences”)
Acquired second-hand
Questions of Accuracy
Resistant to change
Characteristics of Stereotypes

7. Masculinity is made, not given
Pop culture images of manhood “reflect”
masculinity
◦ What does it mean to be a “real man” in US society?
Pop culture is primary “teaching” force (“shapes”)
◦ Connect manhood to dominance, violence, control
Pop culture equates masculinity w/ violence
◦ Not “deviant”, but “accepted part of masculinity”
“Tough Guise” -J. Katz

12. Negative stereotypes can be associated
with ugly and negative actions
Tendency to use internalize stereotypes
as models for behavior
Dangers of Stereotypes

16. Killing Us Softly 3
Jean Kilbourne, Lecturer
◦ Killing Us Softly (1979)
◦ Still Killing Us Softly (1987)
◦ Killing Us Softly III (2000)
AdvertisingAnalyst
What has changed over
the years?

17. Popular culture (especially advertising)
both shapes and reflects fictions about
women’s desires and identities
◦ Physical perfection equals value in our society
◦ “self-objectification”
“Killing Us Softly, III” - J.
Kilbourne

18. Pervasiveness of Advertising
Sells products and NORMALCY
Search for the Perfect Woman
Computer retouching has exacerbated
the situation
Affects men’s and women’s expectations

19. Objectification of Women
◦ Promotes violence against women
◦ Black women objectified as animals
◦ Breasts objectified and “marked”
◦ Kids objectified sexually
Looks are everything
◦ Weight loss
◦ Eating disorders
◦ “more you subtract
the more you add”

20. Perfect women are portrayed as
◦ Silent (hands over mouth)
◦ Vulnerable
◦ Innocent
◦ Passive
◦ Powerless
Power politics

21. Sex is both more important and less
Sexualization of children
Blatantly hetero-sexual
Sex is trivialized
Pornography is mainstream
Violence is portrayed as Erotic
Sexualization has increased

22. Masculinity= violence
Bad boys have more fun
Objectification of Men:

23. We should become citizens
rather than consumers
Citizens or Consumers

24. The
“Cosmo
Girl”

25. Ethnic Notions – M. Riggs (1987)
“…no other group …
has been linked so
consistently with
stereotyped
presentation in the
popular arts…than
African-Americans.”
(Geist & Nelson, 262)
Stereotypes have
fueled anti-black
prejudice

26. Stereotypes are taken for granted and
shape feelings about race
Incite and justify racial violence and
prejudice
Stereotypes adapted to suit social/political
needs
Contradictions of race played out in pop
culture
Culture shapes reality
Ethnic Notions – M. Riggs (1987)

27. Standardized conception or image of a specific
group of people or objects
Held in common by members of a group
Direct expression of beliefs and values
Stereotypes

28. Negative stereotypes can be associated
with ugly and negative actions
Tendency to use internalize stereotypes
as models for behavior
Dangers of Stereotypes