Gender stereotypes and normative heterosexuality in matrimonial ads from globalizing India

Matrimonial ads serve as unobtrusive sites to observe the construction and perpetuation of normative heterosexuality through socio-cultural discourses. The current study focuses on gendered spousal expectations and sex role preferences in 1065 matrimonial ads from two popular newspapers in India. Gender differences in ad type, financial stability, physical attractiveness, fairness, slimness, personality traits, and occupational preferences were examined. Results found support for social exchange of men's financial stability for women's physical attractiveness, gender polarization in ideal spousal occupations, and the relative fluidity in gender identities of women as compared to men. A strong preference for fair and slim women was observed. Implications for sexual objectification of women and changing gender roles in globalizing India are discussed.     

Gender,Games, and Toys: Role Communication and Socialization through Play

Courses: Introduction to Communication, Gender and Communication, Rhetoric and Criticism, Intercultural Communication, Organizational Communication

Objectives: Students will develop a basic understanding of how femininity and masculinity are distinct, constructed, and culturally enforced. Students will investigate how gender roles are reinforced by children's games and toys.     

Teaching Castells [Review of the book Castells and the Media,by Philip N. Howard]

This study examines gender role and sexual content in television advertising messages, and the cognitive elaborations of adolescents processing these messages. Adolescents viewed and commented on television advertisements of beer and non-beer products in the contexts of sports and entertainment programming. Results found that a majority of the ads contained traditional gender role content. Fewer ads combined sexual with traditional gender role content. The adolescents' comments criticized female imagery, while their comments on male portrayals were relatively neutral. More than half the respondents challenged ad content, including product claims, realism, and production techniques, with females counterarguing more than males.     

Korea out of the closet: effects of gay-themed ads on young Korean consumers

This study examines the effects of gay-themed ads on young Korean consumers. In its evaluation of such ads, the study investigates how attitude toward ads, attitude toward brands, and purchase intention are influenced by gender (male vs. female), tolerance of homosexuality (low vs. high tolerance), and self-construal (independent vs. interdependent self-construal). Findings suggest that a gay-themed ad does not impact how young Korean heterosexual consumers evaluate the ad, the brand, or their purchase intention. Regarding brand evaluation and purchase intention, no statistically significant differences were found between males and females. Concerning a person's tolerance, those with high tolerance tend to evaluate the ads and brands more favorably and have higher purchase intentions than do those with low tolerance. Concerning a person's self-construal – independent versus interdependent – the study found no main effects but did discover interaction effects between gender and self-construal and between tolerance and self-construal. Theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed.     

Cox,American radio networks: A history

Most previous research into gender role stereotypes in the mass media has concentrated on television or print. Using content analysis, gender role stereotyping in radio commercials was examined. The goals of the study were to: (1) provide current data on level and content of gender stereotyping in Portuguese radio advertising; (2) compare levels of stereotyping in three countries. One hundred and sixty six advertisements were content analyzed into nine categories referring to the central figure, credibility, role, location, argument, reward, product, accent, and narrator. As previously found, male and female characters were portrayed in different ways particularly on credibility (males as authorities, females as users), role (males as celebrities/narrator, females as dependent), location (males in occupational setting more than females), and narrators (females as characters more than males). The patterns of bias in Portuguese radio commercials are consistent with, though less marked than, those in television commercials. Concerning the cross- national analysis, results showed more similarities than differences.     

Gender and Emotion Stereotypes in Children’s Television

The purpose of the present study was to assess the prevalence of emotion stereotypes in children’s television programming, in both educational and non-educational programming. It was hypothesized that gender stereotypes of emotion would still be prevalent in both entertainment and educational programming, with females showing more fear and sadness and males showing more anger, and that all shows would have more male than female characters. A total of 8 children’s programs were included for analysis: 4 entertainment programs and 4 educational programs. Programs were coded for the total number of males and females and for the emotions displayed by each character: happiness, sadness, anger, and fear. Overall, the analyses revealed that the majority of shows still have more male than female characters. Males were found to portray more of all emotions than females. Educational programming did not differ much in the amount of stereotypical versus counter-stereotypical emotion portrayed. Entertainment programming showed a trend toward more counter-stereotyped emotions. Future research should explore the influence of viewing specific shows on young children’s current gender stereotypes to assess the immediate impact of such viewing.     

Children's media use in Indonesia

This article explores how Indonesian children have integrated media into their daily lives: media ownership at home, media uses, and gratifications sought, are discussed, as is the way in which gender and social-status influence the children–media relationship. Survey data of Jakarta-based children aged 9–15 (N=589) reveal that Indonesian children live in a media saturated environment, with high availability of media platforms in their homes and bedrooms. Similar to children in the US and Europe, children in Jakarta spend considerable amounts of time on a wealth of media platforms and experience multiple gratifications from using multiple media. Gender differences persist in that boys tend to be more into gaming, while girls focus more on communication aspects. High social-status children tend to have more media at their disposal in their bedroom, especially electronic games, computers, and Internet connections. Television is still prominent in the media menu of today, but mobile phones are ready to take its place in the near future.     

Further divided gender gaps in research productivity and collaboration during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from coronavirus-related literature

Based on publication data on coronavirus-related fields, this study applies a difference in differences approach to explore the evolution of gender inequalities before and during the COVID-19 pandemic by comparing the differences in the numbers and shares of authorships, leadership in publications, gender composition of collaboration, and scientific impacts. We find that, during the pandemic: (1) females’ leadership in publications as the first author was negatively affected; (2) although both females and males published more papers relative to the pre-pandemic period, the gender gaps in the share of authorships have been strengthened due to the larger increase in males’ authorships; (3) the share of publications by mixed-gender collaboration declined; (4) papers by teams in which females play a key role were less cited in the pre-pandemic period, and this citation disadvantage was exacerbated during the pandemic; and (5) gender inequalities regarding authorships and collaboration were enhanced in the initial stage of COVID-19, widened with the increasing severity of COVID-19, and returned to the pre-pandemic level in September 2020. This study shows that females’ lower participation in teams as major contributors and less collaboration with their male colleagues also reflect their underrepresentation in science in the pandemic period. This investigation significantly deepens our understanding of how the pandemic influenced academia, based on which science policies and gender policy changes are proposed to mitigate the gender gaps.     

How accurate are gender detection tools in predicting the gender for Chinese names? A study with 20,000 given names in Pinyin format

Objective:We recently showed that the gender detection tools NamSor, Gender API, and Wiki-Gendersort accurately predicted the gender of individuals with Western given names. Here, we aimed to evaluate the performance of these tools with Chinese given names in Pinyin format.Methods:We constructed two datasets for the purpose of the study. File #1 was created by randomly drawing 20,000 names from a gender-labeled database of 52,414 Chinese given names in Pinyin format. File #2, which contained 9,077 names, was created by removing from File #1 all unisex names that we were able to identify (i.e., those that were listed in the database as both male and female names). We recorded for both files the number of correct classifications (correct gender assigned to a name), misclassifications (wrong gender assigned to a name), and nonclassifications (no gender assigned). We then calculated the proportion of misclassifications and nonclassifications (errorCoded).Results:For File #1, errorCoded was 53% for NamSor, 65% for Gender API, and 90% for Wiki-Gendersort. For File #2, errorCoded was 43% for NamSor, 66% for Gender API, and 94% for Wiki-Gendersort.Conclusion:We found that all three gender detection tools inaccurately predicted the gender of individuals with Chinese given names in Pinyin format and therefore should not be used in this population.     

Male/female language differences and effects in same‐sex and mixed‐sex dyads: The gender‐linked language effect

Ninety‐six university students (48 males, 48 females) were randomly assigned a partner (whom they did not know well), forming two dyad conditions: (a) same‐sex, and (b) mixed‐sex. The 48 dyads were audiotape‐recorded in 20‐minute problem solving interactions, from which 300‐word language samples were transcribed for analysis. In Study 1, 9 trained observers coded 12 language variables previously shown to distinguish male from female language use. Discriminant analysis results demonstrated that a weighted combination of 8 variables could differentiate male from female interactants: male indicators—interruptions, directives, and conjunctions/ fillers begin sentence; female indicators—questions, justifiers, intensive adverbs, personal pronouns, and adverbials begin sentence. An analysis of variance of individuals’ gender discriminant function scores showed greater differences in gender‐linked language behavior in same‐sex than in mixed‐sex dyads. In Study 2, 231 naive observers rated the 96 interactants, using the Speech Dialect Attitudinal Scale. MANOVA results showed that in same‐sex dyads, female interactants were rated higher on Socio‐Intellectual Status and Aesthetic Quality, but no gender difference was found on Dynamism. However, in mixed‐sex dyads, men were rated higher on Aesthetic Quality, whereas women were rated higher on Dynamism. Taken together, the analyses of the objective language data and the subjective attributional data provide partial support for the Gender‐Linked Language Effect in same‐sex dyads and for the attenuation of that effect in mixed‐sex dyads.     

Theory into practice: Connecting theory and practice: Women scientist role models in television programming

Bern's gender schema theory (Bern 1981, 1983, 1993) provides a useful framework for examining the influence of women scientist role models on girls’ perceptions of science and scientists. The purpose of this paper is (1) to describe how Bern's gender schema theory serves as a framework for guiding future research, (2) to examine the fundamental premises of Bern's gender schema theory as they relate to the processing of information about science and gender roles, and (3) to identify key conditions and criteria from gender schema theory to guide the design of television programs that use role models to reduce gender‐stereotyping of science.     

Sex Differences in Science Museums: A Review

Girls as a group have far fewer science- and math-related experiences than boys. This article reviews what is known about how these differences carry over into science museums. Behavioral studies indicate that girls generally engage in more cooperative behavior at museum exhibits, and boys explore exhibits more actively on their own. However, there are large differences between institutions and even discrepancies between similar studies at the same institution. Museums may be able to minimize gender differences by anticipating them in the design of exhibits and programs.     

Parents as Social Influences Encouraging Book Reading: Research Directions for Librarians’ Literacy Advocacy

Abstract

Despite the competing roles that contemporary public and school librarians juggle, advocating for youth literacy remains a priority. Both school and public librarians can support parents by providing the most current research insights to inform their approach to supporting reading in the home. Quantitative survey data from the 997 young participants illuminate the relationships between reading frequency, gender and parental encouragement. Semi-structured interviews explore the kinds of parental encouragement children perceived, allowing for an exploratory investigation to yield novel findings. While encouragement is generally being focused on the children who need it, girls receive more encouragement to read than boys even though they typically read more frequently. Reading encouragement was perceived to be related to varying parental objectives, such as valuing literacy skills and learning benefits, screen respite, providing access, shared reading, and establishing expectations, with children cognizant of parental hypocrisy in relation to low modeling. As literacy advocates, librarians can communicate that boys need to receive greater parental encouragement, encouragement may need to be high-quality to be effective, and parental modeling remains important.     

College Students' Sexual Health: Investigating the Role of Peer Communication

This study used the Theory of Planned Behavior as a guide to investigate college students' discussions with their peers about sexual health-related topics. Two hundred thirty-one undergraduates from a large university completed a questionnaire that assessed their comfort level discussing sexual health-related issues, the topics discussed, and the sex of the discussion partners. Some of the topics most frequently discussed included birth control, condoms, sexually transmitted diseases, and resources. Although a majority of the participants felt comfortable talking with both males and females, participants felt more comfortable discussing with their own gender than the opposite gender, and were in general more comfortable talking with females than males. Results showed that most students felt comfortable discussing sexual health-related topics with their peers, with females reporting a slightly higher comfort level than males.     

The effectiveness of appeals used in Cambodian and Vietnamese magazine ads

In this two-part study, a content analysis of advertisements published in Cambodian and Vietnamese magazines was first conducted to determine the kinds of advertising appeals (functional, individualistic, and collectivistic) that were most frequently employed. The findings indicated that across product types, the Cambodian ads contained more individualistic appeals. The Vietnamese ads, on the other hand, depicted more collectivistic and functional appeals. Next, an experiment was conducted to determine audience response to the use of three appeals in ads that promote four product types (informative, affective, habit-forming, and self-satisfaction). Vietnamese participants responded more positively to functional appeals across product types. They also preferred collectivistic rather than individualistic appeals for ads that promote habit-forming and self-satisfaction products. Cambodian consumers, on the other hand, registered more positive attitudes toward ads with individualistic and functional appeals.     

Moving Toward Parity? Dominant Gender Ideology versus Community Journalism in High School Basketball Coverage

This research uses a content analysis to explore how male and female high school athletes are framed. In analyzing basketball coverage from 121 unique newspapers, results show that although boys received the bulk of the coverage, the gap in parity is much smaller compared to prior research. Furthermore, girls were generally not framed as overtly feminine. Still, the coverage also reflects lingering commonsense assumptions about gender, most notably in reference to the athletic body. The authors discuss the potential of high school sports coverage to challenge normative understandings of gender and sports and to consider the role community journalism standards may play in the construction of equitable and just interscholastic sports coverage.     

Children's wishful identification and parasocial interaction with favorite television characters

Children aged 7 to 12 were interviewed about their favorite TV character. Nearly all boys and about half of the girls selected same‐sex favorites. Regression analyses used perceived character traits (attractiveness, strength, humor, intelligence, social behavior) to predict wishful identification and parasocial interaction with characters. For male characters, wishful identification was predicted by intelligence and (for girls only) humor; parasocial interaction was predicted by intelligence, attractiveness, and (for boys only) strength. In marked contrast, for female characters (chosen only by girls), attractiveness was the only significant predictor. Although girls rated female characters as more intelligent than male characters, this trait apparently was not an important determinant of attraction. Interpretations of the findings and implications for socialization effects are discussed.     

Producing PSAs on consumer culture: youth reception of advertising

This study is a qualitative analysis of Public Service Announcement (PSA) storyboards produced by 177 fourth and sixth-grade students as part of a Media Literacy Education program on advertising and commercial culture. The program curriculum addressed the ubiquity and hidden nature of ads, as well as gender portrayals, violence, and nutritional messages in advertising content. Textual analysis revealed differing patterns in student reception of the varied lesson topics. Students called for specific behavioral changes in PSAs for the topics of nutrition and gender, although most were limited to non-media-related behaviors such as improving eating habits and encouraging fluidity across roles more traditionally associated with masculinity or with femininity. The analysis also suggested responsibility for the problems students identified with advertising were largely based on individual, consumerist perspectives rather than on collective or social, citizen-based terms. Fourth graders’ storyboards especially indicated an apparent mimicry of mainstream commercial productions and practices. The analysis further explores these fourth and sixth graders’ underlying orientations toward the U.S. commercial media system as well as the potential strengths and limitations of a production component in MLE programs to promote outcomes associated with critical media literacy.