We find a lot of evidence that since the birth of a new born, the girls and boys are treated differently, and this tradition is followed in every culture. Sex is the biological characteristic on which the gender is built. As notified by Eagly and Crowley, gender roles refer to the culturally derived behavior and activities associated with masculinity and femininity that individuals choose to adopt (qtd in Otnes, Zayer, 2012). Though there are traditional differences in the roles, it is difficult to define various roles for each gender. The men and women are socialized differently and this gender socialization is very much visible in family, education, and career.
Media also plays a vital role in defining the gender roles and identities to such an extent that people judge the gender roles by seeing them in media. There are many websites that depict the gender roles on internet. The Cosmopolitan website is mainly for women and Maxim is for men. On both the websites it is clear that the media is marketing the idea of female and male sexuality to both genders to adapt their roles through symbols and labels. It is simple for the media to sell their products by attributing various features of each sex.
On the Cosmopolitan website women are defined according to the male sexuality. Many messages on the website are related to beauty, sex tips, hair, fashion, and fitness style. Women on every web page are seen wearing scanty clothing. Maxim and Cosmopolitan websites both have a huge image marquee on the home page that is an attention grabber, and the information displayed in it is related to sex, movie review, and models advertising for high end beauty products. Cosmopolitan is targeted to attract young upper middle-class white women aged 18-45 and the products are strictly targeted towards women.
Maxim websites is mainly targeted for men and the messages displayed are mainly on alcohol, cig, clothes, perfumes, aftershaves, sports, movies and military. The messages displayed
are intended to appeal both the genders; however men are attracted towards this website because of the exotic pictures and they get engrossed as an observer. In line with the male versus female assumption of selectivity hypothesis message content that matches gender roles or identity should be most persuasive (Otnes, Zayer, 2012). The supremacy of male sexuality on both the websites is very clear when the advertisements are compared.
Both the sites contain information on romance and sexual material in a different manner with a basic goal of engaging the reader. Cosmopolitan has messages for sex such as “Sex Tips from Guys”, “Body Language Decoder”, “Sex Moves” and Sex Advice”. The messages in these articles are for the women to study the male mind. Women lose their individuality and observe themselves as an object only in the context of the male fantasy world. The romantic and sexual messages on Maxim strengthens male typecasts of women by expressing them through misuse of their bodies and surrendering to men. The messages are different for men and women; however they are inclined towards pleasing the men sexually.
Both the websites use phrases that contain descriptions such as sexy, hot, mind-blowing and gorgeous to describe a women, whereas men are considered just mere guys who are out there looking out for fun and enjoyment. I can analyze that sex sells and the marketing companies rely on the semi-naked bodies of females to market their products to the other gender. The messages encourage women to agree to the men power and meet the expectations of male. I find that both these websites not only participate in labeling women but they also raise the spirits and idea of male dominance and downgrade the females.
The messages relegate women in the society and would continue to downgrade women till the male dominance exists. Though there are stereotypes against men I feel it is very less compared to the stereotypes used for the female as men are usually not labeled on their body.
References
Otnes, Cele.C. Zayer, Linda Tuncay. Gender, Culture, and Consumer Behaviour. (2012).
Illustrated. Routledge.
