Gender, Culture, and Health
Much has been written about the cultural representations and stereotypes of women and men. Research has documented the narrow, unrealistic portrayals of women’s bodies, related to their sexuality, beauty, body size, and age. There are negative stereotypes of men, particularly minority men, as angry and violent.
Cultural (mis)representations of femininity or masculinity can adversely affect mental and physical health, relationships and communities. The gap between the ideal cultural images and the reality of one's life can be distressing.
For example, distorted representations of women, ubiquitous and subtle images promoting beauty standards that are not at all easily reachable for most women, may be linked to anxiety, depression, and disordered eating such as anorexia and bulimia. Pervasive images of women in narrowly defined (young) age groups, with older women "annihilated" through a lack of presentation in positive and socially valued roles (see Baumann and de Laat 2012; Tuchman 1978), may create negative treatment and judgments of older women in the "real world."
Resources
Baumann, Shyon and Kim de Laat. 2012. "Socially Defunct: A Comparative Analysis of the Underrepresentation of Older Women in Advertising." Poetics 40:514-41.
Milkie, Melissa A. 1999. “Social Comparisons, Reflected Appraisals, and Mass Media: The Impact of Pervasive Beauty Images on Black and White Girls’ Self-Concepts.” Social Psychology Quarterly 62:190-210.
Smirnova, Michelle Hannah. 2012. “A Will to Youth: The Woman’s Anti-Aging Elixir.” Social Science & Medicine 75:1236-43.
Tuchman, Gaye. 1978. "Introduction: The Symbolic Annihilation of Women by the Mass Media." Pp. 3-38 in Hearth and Home: Images of Women in the Mass Media, edited by G. Tuchman, A. K. Daniels, and J. Benet. New York:Oxford University Press.
Scholar Links
Jean Kilbourne
Jackson Katz
Cultural (mis)representations of femininity or masculinity can adversely affect mental and physical health, relationships and communities. The gap between the ideal cultural images and the reality of one's life can be distressing.
For example, distorted representations of women, ubiquitous and subtle images promoting beauty standards that are not at all easily reachable for most women, may be linked to anxiety, depression, and disordered eating such as anorexia and bulimia. Pervasive images of women in narrowly defined (young) age groups, with older women "annihilated" through a lack of presentation in positive and socially valued roles (see Baumann and de Laat 2012; Tuchman 1978), may create negative treatment and judgments of older women in the "real world."
Resources
Baumann, Shyon and Kim de Laat. 2012. "Socially Defunct: A Comparative Analysis of the Underrepresentation of Older Women in Advertising." Poetics 40:514-41.
Milkie, Melissa A. 1999. “Social Comparisons, Reflected Appraisals, and Mass Media: The Impact of Pervasive Beauty Images on Black and White Girls’ Self-Concepts.” Social Psychology Quarterly 62:190-210.
Smirnova, Michelle Hannah. 2012. “A Will to Youth: The Woman’s Anti-Aging Elixir.” Social Science & Medicine 75:1236-43.
Tuchman, Gaye. 1978. "Introduction: The Symbolic Annihilation of Women by the Mass Media." Pp. 3-38 in Hearth and Home: Images of Women in the Mass Media, edited by G. Tuchman, A. K. Daniels, and J. Benet. New York:Oxford University Press.
Scholar Links
Jean Kilbourne
Jackson Katz
