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Biased communication: analysis of biased language and ideas.

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Biased communication: analysis of biased language and ideas.

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Biases and prejudices: what are they and how are they connected?

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Biases and prejudices: what are they and how are they connected?

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https://helpfulprofessor.com/gender-bias-examples/

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https://helpfulprofessor.com/discrimination-examples/

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Gender Roles in Patriarchal societies...

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Gender Roles in Patriarchal societies...

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https://helpfulprofessor.com/gender-roles-examples/

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Stereotypes and biases lead to prejudices...

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Stereotypes and biases lead to prejudices...

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https://helpfulprofessor.com/gender-stereotype-examples/

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https://helpfulprofessor.com/femininity-examples/

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Femininity refers to the stereotypical cultural characteristics of women, including roles and behaviors which have nothing to do with the biological sex.
Unlike biological sex, femininity is considered a social construct that's taught to girls at a young age through gender socialization. In fact, if we look around the world, we can see that different cultures define femininity in different ways (for a seminal text, see Butler (2002) Gender Trouble).

Similarly, we can see that many men exhibit qualities that may be interpreted as feminine, indicating a disconnect between assumptions about biological sex and culturally-defined gender roles.

Below are some traditional examples of femininity. Please don't interpret this as my beliefs about how women should act or appear - rather, it's a sociological dive into culturally-defined traits that are increasingly outdated and stereotypical.

Stereotypical Feminine vs Masculine Traits
A nurturing personality is seen by society as a desirable trait of women. Historically, this may be because women have been expected to nurture a couple's offspring-bathe it, breastfeed it, and ensure it is cared for.
Femininity Examples

1. You are a kind and nurturing person

All these are feminine traits somewhat expected of a woman. As such, any behavior that has something to do with care and nurture has come to be seen as feminine.
Somewhere in our past, it became an assumption that women should try to look desirable to men in order to secure a husband of high social status and wealth. In turn, the man could care for her.
Conversely, men have historically not been expected to be "care givers" because they have to be busy working to bring food to the table. In crass terms, men were expected to earn the money so women could stay home and raise the baby.

2. Preoccupation with physical appearance

We can see this across a range of cultures - from French women wearing lipstick to Chinese women binding their feet so they look petite. Women have across many cultures are expected to dress in fancy clothes and bathe themselves with perfume to make themselves look good (Cranny-Francis et al., 2017).

As a result, today we have a huge cosmetic industry targeting women: from make-up to lipstick to botox. It is also why there are so many clothes shops selling dresses and shoes for women compared to what is available to men.
It was not common in the past for women to establish positions of power in society. Often, women have not been allowed to speak their minds, or not listened to if they did.
Today, then, any behavior that aims to become physically beautiful is considered feminine conduct. A woman who does not attempt to look appealing (in a traditional sense) to men is considered "boyish," while men who are vain about their looks are considered "feminine."

3. You speak and behave softly

This treatment of women eventually led to an expected behavior that women must speak softly and never challenge authority. It became a trait of desirable femininity to be gently spoken and not stir the pot.
Pandering to the patriarchal narrative of 'men are logical and women are emotional', it became a culturally expected trait for women to be more emotional than men.
Similarly, boisterous women or women who had political opinions were frowned upon and named 'snarky', 'shrill', or worse.

4. You are emotional

As a result, women unfairly came to be regarded as people who cannot control their emotions. The idea emerged that they are vulnerable and need to be protected by strong, stoic men.

This narrative harms women because it positions them as incapable of making logical decisions or engaging in difficult or dangerous tasks. It's been used as a reason why women shouldn't be placed in positions of power.
It is also seen as a feminine behavior to empathize with how other people feel. In the long years of human history, men were expected to go to war and do dangerous tasks, while women would stay home and care for the family.
This metanarrative about femininity can also be bad for men. Men have learned not to express emotions or else they appear feminine, meaning they must bottle up their fears and worries and never talk about them.

5. You are empathic to what other people feel

Here, we can see that women have consistently been put in positions where they must empathize, care, and nurture. Meanwhile, men are put in tough positions where they must take no prisoners, make decisions that could cause harm to others, and defend their patch against outsiders.
Women were put aside in homes for many years. Men, on the other hand, were always put in positions of power. Men fought wars and were expected to be tough.
Thus, we have developed a cultural metanarrative of empathy as a feminine trait. If a man expresses too much empathy, he may be seen as a beta male, for example. Similarly, if a woman is seen as empathetic, she is positioned as a potentially good mother and, therefore, a desirable potential romantic partner.

6. You feel sensitive and powerless

As such, being sensitive to comments is deemed feminine behavior. Men are brutes and are expected to have thick skin.
Desirable femininity has for centuries been framed as domesticated. The traditional female gender role involved women staying at home while men went out into the world and took action.
It was also rare in the old days to give a woman a job, much less a leadership position. They were powerless. Today, any behavior that shows an inability to fight and lead is often still considered feminine (Sumra, 2019).

7. You feel needy and dependent

This social structure stripped women of power-they could work, but society rarely gave them jobs that could make them earn as much as a man did.

As such, women needed a man-they depended on the husband's income to survive.
Women in the past were expected to work together-in the kitchen, sewing rooms, and many other places. They received instructions, and they had to work as a group to advance the general interest of that group.
Today, any person who is dependent or reliant on others may be framed as feminine. They are seen as helpless, and they need someone strong to help them survive. This makes them the submissive person in a dominant-submissive relationship.

8. You are collaborative

Men, on the other hand, were expected to dominate and lead. Because of this behavioral expectation in the past, men today who merely follow instructions but do not dominate are considered feminine.
Since women in the past were forced into menial work like slicing fruits, cooking, and sewing, they had the time all day to talk about many things in life-gossip. Men, on the other hand, were expected to do backbreaking work like plowing the field.
Similarly, this is why leadership is seen as a masculine trait while following is seen as a feminine trait (Sumra, 2019).

9. You are a gossip

Today, it is still considered feminine to gossip about other people, as it displays the behavior of women in the past, where they had little to do-and this absence of work gave them idle time to gossip.
Women in many cultures around the world were expected to be meek-they were supposed to obey their husbands (Pilcher & Whelehan, 2016).
Men, on the other hand, were expected not to gossip about someone as it is unmanly. Instead, men were expected to always be taking action rather than passively discussing domestic affairs.

10. You are receptive and passive

Women who spoke against a man were frowned upon. Similarly, it's why women were for many centuries banned from universities and other intellectual institutions. Because of that, women were forced to be quiet and expected to keep their ideas to themselves.

Still today, when we look into the history books, women were often written out of history. While they surely achieved many great things, the books were written from men's perspectives about men's achievements. Women were not written into the books because they were supposed to be passive and subordinate.

Conclusion

Femininity is a social construct. Femininity emerged from social and cultural expectations of how women should behave. Societies in the past treated women as humans with a lower status than men, and they were often framed as the opposite to men. They were assigned the weaker traits, while men were assigned the stronger traits. Patriarchal societies dominated history, and this mindset gave birth to anachronistic ideas about how women and men should be have even to this day.

Recent years have seen a revolution in regards to the concepts of femininity and masculinity. Many people have challenged these norms and started embodying gender-defying character traits that challenge, parody, and undermine cultural assumptions and the above femininity examples.

References

Butler, J. (2002). Gender trouble. Cambridge: Routledge.

Cranny-Francis, A., Waring, W., Stavropoulos, P., & Kirkby, J. (2017). Gender studies: Terms and debates. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing.

Pilcher, J., & Whelehan, I. (2016). Key concepts in gender studies. London: Sage.

Smith, B. G. (2019). Women's studies: The basics. London: Routledge.

Sumra, M. K. (2019). Masculinity, femininity, and leadership: Taking a closer look at the alpha female. PloS one, 14(4), e0215181.

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Femininity refers to the stereotypical cultural characteristics of women, including roles and behaviors which have nothing to do with the biological sex.

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https://helpfulprofessor.com/masculinity-examples/

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Masculinity refers to cultural ideas about the physical and behavioral attributes of idealized men. Men learn to embody masculine traits through gender socialization at a young age.
Most social scientists believe masculinity is a social construct, meaning these ideals are imposed by society and culture. As a result, different cultures have different ideas about what idealized hegemonic masculinity looks like (for a seminal text, see Butler (2002) Gender Trouble).

Increasingly, we also hear talk of " toxic masculinity ", which is a critique of how certain forms of masculinity are anti-social and misogynistic.

Below are some of the best examples of masculinity.

Stereotypical Feminine vs Masculine Traits

Traditional Masculinity Examples

There are multiple types of masculinity. The following are stereotypes of traditional masculinity.

1. You must be muscular
The idealized masculine man is believed to be very muscular. The leaner, the better, and ripped muscles are the best. Muscle means strength, and strength is an expectation for idealized men.
This comes from the idea that men are the hunters and gatherers as well as the tribe's defenders. The more muscular you are, the more likely you will succeed in the hunt and the fight to defend the women.

Women were relegated to stay in the community or village, as they had to care for their young.

Today, it has remained in the deep psyche of human beings that the best men are muscular - even though we live in a more civilized world now where intelligence is just as valued as brute force.

This muscular ideal is why many men go to the gym to develop their muscles-it increases the likelihood of attracting a mate (Connell, 2020).

2. You must be a fighter
A man is expected to be ready to fight. Again, this harks back to the days when men were seen as the people who would protect the women of the village from invaders.
A man who does not want to fight is viewed as someone who is emasculated or powerless. Sadly, men who try to de-escalate situations or are pacifists are often seen as 'less than' ideal because of their peaceful mindsets (Cranny-Francis et al., 2017).

In ancient times, two men were expected to fight to settle a dispute. A man who backed out was called a coward. You must fight, even if it means losing or dying, as fighting represents your honor. Today, though, much of the world has moved beyond this outdated view. Nevertheless, the idealized fighting male still persists in mythology about masculinity.

3. You must be assertive and firm
Men are expected to be assertive - even to the point of aggression. They must insist on what they want, not be easily swayed like the weather.
Assertiveness is a behavior of a leader. Historically, cultures have placed men in leadership roles and dismissed women's intelligence and skill.

A man who fails to be assertive leaders may be seen as feminine. Here, like with the previous examples, we can see a narrative forming where the strong, powerful, aggressive, and active traits are assigned to men, while the weak and feble traits are assigned to women. Of course, this gender stereotype isn't quite as accurate as mythology makes it out to be!

4. You must be financially well-off
Men are expected to be financially successful or at least in a position of stability in terms of money.
This is likely because for thousands of years, it is the man who is expected to provide for this family. Men toiled the fields or explored the wilds. The men were expected to bring home food.

Today, a jobless man is not an ideal dating candidate. Many women get turned off if the man has no job or cannot get a job. In modern society, even a "stay at home dad" is looked upon with suspicion.

The same expectations are not as regularly ascribed to the feminine. In fact, it's often the case in traditionalist societies that a woman is expected to spend her time attracting a successful man rather than achieving her own success.

5. You must not be a gossiper
Men who talk or gossip too much are viewed as weak and conniving. Gossip is relegated to the realm of women, while stoicism is expected of the idealized male.
Historically, there is also supporting evidence of why men behave this way. In the ancient Code of Hammurabi, it says that a man who brings forth an accusation and cannot prove it shall be put to death. During that time, gossiping was a capital offense.

Today, men who gossip are seen as effeminate. The ideal man is seen as a "man of few words", but when he speaks, he is supposed to be respected. If a man is too talkative or too much of a gossip, people may frown upon him and consider him to be a "beta male" (Connell, 2020).

6. You must be willing to make sacrifices
Men are expected to be heroes. They must be willing to make sacrifices for the good of their society, even if this sacrifice means death.
This expectation of masculinity is one of the reasons why most men are soldiers, not women (although there are other reasons, of course).

It is also why in an emergency situation, the women and children often get evacuated first. Men are also expected to do risky jobs that can cause death, like working the power lines, cleaning sewers, working on a high-rise construction site, etc.

7. Men don't cry
The famous saying "men don't cry" comes from an old trope where men are seen as logical and women as emotional.
Thus, men are taught from a young age not to show any emotions and accept pain (physical or psychological) without so much as a wince.

If at all, it seems as if the only emotion society accepts from men is aggression. Take, for instance, Hollywood films, where the men run into the fires to rescue the crying woman - society's "damsel in distress" (Pilcher & Whelehan, 2016).

Of course, this is toxic masculinity. A man should be able to show weakness. Otherwise, pent-up emotions inside may lead to mental health breakdowns.

8. You must be honorable
A man is expected to stay true to his word. A man is also expected to be decisive, not reluctant or unsure.
This masculine behavior has its roots in the expectation that a man must have leadership qualities.

At the end of the spectrum, women who are 'damsels in distress' are almost expected to change their minds - after all, men are supposedly logical and women are supposedly emotional (Kimmel et al., 2004).

If a man displays this behavior, he is considered unmanly-so unsure about the things he wants in life.

9. You must be self-reliant, not dependent
Another example of masculinity is self-reliance. The man is the "breadwinner" whose primary job is to provide resources for the family.
This stereotype harks back to a time when women were not even allowed jobs. They would stay at home to raise the children while the man went to work (Cranny-Francis et al., 2017).

Today, we have increasingly come to accept equality between the sexes and the idea that women are perfectly able to pursue a career and succeed. Nevertheless, a cultural narrative persists that says men are the people who should go out and gather resources while women are expected to be dependent on men.

We can even see this narrative playing out in small interactions, such as when a man will attempt to carry a heavy object on his own, and not ask for help unless it is extremely necessary; or, when men are notoriously bad at asking for directions!

10. You must not show weakness
Lastly, masculine behavior dictates that you must never show weakness or cowardice. You must stand your ground. Men are expected to take action in an emergency, not hide among women.
A weak man is unreliable, which is why men are expected to help in times of crisis, not receive help. From an evolutionary standpoint, a physically, mentally, and emotionally weak man is also not an ideal partner, as he cannot protect his family from danger.
Read Next: How Many Genders are There?
Conclusion

Today, in a time when gender is seen as a social construct, social scientists question the value of outdated tropes about masculinity and femininity. We live in a world where we acknowledge that women can be leaders, men can be emotional, and (ideally) society shouldn't judge a person by their assigned gender at birth.

Nevertheless, these old narratives will continue for generations to come because they're so engrained in culture. From Hollywood films to everyday playground interactions, cultural ideals about masculinity and femininity will be passed down through the generations.

References

Butler, J. (2002). Gender trouble. Cambridge: Routledge.

Connell, R. W. (2020). Masculinities. Melbourne: Routledge.

Cranny-Francis, A., Waring, W., Stavropoulos, P., & Kirkby, J. (2017). Gender studies: Terms and debates. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing.

Kimmel, M. S., Hearn, J., & Connell, R. W. (Eds.). (2004). Handbook of studies on men and masculinities. London: Sage.

Pilcher, J., & Whelehan, I. (2016). Key concepts in gender studies. London: Sage.

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Masculinity refers to cultural ideas about the physical and behavioral attributes of idealized men. Men learn to embody masculine traits through gender

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“Beauty has no age. Fertility does.”

I believe this campaign to be offensive as it puts too much pressure on women.

We all know fertility isn’t forever, however life shouldn’t be a race against time. Moreover, are all women supposed to become mothers? A woman might have other priorities and considering the difficulties in imposing herself in the still patriarchal society, the age at which women have children is not even to be debated.

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This image is taken from the Dior perfume advertising campaign and, instead of focusing on the perfume, it puts the woman in the center, who is represented as a pure object of desire: she is gorgeous, attractive and seductive.

She represents Femininity and she is presented as a model to follow as there is the idea that all women should be “physically perfect”. Women are expected to dress in elegant clothes, use make-up and perfume in order to look good. In fact, today there is a wide range of cosmetic products for women and the behaviour to be physically beautiful is considered feminine conduct, otherwise a woman is considered “boyish”. Nowadays advertising campaigns tend to exalt the female body neglecting the intelligence of the woman.

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Women in advertising are still presented as housewives. In fact, the woman is still associated with the house and there is still the idea that women should take care of the household and the family, while the man has an important job and economically supports the wife.

In the past, women were seen as weaker and with a lower status than men; this image demonstrates that this idea is still present nowadays.

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The 2011 Mr. Clean advertisement highlights the dynamics of gender expectations through the analysis of text, color, and people. In the adv, the use of the phrase "This Mother's Day, get back to the job that really matters" not only establishes a connection between women and domestic cleaning activities , however also suggests that a mother's primary role should be cleaning, even on a celebratory day. The use of the word "job" implies that a woman's main priority should be householding.

The color choices in the advertising design are also suggestive . The white color worn by both female figures symbolizes purity and cleanliness, attributes that every good woman should respect . The color diversity in the text, with "This Mother's Day" in purple and the rest in blue, seems to emphasize the traditional conception of the mother as a stable and calm figure, associating women with these characteristics.

Finally, the image of the mother teaching her daughter how to use Mr. Clean's product highlights the idea that women should think about cleaning from a young age. The happiness expressed by the two women in doing this task suggests that cleaning is a source of joy for them, reinforcing this concept of gender division.

In conclusion, this Mr. Clean advertisement not only reflects bias on gender expectations about women but also demonstrates how such a bias can be used as marketing strategies in order to increase the visibility of the product.

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In early August, Pretzel Crisp launched an an ad campaign in New York City with several slogans including “You can never be too thin”.

The slogan was brought up as a “thinspiration” motto used by the pro-anorexic community. It was deemed wrong and completely irresponsible as it promotes unhealthy weight loss. The photo was posted and reposted on numerous blogs and spread through articles, tweets and videos from other bloggers. The company responded to the flurry with a tweet on it’s twitter account. The response? “Thin just happens to be a good word to describe the shape of our product.”

I chose this ad because we live in a society that pretends women to be thin, skinny and it associates this to beauty. Even if this wasn’t intentional, people, especially women, immediately thought of the stereotype the society wants of them as soon as they saw this ad.

Eating disorders are no joke and nowadays many people suffer from them. This is often caused by the requirements a body has to have in order to be beautiful.

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The Nivea’s campaign is definitely offensive and inappropriate as it puts the accent on the white color, which is symbolic of purity and innocence. But how would a black skinned person feel in front of it?

Firstly, he or she would never buy this product and secondly, he or she would feel mortified to be part of the so called inferior race, whose black skin is symbolic of evil, death, grief and mystery.

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This manifesto that encourages women to participate in the next Miss Universe Philippines beauty pageant, is wrong and biased for several reasons. Firstly, it reinforces traditional standards of beauty, perpetuating societal norms that prioritize physical appearance over intelligence, skills, and character.

These pageants tend to emphasize a specific beauty ideal, which marginalizes and excludes women who don't fit these standards: not only do they promote a limited view of what is considered attractive, but they also contribute to the increase of negative body image and self-esteem issues among women who don't conform to these ideals.

Moreover, the emphasis on representing one's country based on physical appearance reinforces gender stereotypes, which reduce women to symbols of national pride rather than recognizing their individual achievements and different qualities. These programs fail to acknowledge and promote the diversity of talents and accomplishments that women bring to the table beyond their looks.

In conclusion, encouraging women to participate in beauty pageants solely for the purpose of making their country proud can be seen as perpetuating bias, reinforcing restrictive beauty standards, and limiting the recognition of women's diverse contributions and abilities. We should all as a community strongly encourage programs like these to make more inclusive and empowering platforms that celebrate women for their achievements and talents that go beyond their physical appearance.

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If I say that this advertisement has a problem, many would frown. The majority probably sees no issue with this commercial, and this is precisely because our society is corrupted by stereotyped ideas. Therefore, people are not able to spot biases.

Having said that, I reckon that something is extremely wrong here.

This image shows a magazine of a supermarket which is promoting their construction tools, and the person using them is a man, every time. This fosters the idea that manual, constructive tasks are a masculine job.

In conclusion, if what is offered to us is never a woman using a drill or a hammer, we’ll preserve the conception of women as the “weak sex”, bound to the position of “angel of the home”.

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This picture is just one example of the many biased images the company “Schick“ decided to use in order to promote their razors.

This advertising picture, that could have been easily replaced by a non-offensive image, indeed depicts a bearded woman and describes her as “unkissable”, ridiculing her.

On the other hand, the previous image, which is taken from Gillette’s advertising campaign, strategically portrays a stereotypical masculine man who is surrounded by his well earned trophies and perpetrates the idea that shaving is a choice and way of invigorating and taking care of a man’s body and not an indicator of attractiveness, as it is to women.

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This picture represents the new meteo.it equipe, a everyday transmission which is followed by lot of people to be updated about the weather.

It depicts, as well, a big bias about women at work : they all are young, gorgeous and attractive, and they wear tight clothes which are not necessarily appropriate for this kind of workplace.

It represents the portrait of this generation, who does not possess enough attention to allow the constant following of the transmission, so directors put a speaker who’s able to catch the public eye.

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At first, this photo seems like a straightforward image of an advertisement for kitchen utensils that depicts a joyous and satisfied woman. But, if we analyze it carefully and deeply, it’s evident that this is a biased image. As a matter of fact, It's not that surprising that a female figure is shown in a kitchen.

The real problem presented here is the internalised conception that women are meant to stay in the kitchen. So it strongly concerns: Discrimination of women and social Restriction.

On one hand, it introduces the idea that women should stay in the kitchen and it perpetuates harmful stereotypes contributing to women discrimination. This narrow perspective undermines women’s aspirations and hinders progress towards gender equality.

On the other hand, it is strongly linked to social restriction, because women, despite possessing a wide range of talents and abilities like men, are not treated like them. Therefore, society imposes on them limitations and denies them the opportunity to contribute with their skills and talents in various fields.

However, as you can all imagine, the causes of these stereotypes had already started in the past. Effectively stereotypes have perpetuated the idea of women being confined to domestic roles, particularly in the kitchen.

For instance, during the Victorian age the family was a patriarchal unit, in which the husband represented the main authority and the role of women concerned the education of children and the management of the house.

So, it’s evident that the consideration of women as creatures destined to house management it’s something that has already been present in the past and a problem still present in our society nowadays.

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Highlighting the fact that not all families are perfect is crucial.

The portrayal of perfect families in advertisements often reflects an idealized version of reality, omitting the diverse and complex experiences that many families actually face.

Inclusivity allows people to see their own families with all their unique dynamics and embracing this diversity not only reflects the reality of modern family life but also fosters inclusivity, ensuring that everyone can relate to and feel represented in the stories told through advertising.

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Lego has created two branches: one dedicated to girls called Lego Friends and one dedicated to boys called Lego city. That is why this advertising emphasizes the gender difference.

Gender-based advertisements often reflect and perpetuate deep-seated stereotypes. These representations can significantly influence cultural perceptions, shaping social norms and limiting the range of interests and aspirations considered acceptable for each gender.

The evolution of gender-based advertisements should aim to represent a diverse range of interests, abilities, and roles for everyone, regardless of gender. A fair and inclusive approach in advertisements not only reflects the reality of human diversity but also contributes to promoting a more open, progressive society oriented toward equal opportunities for all.