Stereotypes of Women Perpetuated by the Media as Observed Its Members
 Stereotypes in the media have existed for almost as long as the media itself has existed, creating within society a belief that many of the stereotypes seen in the media hold true to real life.  Perhaps Will Rogers unknowingly described Western society's mentality best when he said, "All I know is what I read in the papers."
 Reflections of the stereotypes of women that are now being perpetuated by the media can be seen wherever one looks in society today.  In the media, women for the most part are shown in one of two roles: the housewife or the sex object.  On television, in magazines, in the newspaper, and in advertisements, women are either associated with cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the family (the housewife stereotype) or, because of their perfect teeth and hair, tall and thin bodies, and clear skin (the sex object stereotype), they are associated with beauty products and other products which usually aren't linked to intelligence.
These media stereotypes have led to many real-life problems.  Women today are almost always dissatisfied with some aspect of their appearance or personality.  If it isn't height, it's weight.  If it isn't weight, it's eye color.  If it isn't eye color, it's chest size.  And so on.  In addition, media stereotypes lead to misperceptions by men of women.  If men see women portrayed as housewives or sex objects in the media, they are more likely to associate women with these roles in real life.  In short, these stereotypes lead to lower self-esteem in women, and less regard for women by men.  However, although there are many writers who recognize media stereotypes as damaging to members of society, there are also writers who feel that the media has little effect on people's beliefs, and that rather, people form beliefs, and media is just a reflection of these beliefs.

Helen Ingham discusses this debate in her paper entitled, "The Portrayal of Women on Television."  Ingham questions whether television reflects the world as it is, or dictates it, and comes to the conclusion that television does the dictating, rather than the reflecting.  Using arguments that run consistent throughout the writings of all proponents of this theory, Ingham discovers that television presents a very masculine perspective to its audience.  She feels that in advertising, and on shows, women are again placed into two sets of stereotypes-the sex object or the housewife.  In addition, Ingham states that if women are indeed shown in a position of authority, it is often portrayed as unnatural.  She also asserts that women are given contradictory messages by the media, and made to feel guilty if they are unable to live up to the stereotypes set for them.  However, Ingham does admits that some of the roles that women are given in the media are accurate portrayals of their roles in real life (the single mother, the career woman, the domestic woman, the beautiful woman, etc.).  She just feels that some of these roles are made out to be negative, thus giving women who fit these roles a negative impression of themselves.

In her essay, "Sex, Lies, and Advertising", Gloria Steinem addresses the issue of gender stereotyping in magazine advertisements from the viewpoint of editor of Ms. Magazine.  Steinem asserts that in advertising, authority figures were practically always male, and women were always either sex objects draped over automobiles, or housewives at work.  In addition, she feels that advertisers perpetuate stereotypes by essentially censoring the editorial content of magazines, and by dictating where their ads are placed within the magazine layout. Through Steinem's essay, she brings across the point that advertisers use unrealistic images to sell products, and inadvertently affect the ideas women have about what they should ideally look like in the process.  In addition, she states that editors of women's magazines are hesitant to conduct in-depth discussions of serious issues due to the powerful grip that advertisers hold over the content placed in the magazines.
Susan Douglas takes Steinem's arguments even farther in her book, Where the Girls Are, which discusses what it was like to grow up in the 60s with the mass media.  Douglas emphasizes that during the 1960s, the media created a new negative stereotype of women-that of the feminist as an aggressive man-hater.  She also feels that the mass media has turned women into "cultural schizophrenics" who are confused as to whether they should rebel against the gender stereotypes set forth by the media, or whether they should conform to them.  This is due to the double standards set by the media.  On one hand, women are encouraged to be "sex objects" or "housewives", while on the other hand, the media has also pushed women to be "rebellious, tough, enterprising, and shrewd."  Essentially, according to Douglas, women and the media are involved in a love-hate relationship, as the media is constantly presenting women with deceptions and truths, entertainment and misery, morals and immorality, and right and wrong.  Douglas also feels that media does not reflect reality, rather media structures reality.  Therefore, media creates the stereotypes that then become societal norms.

"The Social Construction of Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality" also argues that the role that women play in society is socially constructed.  This is to say, women are once again described as being thrown into two contradictory roles at once: both being asked to play homemaker and breadwinner, empathizer and disciplinarian, yet being forced by society to live up to high standards in both areas.  Once again, these standards are set by the media, which has stereotyped women into such contradictory roles that women are unable to figure out exactly what role it is that they are supposed to play.

However, according to the Media Report To Women, although the media does reinforce, and create, many stereotypes, it is also breaking others.  The report states that though women are more likely to be depicted as more interested in romance and appearances than in academics, the media also shows women using intelligence and being independent.  In reinforcing stereotypes, it was found that women are less likely to be shown as employed, more likely to be found discussing romantic relationships, and concerned with appearances.  In addition, women lacked representation in all forms of media except teen magazines, where they are in the majority.  The report also discusses how these stereotypes affect children who are exposed to the media in any of its many forms.  The majority of the girls surveyed expressed a desire to look like a television character and felt that there aren't enough good role models for females on television.  Most of the girls and boys in the study were found to think that females seen in the media are more attractive than women are in real life, and that women in the media are often portrayed as worrying about their looks and how much they weigh, being weak, and crying and whining a great deal.  These ideas, which children between the ages of 10 and 17 have inferred from their experience with the media, are somewhat concerning.  There is an obvious link made between stereotypes presented in the media and ideas formed by viewers through the results of this survey.

So far, according to the writers, it seems that media serves a dual purpose.  It reflects some aspects of society, and introduces some new aspects into society.  However in "Carnival Culture" by James Twitchell, Twitchell feels that for media to survive, it must be a reflection of society, or else it would cease to exist.  He believes that society has become less intelligent over time, and that media reflects this decrease in intellectualism.  In fact, Twitchell goes so far as to say that society has a greater impact on shaping the media than media has on shaping society.  If this is the case, then Twitchell would probably also believe that society creates the stereotypes that are then reflected in the media.  Thus, men and women would already have an idea of what women should ideally look and act like, and the media would just portray these images.

The feelings on whether media creates stereotypes or merely reflects them vary greatly, as is shown by the authors above.  Some feel that media is completely responsible for the stereotypes of women present in society today, while others feel that the stereotypes are a combination of input from media and society, and others think that society is completely responsible for the stereotypes present in our culture, and that media merely reflects this fact.  However, regardless of how the stereotypes have come about, one fact remains true: The stereotypes do exist, and are a problem, because they have a strong impact on the self-esteem of women.  For this reason, the source of the stereotypes must be found, and the stereotypes must be destroyed.