Stereotyping men & women in the media - which would you prefer?

Question

My perception of how women are stereotyped is of a 'sexualised' nature. Their sexuality is conveyed as 'Goddess sexuality' - the media spend stacks of cash in portraying the average woman as an absolute sexually desirable person.
Some feminists, however, see this as offensive and to a degree - I understand (I'd get tired of men being sexualised and never given credit for brains & such).

On the other hand, men are portrayed in one of two stereotypes: idiots who cannot do anything right without the help of an enduring wife, or paedophiles/ abusers of women & children (even though women actually outnumber men in terms of child abuse).

Which would you prefer to be stereotyped as:

Sexually (positively sexualized)
Abusive / Stupid

?


(I'm not looking for 'excuses' or copouts - just answers)

Zsasha - I undertand that (I agree too), but for sake of argument let's pretend you're forced to accept one - or the other. With no other options open - which would you choose ?

Sexy
Sexually & physically (and mentally, emotionally, financially, etc.) abusive?

One or the other?

Ave - thanks for the input (yes I have simplified the scenarios). To elaborate slightly though, I meant to ask it as:

"Which would you rather be portrayed as being 'representative of your gender' - abusive, or sexy?"

So, I may choose 'sexy' for myself - but would I want to see men repeatedly sexualised? Or you may choose 'abusive' for yourself, but would you want the media to portray the average woman as being abusive & idiotic?

Answer 1

Sexually in a positive way as when we look upon the statues of Diana and her mythological counterparts; now there is true beauty and art. I believe our bodies are an art form.

Answer 2

Don't forget the "alpha male" stereotype. You see plenty of him in the media as well, and most people view that stereotype favorably. I must say, it must be nice to have three different personality types to be pigeonholed into rather than just the one. Kidding!

Which one would I PREFER, though? I don't feel that it's the right phrasing of the question, I'm sorry. I don't like EITHER sex to be shoved into a tiny, restrictive little mould. I'd rather have fleshed-out and rounded characters that I can identify with in my TV shows and movies, and who have motivations that I can clearly understand. Normally, if character is driving plot, there is a problem. It should be the other way around; plot should drive character. In other words, silly, contrived situations and silly, contrived characters are not believable. The situation (plot) should unfold as it would, with the characters responding to it in a reasonable and understandable manner. If the stupidity or "quirkiness" or sexiness or absusiveness of a character is what creates conflict in a story, it feels cheap and derivative.

(That was something more of a "screenplay writing 101" answer rather than a G&WS answer, wasn't it? =P)

Your question was actually far simpler than I made it out to be, however, so I guess I'll take a crack at the binary option you've presented. I'd rather be perceived as abusive and stupid. Why, you ask? Because women never get to be abusive jerks or incompetent morons in the media. We're always sassy, sexually appealing, emotional (under the right conditions), and with totally pure motives. It would be nice to see the pot stirred up every once in a while. Why should guys be the only ones who get to behave badly?

EDIT: Well, I suppose if I had to choose for my entire sex, I'd go with sexy. I say that hesitantly, though, because sexy is largely physical, and not all of us were born with the same "sexy body type". Stupidity and/or abusiveness are character traits, though, which implies that there's something going on up north. What's going on up north isn't necessarily positive, but at least it's SOMETHING, you know?

Answer 3

Neither of those. I prefer men and women to be portrayed as *real* people, human beings who have the same issues as everyone else, not unrealistic expectations of what each gender should be like.

Edit: I'm a woman and if I must choose one, it would be "abusive and stupid". I'd like to see how it feels if the shoe were on the other foot.

Answer 4

First of all...I wouldn't say the media portrays the "average woman" as being a sexually desirable person...the media places hand picked, airbrushed, sexually desirable women on pedestals...and attempts to seduce or shame the average woman into becoming the gorgeous sex goddess that society craves.

I do agree that often men are portrayed as stupid and useless without their women...or abusive/pervs.

Sad...very sad.
Edit: Oh....to answer your question....I would rather be portrayed as sexual than stupid or abusive.

Answer 5

Given only that, I would rather be sexualized.. but there is more to the picture than that.

Girls are taught from a young age that our bodies are never good enough. We have young girls that are supposed to be enjoying their childhood going on diets and asking "am I fat?". I think the idea that our bodies are never good enough is one of the main root causes of anorexia [or at least anorexia in girls, I believe that 10-15 percent of anorexics are guys, I've heard].
And the way we are sexualized is not always in a positive light, keep that in mind aswell.
So yeah, with the whole picture there it's not so easy to choose.

And yes, as Zshasha said, I would rather be portrayed as an actual human being.. Not a sex object or an idiot.

Answer 6

Sexually (positively sexualized)
Abusive / Stupid

What kind of choices are those? Id rather not be portrayed at all if i'm either gonna be a sex object or abusive and stupid. I guess id rather be abusive or stupid rather than be looked at as a piece of meat.

Answer 7

Idk but I have had men who dated me because I am lighter than some. Obviously I'm not dating them anymore. Personally I date will date any dude that I have a strong connection with(plus some other stuff but I'm not gonna sit here and list it). Skin color and such don't really matter. I didn't really grow up with that issue because most of my family it is darker women with lighter men very rarely is it the other way around.

Answer 8

Good points, each and every in it's own right has merits. Personally I would much rather just stereotype the print media with comments scrawled on the wall of the local public toilet. Yes. I blame them that much for all the divisiveness and animosity they have caused in order to sell news papers!

Answer 9

stupid.