 Categorizing others is a part of human nature, and even as infants we divide the world into two groups—male and female—to help organize our reality. But when these stereotypes are used to make assumptions about a person’s character and value, they become gender bias or outright sexism. This program illustrates some of the commercial, cultural, psychological, and sociological forces that have shaped sexual stereotypes in the media, such as demographic segmentation and the selling of gender, the myths of alluring femininity and rugged masculinity, Jungian personality archetypes, consensus reality, stereotype threat, the hegemonic forces of agenda-setting and mainstreaming, body image dysfunctions, and the theory of the male gaze. A Films for the Humanities & Sciences Production. (38 minutes)
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