Gender Roles in Society

Gender Roles in Society Meghan FindleyComm 1010August 7, 2007Gender Ads; The Sexes In The Cross HairsThe 21st century has brought and evolved new styles of communication that has shaped the way our society thinks, behaves, and lives. A large influence that has existed throughout the creation of mass media has been gender roles. The evolution of our society has also caused the gender roles within mass media to also evolve. Mass and mediated communication have become the number one source for the public to witness these gender roles created by companies paying to display their message. Females in ads portray the roles of strippers, mothers, business women, and the single, money spending girl. Men are portrayed as businessmen, either blue or white collar, athletes, truck owners, or tobacco using cowboys. The media creates or uses well known stereotypes about the different sexes to target specific consumers in order to get their attention.Sarah Jessica Parker at the 2009 Tribeca Film Fest...Companies distribute the existence of their products using mediated communication. Mediated communication uses electronic texts to create some type of symbolism to the viewers. The process these companies distribute their messages over large distances to large groups of people by the means of modern technology is called mass communication. Professionals have mastered the use of mass and mediated communication. These types of communication is the basis on how individuals receive and precept the gender roles created by advertising agencies for these specific companies. Each product seen on television or the internet has a target. Companies know what men, women, and children want for the most part, and they will do whatever they can in order to cause the consumers desire to rise to a point where they must buy the product.Women have a very diverse role in advertising. Agenda settings are mastered by advertising agencies. They determine...

Take Care with Dysphemisms

Take Care with Dysphemisms Take Care with Dysphemisms Take Care with Dysphemisms By Mark Nichol You probably know what a euphemism is: putting lipstick on a pig, as in using the expression â€Å"pass away† in place of the word die, or â€Å"enhanced interrogation† instead of torture. Is dysphemism essentially, the opposite concept any more problematic? Just as a euphemism cloaks a disagreeable or offensive concept with an innocuous or vague label, dysphemism assigns a mildly or scathingly pejorative term to a concept or person that may be considered neutral or positive or may already have a negative connotation or reputation. For example, doctors are sometimes called quacks, and psychiatrists and psychologists are often referred to as shrinks. (Quack derives from quacksalver, from a Dutch word meaning â€Å"seller of salves,† or ointments; quack is equivalent to hawk, a verb meaning â€Å"to sell by calling out.† Shrink is a truncation of â€Å"head shrinker,† from the idea that mental health professionals are no more knowledgeable about the mind than witch doctors who shrink human heads for ritualistic purposes.) Shrink is often used inoffensively, even by psychiatric patients or by psychiatrists themselves. But quack denotes an unscrupulous doctor or someone posing as a doctor or otherwise fraudulently offering to heal others and is rarely used jocularly. Because of the variable connotations among dysphemisms, writers should take care when considering whether to use them. Such terms are unlikely to appear in formal writing, but they may show up in more casual prose, especially in opinionated comments. An accountant might, in jest, refer to himself as a bean counter, but the connotation is of an excessively meticulous person unable to focus on anything other than saving money, and the term is generally offensive. An attorney, on the other hand, would never call herself a shyster, even in a moment of levity, and the word is provocative. â€Å"City slicker†? I’m a relative newcomer to a rural area from a metropolitan one, and I might jokingly self-identify as such, but for anyone else who might think of calling me that, as the (mis)quote from a Gary Cooper movie goes, â€Å"Mister, smile when you call me that.† The same policy applies to tree-hugger or redneck, bookworm or â€Å"frat boy,† â€Å"pencil pusher† or â€Å"talking head†: Use with caution. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Business Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Comparative Forms of AdjectivesTop 11 Writing Apps for iOS (iPhone and iPad)Ebook, eBook, ebook or e-book?