Pick at least three prime time dramas or situation comedies and watch at least one episode per show (you may use one you have seen in the past as well). Use this exercise to study how gender roles are portrayed in the media. What where the common roles occupied by men and women? How did men and women interact with one another (equally or unequally)? With respect to gender, what were some of the general themes in the shows?

Gender Roles in the mediaPaper Details
Throughout the course, one important topic that keeps coming up is the issue of gender and gender roles. Based on the society you live in, you are socialized to behave in certain ways based on whether you’re male or female. And as we’ve mentioned, media plays an enormous role in how we define what is socially acceptable for both genders. In this essay, choose one television show or movie and examine how gender is used in this text. How does this piece of media reinforce mainstream gender roles? How does it subvert them? If someone from a different culture watched this show or movie, what would they understand about gender and sex in the United States? Do you feel this show/movie is an accurate representation of gender?

What I’d like you to do is really examine gender through this piece of media. Be a critical observer of the show/movie and analyze how gender functions. You can definitely use examples — that would make the essay stronger — but be sure that the examples are there to back up the argument you’re making.
write an essay of approximately 500-750 words (2-3 pages) answering these questions.