Nowadays, people are paying more attention on sex, gender and feminism than before. More and more feminists emerge, hoping to eliminate the gender stereotype, and win a higher social status for women. However, it is not easy to achieve gender equality with the influence of mass media and their reports, which contribute towards people’s perception of gender stereotypes.
According to Bullen (149), one person would be exposed to approximately 16000 ads and news reports a day, from which they tend to fit in the gender stereotype showing what men and women should be, without realizing themselves being affected by mass media.
Then, in what ways do the news reports people read daily show and express gender stereotypes? In news reports sentences, transitivity, referring to who does what to whom and how, usually express an attitude towards gender stuff.
Girl, 7, murdered while mom drank at the pub.
(Sun, 20 December 1986)
This headline expresses two things: girl murdered and mom drank. With the murderer, the murder action’s actor, completely omitted, this kind of words arrange implies that the mom is the one to blame, because she was in the pub where she should not have been to. The gender stereotype shown in this report is that the only right thing for women to do is care and nurture, rather than going to pub and having fun. Nurturing is women’s compulsory responsibility and women who do not nurture would get more blame than a murderer – that is the horrible gender stereotype disseminated from this kind of news reports.
Omitting the identity of abuser while reinforcing the characteristics of the victim turns public attention to the victim.
A scantily dressed young woman was raped at night.
(Liaoning Evening, 2 August 2015)
Similar as the previous one, with the actor, the murderer being omitted and description being made of how improper the young woman wore, the news implied that the young woman is not blameless for her being raped. And it might scare the readers that if women wear scantily, she would be the one to blamed for whatever happened. Or even nothing happens, it is regarded as inappropriate. Therefore, the gender stereotype expressed in this news report is that , for women, dress conservatively means dress proper.
According to Simpson (80), much media language is constructed based on the concept of ‘essentialist’ of women. This is the notion that women tend to care and nurture but not to do something violent. If women do not conform to cultural stereotypes of motherhood, caring and monogamy, they would be treated especially harshly by the mass media. In this way, huge influences were made on people’s perceptions on gender stereotypes.
Rebecca, Bullen, R. R. “The power and impact of gender specific media literacy.” Youth Media Reporter, vol. 4, no.2, 2009, pp. 149-152.
Simpson, Paul, et al. Language and power: A resource book for students. Routledge, 2018, pp. 73-80.
Talmadge, Guy. “Learning who we (and they) are: popular culture as pedagogy.” New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, vol. 115, no. 7, 2007, pp. 15-23.
Nowadays, many people want to start a business, own their own company or brand, etc. There are a lot of discussions in the society about whether a man or a woman would be the best entrepreneurs. Well, it depends. Entrepreneurs should have some common characteristics and advantages in order to become entrepreneurs.
As for whether gender is a big variable, I don’t think so. However, I am sure that entrepreneurs of both sexes do approach things differently.
I found that when the media interviewed these entrepreneurs of different genders, the style of writing and the words used were very different as well as the ideological significance hidden behind their language from the perspective of critical discourse analysis (CDA).
Here some of my findings are as follows.
In men’s reports, the language of praise is very ornate and complex, even exaggerated. In addition to adjectives, strong verbs express the hardships and achievements of starting a business.
Here is a video link about an interview with Jack Ma. His conversations with the host were humorous and often made the audience laugh which shows a relaxed and cheerful atmosphere and the compliments from those around him. (start from 6’58’’)
However, in women’s reports, apart from some statements of achievement, great attention is paid to the women’s origin and family. These are rarely reported by men. (Mark Zuckerberg reports that his wife is mentioned, but only briefly as his wife.)
In most men’s reports, the active voice is used, while in many women’s, the passive voice is used, or object is used.
The World Bank earlier in October this year had launched a new women’s entrepreneurship fund, conceived by Ivanka Trump…
…where she was invited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the White House…
Here, as we all know, the active voice is mostly positive, while the passive voice is mostly negative and mistrustful. So here, men report using the active voice more often than women to acknowledge their achievements.
As for Zuckerberg’s permanent plaid shirt, the report said Zuckerberg is a thrifty man or a saver. But when it comes to Ivanka, a lot of reports will firstly describe her clothes, figure and makeup.
The society as a whole expects women to look better than men, especially public figures. As a result, women spend more time on their appearance than men, in addition to the entrepreneur’s own business.
In conclusion, there are some traits that have been identified in these reports as shared by both men and women who become entrepreneurs. They are generally more energetic and willing to take risks than others. Entrepreneurs usually have good self-control. They believe they can control their own destiny and have a vision.
Men are reported as being more willing to take risks and make decisions more easily than women. Men are more focused on their careers and women are more focused on relationships (family, negotiations). Female entrepreneurs, on the other hand, bear more family responsibilities and social pressure. They must be sociable, open-minded, energetic and able to share power. As a result, in some surveys, women entrepreneurs are more conservative (Zwilling, M. 2010).
For women, there are more barriers. Women may not have the experience and training that enabled them to succeed that their male counterparts had. Some Banks may have less confidence in female entrepreneurs than male ones. In some cultures, women are not seen as equal to men, and they are not given the resources that businesses need.
But through the reports I mentioned above, their admiration for female entrepreneurs can also be seen, and gradually accept the achievements of women (the case of Dong Mingzhu, in her report, gives a very objective account of her personal experience and achievements.) Hopefully in the future, successful entrepreneurs will not be discriminated against by their gender.
References:
Hayfaa A. Tlaiss & Saleema Kauser (2019) Entrepreneurial Leadership, Patriarchy, Gender, and Identity in the Arab World: Lebanon in Focus, Journal of Small Business Management, 57:2, 517-537, DOI: 10.1111/jsbm.12397
Vishal K. Gupta, Alice M. Wieland. (2018, December 4). Gender Characterizations in Entrepreneurship: A Multi‐Level Investigation of Sex‐Role Stereotypes about High‐Growth, Commercial, and Social Entrepreneurs. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jsbm.12495
The culture of Disney princesses has been globally pervasive for years and it shapes how people see the world. Promoting unrealistic fairy tales, the films are often criticized as reinforcing gender stereotypes. The power imbalance between princesses and male characters is obvious in terms of the ideology of gender performances. Other stereotypical linguistic features are also observable in Disney movies. For examples, the princesses use tag questions frequently, they discuss feelings a lot, and they tend to be submissive in the interactions with men.
The animated Princess Jasmine has been intelligent and witty in Aladdin (1992). Nevertheless, it is still considered to be an underdeveloped and passive role. When it comes to the live-action remake, it is surprisingly to see how the character evolves. Princess Jasmine becomes much aspired and stronger. To examine how Princess Jasmine from the animation is empowered in the 2019 Aladdin, selected lyrics of the new solo “Speechless” are analyzed with a critical discourse analysis. Furthermore, the linguistics features of Princess Jasmines in the two movies are compared, both quantitatively and qualitatively.
Analysis on “Speechless”
The lyrics in the second verse and chorus of the song are analyzed descriptively, interpretatively and explanatively.
The second verse talks about the rules “being written” for centuries and unbendingly. The use of passive directs the attention to the agent who performs the action. The desperation of Princess Jasmine being powerless to change the law to marry a prince and not to be the sultan is expressed. Her destiny is dictated.
In the chorus, Princess Jasmine says that she won’t “be silenced” and won’t “tremble” and “go speechless”. The shift from passive voice to active voice indicates the reinforcement to herself and her determination to have a voice and to speak up.
b. Direct quotes
“Stay in your place” and “Better seen and not heard” is directly quoted from the character Jafar who is the oppressor to Princess Jasmine. The quoting reveals her anger and dissatisfactions to be condescended.
c. Pronouns
The pronouns “I” and “you” are used to refer to Princess Jasmine herself and the men, such as Jafar and the Sultan. The use of pronouns is indicated as a command of Princess Jasmine to the men to treat her ideals to be worth the consideration. She withholds the permission from them to keep her silenced.
d. Repetition
The word “speechless” and the clause “I know that I won’t go speechless” are repeated in the chorus. The thesis of the speaker Princess Jasmine is stressed on. She reaffirms herself not to stay alive without a voice, and she is confident to speak up for herself, for examples who to marry to, and for the country, that she can be a good leader.
e. Metaphor
The obstacles to get Princess Jasmine’s voice being heard is implied as “storm”. However, the speaker states “no” to refuse being alive as unspoken.
2. Ideology Shift (Explanatory analysis)
The core value of Princess Jasmine endeavouring to fight for true love is shifted into the striving to be a female leader of a kingdom. In Aladdin (1992), Princess Jasmine rebels mostly for marrying a Prince, such as she states, “If I do marry, I want it to be for love”. It complies with traditional gender stereotypes – that female tends to speak about relationships and feelings. While in the live action remake (2019), Princess Jasmine instead criticizes on the forced condescendence by men though “Speechless”. She demonstrates her political ambitions and protests on the forbiddance of females becoming a sultan, the leader of her kingdom. There is a shift of goals and subject matter in her speeches. The traditional gender performance is as well broken down. The song has been the power reclamation of Princess Jasmine. In the 1992 movie, she does not rebut when Jafar describes her as “speechless”. Notwithstanding, the power imbalance between men and women in the context of Agrabah is challenged in her solo.
Analysis on linguistics features
Source: Entertainment Weekly
The linguistics features of Princess Jasmine’s speech are categorized into four groups according to the three-wave movement of feminism, from the Deficit group (e.g. talkativeness, weakness), the D/D group (e.g. tag questions, empty adjective, hedges), the Difference group (e.g. sharing problems, offering to help) to the New group (e.g. interruption, imperative forms, disagree). The degree of power is of ascending order from the Deficit group to the New group. The numbers of the linguistics features demonstrated in the two versions of movies are measured and compared.
In Aladdin (1992), the dominant group of characteristics identified is the D/D group. Princess Jasmine uses the forms of questions, empty adjectives and rising intonation turning an utterance into a question most frequently in her speeches (43%). On the contrary, the New group becomes dominant in the 2019 live action remake (51%). The usage of interruption and disagreeing increases for a great proportion.
On the other hand, there are other distinctive features identified in Princess Jasmine’s speeches in Aladdin (2019), they are as follows:
1. Usage of Direct, Face-to-face Insults/ Irony
source: Pinterest
In the animation, Princess Jasmine insults the princes, the candidates to be her husband, by indirect and satirical commenting in front of her father. Moreover, she uses the tactic shouting to express her anger.
Source: PopSugar
Contrastively, she confronts the princes directly with insults in the live action movie, such as “We have that same title yet are never described the same way”, which are less likely to be ignored. This places her in a more favorable position in rejecting the prince. She also insults Prince Ali with question like “Are you suggesting I am for sale?” This works to devalue the morality of the other speakers and thus weaken the power of theme in the negotiation.
In Aladdin (1992), Jasmine refuses to listen to Jafar’s command when he turns into a sultan by shouting and disagreeing – “We will never bow to you!” While in the 2019 movie, she reacts with the challenge on the Institutional Status in the lengthy monologue. She doubts the surface meaning and dependence of the institutional status of the Sultan, “Our greatest challenge isn’t speaking up against our enemies, but defying those whose approval we seek the most”. The presumed power gradient according to the institutional status is challenged. And that to “defy” unreasonable order and controls is emphasized. This is seemingly a stronger way to resist to power and defend her rights.
All in all, Princess Jasmine is highly empowered in the live action remake of Aladdin with the new solo “Speechless” and strengthened speeches. Not only does she reclaim the power to be heard, she also speaks up to be a leader.
An institution is defined as “an interlocking double-structure of persons-as-role-holders or office-bearers and the like, and of social practices involving both expressive and practical aims and outcomes”. In institutional talks, there are asymmetrical speaking rights and obligations for the two sides. The asymmetry in power is demonstrated through the ability for the one of the higher rank to discipline, regulate, or even punish the lower rank. This asymmetry of power could be observed in the interactions between citizens and officers of different police institutions in different countries.
The Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF), with no exceptions, has demonstrated institutional talks on multiple occasions towards local citizens. Since June 2019, there has been a wave of democratic movements in Hong Kong. There are frequent conflicts between HKPF and local protestors or citizens. During the conflicts, there are several recurring features in the discourse between the male officers and female citizens.
Tin1 si2 means “angel” in Cantonese. However, in Hong Kong, the word has an overtone, meaning “young females that provide sexual services”. The term is first introduced by Fanny Law, member of the Executive Council, stated on air publicly that she received confirmed information about the so-called “frontline angels” in the movements. The concept of “frontline angels” has been circulated among the pro-government camps. Since then, the term tinsi has frequently been used to insult female pro-democratic protesters.
Term 2: Liberal cunt (自由閪 / zi6 jau4 hai1)
The term zi6 jau4 hai1 was first used by an officer of the Special Tactical Squad (STS) of HKPF in June 2019. This is a combination of “freedom / liberal” and “cunt” in Cantonese. In Cantonese, “閪” is a profane word with the meaning of vulva, which could be directly translated into the swear word “cunt” in English. Recorded in a video clip, the STS officer shouted the term towards the crowd of protesters, who were behind a locked glass door of a shopping mall.
(source: vechk.wikia.org)
Different from the first term angel, this term includes a Cantonese swear word. This could be identified as abusive swearing. According to Pinker (2007), it is used with the intention to offend, intimidate, or cause harm emotionally or psychologically to the target listener.
Content: Verbal Assault
Verbal assault could be observed in the above examples. Bosch (2004) suggests that the methods of verbal assault are used in order to weaken, control, and manipulate another person to create shame, humiliation, hurt, and anger.
The name-calling strategy is used by the HKPF officers by assigning names with sexual overtones like “angel” or “liberal cunt” to female citizens, the HKPF officers’ attempts of belittling their target through the sexual aspect.
Content: Control of Topic
According to Bajner (2006), men are trained to capture power in their interactions, therefore they tend to make attempts to control the topic, even when they only have limited knowledge about the topic. In addition to the institutional power they have as police officers, there are obvious attempts for the male HKPF officers in trying to control the topic. Despite the aim of their speeches is to command the citizens to leave, the irrelevant and sex-related words like “angel”, “cunt” are used by them. Their identities as police officers and male are advantageous for them to control the topic more easily, especially for the act of redirecting the topic from requests for citizens to leave to groundless sexual accusations towards female citizens. By the topic redirection towards the aspect of sex, the male officers of HKPF were in the upper hand in the conversations.
Conclusion
There is a tendency for male officers of the HKPF to employ speeches with sexual overtones towards female citizens. Both verbs (“get fucked”) and nouns (“cunt”, “angel”) used in their speeches are sexually provoking. These preferences of words could be seen as a demonstration of the power of the identities as male police officers.
From the language used by the HKPF in the conversations with female citizens, there are demonstrations of power as both a police officer and a male in the society. These cases have provided evidence of the existence of verbal assault from the officers of the HKPF towards the local citizens, especially towards females. Female citizens, as the disadvantaged side in the asymmetry of power in the aspect of institution and sex, became the easy target of verbal assault of the HKPF officers.
Men and women have different social identity so there are different positions of power in society. This position of power is reflected in the discourse to form different gendered languages. A lot of people have these stereotypes: Politeness and talkativeness are female. Analysis and laconicism are male. But they are not accurate. As Fairclough (2001) stated, ideology is closely linked with power, the essence of ideology is rooted in the power relationship behind certain conventions which takes the difference in these rights as a matter of course, a common behavior. And language, as the most common form of social behavior, is closely connected with ideology. People’s classification of male and female language characteristics is always associated with certain social status and gender ideology. You can see how such stereotypes are maintained and challenged in the following part.
Why people think women are more talkative?
Ke and Zhuang (2001) showed the differences in topic preferences between genders. It is pointed out that women tend to look for personal topics while men seek direct information. Direct information filters out overlapping and unnecessary emotional vocabulary so reduce the amount of conversation. On the contrary, chatting is the main way women get information, they use many words to express emotions for support and confirmation when talking personal topics.
The case of gender and amount of talk being linked indirectly rather than directly: the more direct link is with status (Cameron, 2007). Because the dominance of men in society is reflected through the use of self-affirming language strategies such as indicative language. This reflects their interest in gaining and maintaining status. Women’s relative subordination and traditional caregiver roles are expressed through subordinating language strategies such as support and agreement. It reflects their commitment to equality. Additionally, in public places, people with greater power have more right to speak, men generally speak more in this situation, while women are more silent, so the image of women in the eyes of the public should be quieter. Therefore, even if men and women speak the same amount, people still think women are more talkative.
Why do people think women language is more polite than men’s?
More rigorous behavior is often accompanied by stronger affiliation. Women are usually in a secondary position relative to men, and because of the higher level of politeness from the bottom up it is considered that women ’s speech are more polite.
The cultivation of men and women ’s roles is by social structures. The behavior of women should reflect the corresponding image of polite and gentle, while the behavior of men should be responsible and strong. These image requirements will affect their language patterns. As Smith and Nancy (1988) stated, Javanese men and women are arranged to speak different languages on different occasions according to their social status. For example, wives are required to use polite language to their husbands and husbands use a less polite form to show their family status and power within family circle. It is worth nothing that husbands describe their wives’ verbal behavior to them as deferential rather than polite in Javanese. Therefore, polite norms can mean humility or respect, but also status and power. Meanwhile, women in Malagasy are not as polite as men because it is a manifestation of their status lower than men. It is what society demands of them. We can see that the code of politeness is not decrypted by gender, but more related to social structure and public power.
In all, when we talk about the language characteristics of men and women, we cannot just talk about the differences between men and women. As shown by a large number of studies, we discuss them with social structure and status because some of the characteristics are the gender language brought by the social and cultural shaping of gender roles stereotypes. The issue of language differences between men and women a matter of power relations. Only when we thoroughly understand the different social attitudes and demands on men and women, as well as the unequal social status, can we know the source of stereotypes. Stereotypes are usually not true portrayals but a simplified classification, and these simplified classifications are closely related to cultural hegemony. Stereotypes can be regarded as a kind of social control which is not rigid, but controlled in a manner agreed by the public.
Toys are the first avenues of experience for children and contribute to many aspects of childhood development by equipping them with a range of physical, cognitive, and social skills (Maccoby, 1998; Reich, Black and Foliaki, 2018). In recent years, however, there has been a significant increase in gendered toys. Among all, The LEGO® Group was criticised for deviating from its traditional gender-neutral marketing ever since its release of the girls’ line LEGO®Friends in 2012. This consequently cultivates stereotypical gender schema in children and perpetuates the prescribed gender roles across generations.
Significance of studying gender stereotyping in children’s toys
The explicit and implicit messages about gender roles in relation to toy play that children received from various socialising agents (e.g. media, parents, and peers) will replicate and reinforce their stereotypical gender schemas for fulfilling the cultural and social expectations of appropriate gender roles and behaviours, which will then be passed on to the next generation. Having identified such an urgent need to stop the permeance of gendered toys in the market, we should take a closer look at LEGO®’s gender-typed advertising of LEGO® Friends through the lens of Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MCDA).
Check this out:
Advertising Video 1 (Ad1): LEGO® Friends Rebrick
Advertising Video 2 (Ad2): LEGO® Friends x五個小孩的「正」綱
MCDA of two Facebook advertising videos of LEGO® Friends
Explicit gender labels
Adjectives
Examples in Advertising Video 1 (Ad1) of LEGO® Friend:
係女仔都想變靚啲，高踭鞋就最Lady!
All girls want to become prettier, like a lady wearing high heels.
佢成日笑到甜絲絲，不如送佢set High Tea?
Let’s prepare her a tea set that resembles her sweet smile!
The positive adjectives “prettier” (comparative form) and “sweet” are used to highlight pretty look and sweet temperament as desirable qualities of girls depicted by the mini-dolls in LEGO® Friends (see Fig. 1.1). This echoes the prevalence of toy make-up kits and dress-up play in the toy sets of LEGO® Friends.
In Advertising Video 2 (Ad2), “wasteful” (see Fig. 1.2) connotes the undesirable behaviour of wasting food. Given a cross-cultural tendency for children to imitate same gender models, the negative image of a “big waster” is demonstrated by a male mini-doll instead of the female protagonists in LEGO® Friends to avoid girls identifying with such bad behaviour. This negatively affects children’s perception of the opposite sex (as shown in Fig. 1.2, the girls despise the male mini-doll portrayed as a ‘big waster’).
Pronouns and collective nouns
Examples in Ad1 (female pronouns):
佢最愛中華白海豚，就砌個海豚樂園比佢喇!
She loves dolphins. Let’s build her a dolphin cruiser!
係?佢好似中意貓咪，貓咪屋岩玩啲!
Really? I think she likes cats, a cat’s playground sounds better!
The prevalent use of female pronouns (e.g. she, her) helps girls identify with the caregiving and animal-loving characteristic portrayed by the mini-dolls in the advertised toy set, which echoes the historical gender segregation of boys’ versus girls’ toys with the breadwinner versus caregiver model.
On the other hand, the use of deictic pronouns (e.g. we, you) and collective nouns (e.g. girls) also serves to cultivate a sense of participation and collectivism in the process of gender identification through toy play.
Examples in Ad1 (deictic pronouns):
我地比啲surprise佢囉！
Let’s (let us) give her a big surprise!
咁索性砌番間屋仔，入面賣雞蛋仔囉！
Why don’t we build a snack shop and sell egg waffles?
The use of the deictic pronouns allows the ad the sound more inviting as if the target audience (i.e. girls) are also taking part in the social conversation and activities performed by the mini-dolls in the ad.
Examples in Ad1 (collective nouns):
係女仔都想變靚啲，高踭鞋就最Lady!
All girls want to become prettier, like a lady wearing high heels.
Example in Ad2 (collective noun):
The use of the collective noun “girls” makes LEGO® Friends stands out as a girls’ toy and exclues boys from the toy play experience demonstrated in the ad. In Ad1, viewers’ attention is drawn to the aforementioned gender ideology on girls’ appearance and attractiveness. In Ad2, the slogan (see Fig. 1.3) highlights the creative and imaginative power of girls and keeps in line with LEGO® ’s mission of developing children as “creative, engaged, lifelong learners” (The LEGO Foundation, 2017). However, it also places boys in a disadvantaged position to be engaged in the creative and imaginative play opportunities brought by the LEGO® Friends series.
Implicit gender labels
Colour
The trend of “pinkification” in children’s toys not only attracts girls to toys designed and packaged with pastel colours, but also discourages boys to avoid playing with pinkified toys regardless of which gender it has been marked with.
Examples of pinkification in LEGO® Friends and its ads:
The use of a range of pastel colours (with pink and purple as the theme colours) are showcased in both product design and visual representation of the advertisements. In Ad1 (see Fig. 2.1), Pinkification is manifested in toys’ packaging, outfits of mini-dolls, and the decorative style of the room where the advertising video was filmed (i.e. pink pillow and purple wall). In Ad2, the interviewed girls dressed in outfits of pastel colours (and dresses, of course) to fit into the gender norms of girl fashion.
Font style
Past research suggested that script type fonts are associated with femininity, while display type fonts are associated with masculinity. In Fig 2.7, LEGO® Friends’ logo features a cursive and script type font coloured in purple with pink shades. The dot in ‘i’ appears in heart shape alongside the butterfly on top of ‘s’. This logo design captures the essence of femininity, thus serves as a subtle yet effective gendering tool for meeting the purpose of gendered marketing.
Product design
Mini-dolls as gender models
The mini-dolls in LEGO® Friends (see Fig 1.1) deviate from the appearance of the traditional LEGO® minifigs in that they are less blocky in body shape, looking more humanlike and stylish with the refined details of facial expressions, facial make-up and fashionable accessories. These stereotypical mini-dolls also mark distinction in gender roles, exemplify gender-appropriate activities, and influence children’s visions of their adult roles in both workplace and family contexts.
Suggested activities for play
Historically, feminine toys place an emphasis on nurturing and domesticity by engaging players in feminised labor and household activities that include baking and serving food, as well as caregiving (both human and animals). Later on with the prevalence of fashion dolls in the market, elements of glamour, entertainment and socialising are also recognised as common features in feminine toys. With all these markers of suggested activities for play shared among girls’ toys, children are directed to replicate and adopt the historical gender norms such as women domesticity and pursuit of beauty.
Examples in Ad 1:
In Fig 4.1, leisure and entertainment are highly recognised in different toy sets of the LEGO® Friends series. For instance, Ad1 showcases toy sets of a cafe, two playgrounds, and a dolphin cruiser, which seem to present leisure and socialising activities as the only options for girls’ play.
Examples in Ad2:
Fig 4.2 captures the enjoyment of the girls who are engaged in cooperative play in building and decorating the doll’s house with their peers. From their smiles and laughters, a friendly relationship between the girls is observed and it echoes the name of the LEGO® Friends series. However, Ad2 is still considered gender-typed in a way that it includes girls as the only participants in cooperative toy play. As much as how it may reinforce the feminine roles of caregiving, socialising, and domestic labouring in girls, Ad2 excludes boys’ participation in these activities and exploits their showcase of creativity and imagination through cooperative toy play with LEGO® Friends.
Implications and conclusion
Toys reinforce and perpetuate segregation of gender, as demonstrated in the above discussions of plentiful semiotic resources (e.g. language, colour, font style and product design) used in two advertising videos of LEGO® Friends. Although LEGO® ’s marketing has foregrounded caregiving, domesticity, entertainment and cooperative relationships as the core values of creative toy play, these values could be gender-biased when manifested in gendered marketing of toys that consequently leads to children’s limited play experiences and exacerbates the segregation and asymmetry of gender in adulthood. As more mature members in the society, we are responsible for limiting, monitoring, and challenging children’s exposure to different mediums of advertising where gender-typing is observed. In the meantime, members in the toy industry are also responsible for upholding gender equality through gender-neutral marketing of toys so that the existing gender stereotypes will not ingrain in children’s gender schema and affect their choices of roles to take in adulthood. Together we should all aim to facilitate children’s growth in a less gender-segregated environment so as to help them become more open-minded individuals and embrace diversity in not just toy plays, but all kinds of experiences in life.
Tags: Language and Gender, Gendered marketing of toys, Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis
References
Maccoby, E. E. (1998). The two sexes: Growing up apart, coming together. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Reich, S., Black, M., & Foliaki, R. (2018). Constructing Difference: Lego® Set Narratives Promote Stereotypic Gender Roles and Play. Sex Roles,79(5), 285-298.
Gender relationship is always a remarkable issue in the world over the years. As a country of East Asia, male chauvinism is a common phenomenon in China due to ancient social structures which refers to men are in power in their families. It seems that women are “the vulnerable” while men often have power in labour market, family, economy and so on, reflecting that gender equality still exists. (Attané, 2012). Recently, a Chinese expert, Yiyong YANG, drafted the “Regulations on the administration of permanent residence of foreigners.” He put forward that “encouraging Chinese girls to marry with foreigners,” which caused lots of public voices. People began to discuss their ideas about Chinese gender relation on the internet, suspecting that “whether Chinese boys can protect Chinese girls or not”, or “is Chinese boys not satisfactory?”
My project focused on the data from people of different genders who left comments on the internet, which is authentic and represents their real thoughts meanwhile, reflecting ideas about language, gender and power. After reading this article, people may further understand Chinese gender relationship by analyzing the data and contextual background.
Analytical method
Critical Discourse Analysis, Appraisal, Stance were used in order to analyze the data and discussions with reflections were also provided.
Content analysis – the problem of opinion on public affairs
Cited from Tik Tok, some boys put forward their ideas, which is just like a ridiculous slogan and there is no doubt that his stance is male and he wants to “protect” the girls. (see the right picture). However, in my opinion, it is not a meaningful action because he didn’t explain what is “protect the girls” and how to “protect” the girls. What’s more, in the left picture, when talking about domestic violence, the male even replied that “these are issues between the wife and the husband, which is not related to me.” It is obvious that some Chinese males still put themselves in a power position that is higher than girls. Men are ought to shoulder the burden, knowing that they should not violate or rape women, and pay close attention to these issues. If each man knows that they should not think they are higher than women, the discrimination and inequality can be improved gradually.
In a Wechat official account, an author wrote an article called “Do Chinese boys protect Chinese girls?” In the context, she listed lots of official news which shows how males encroach on females: raped girls under age, took pictures underneath girls’ skirts, put dizzy drugs into girl’s bowls or bottles, did sexual harassment to female students, tracked after girls at night, beat up girls due to different reasons……She also said, “if you really care about girls and want to protect them, you will not only afraid of them marrying with foreigners, instead, practical actions are required. Why are you silent? Chinese girls don’t belong to Chinese boys, they merely belong to themselves!” (Zhang, 2020). As a female, the author stood on the stance of girls, arguing that girls are still in a subordinate class. In addition, it seems that men have much power and they didn’t really protect Chinese girls. However, in comment sections, many contradictions and evaluations appeared due to different stances: many girls commented and supported that “yes, Chinese girls don’t need the protection of boys and shouldn’t be discriminated, humiliated and hurt.” When we see males’ comments, they are quite different. “The article is overgeneralization and the author has gender opposition thoughts. Nice boys will feel sad if they read this article.” “So the boys in your life are all like these ones?”……as we can see, females agree with the content because the discrimination and inequality do exist, which is their stance. In boys’ viewpoint, they think the author points the finger at men, accusing them. I can totally understand these appraisals because of different stances. Thus, an objective compromise should be reached between genders.
Solutions
When males and females discuss gender relationships on the internet, some people also represent what Chinese girls really need, such as equal employment, freedom and so on. In Weibo, a blogger also published a microblog: “For Chinese boys, it is easier to protect girls than you imagined. For example, if a girl was raped, don’t think that she wears skimpy clothes or says some erotic words. You need to make a sound, condemning that man; if a girl didn’t get the chance to study or work, don’t think it is common and please refute the boys who are discriminating girls; if a girl suffered from domestic violence, don’t think that it is not related to you and please try to help girls, opposing those boys who are indifferent about the issue; after marrying with a girl, don’t be male chauvinism and please do housework, take care of children and talk about future together with her……” The blogger stands by the stances of girls, stating that only changing people’s senses can gender relationship be improved. I also approve that it is important for males to make sound, which can set an example, telling others what males should do. However, nowadays, the bad things done by a part of males represents all males. Therefore, females expect males to make sound like “if you think you are represented by bad males, please express your ideas towards females.”
Conclusion
In conclusion, this essay uses a new regulation as a background, analyzing the data from social media and concluding the word “protect” and gender relationship. Because the topic of this essay is “should Chinese boys protect Chinese girls”, the word “protect” should be redefined: “protect” means respect, equality, trust, freedom and being treated as an independent individual. Chinese girls can marry with whoever they like. Everyone can express their thoughts with justice, which can improve gender relationship.
Although the difference and discrimination could not be changed or eliminated in one day, everyone has the duty to diffuse the notions and actions about equality.
References:
Attané ,Isabelle . (2012). Being a Woman in China Today: A Demography of Gender. China perspectives,2012(4).
In a divorce, the man is often seen as the victimizer. People tend to be more sympathetic to the wife since the rise of feminism. Meanwhile, people are still skeptical about it. Today, some still believe that feminism is about women neglecting their domestic roles and taking over men’s positions. Social conventions place pressure on both sexes. Both sexes are the victims under the system. Through media representations, we get a glimpse into how social conventions affect discourse. As defined by Michel Foucalt, discourses are “forms of subjectivity and power relations which inhere in such knowledges and relations between them.” (Weedon, 1987) Media is one representation of the reality using discourses and tells us about social practices in the current era. In order to illustrate the discourse communities of men and women, and their power relations, excerpts from Marriage Story (2019) are analyzed using Critical Discourse Analysis below.
Excerpts from Marriage Story (2019):
Nicole’s monologue: 28:04-30:35
Arguments between Charlie and Nicole: 1:10:48-1:11:51 and 1:34:26-1:39:16
The Courtroom scene: 1:25:16-1:27:51
Nora’s speech: 1:45:04–1:46:26
Use of pronouns
Source: Pinterest
Inclusive and othering pronouns are indications of the characters’ sense of self. As the embodiment of modern women, Nicole has a strong sense of self. She distinguishes between “I” and “he” or “his” in her monologue. However, she is torn between her sense of self and the social expectation of married woman. Charlie, on the other hand, appears to be more self-centered and possessive. Although he emphasizes that they are a “we”, it only represents Charlie’s ego. Unconsciously, he has a patriarchal mindset in which he sees Nicole, a female, as subordinate.
2. Determiners
Source: Pinterest
The use of determiners reveals Nicole’s strong self-awareness. She uses of the article “the” and the determiner, “that” to show the difference between life before and after marriage. Before, she is “the actress, the star”. Now, she is only “that actress who was in that thing that time”. The use of “that” shows a sense of carelessness while “the” indicates a sense of insistence on a specific person.
3. Naming strategy
Source: Pinterest
The naming strategy reveals how the characters in the movie see themselves in gender relations and criticizes the problematic gender norms that confines women into domesticity. Gendered terms such as “mother” and “wife” are used by Nicole and Nora. Nicole sees herself as “George Harrison’s wife” and “a mother”. In court, Nora says that Nicole has sacrificed a lot because of “Charlie’s bequest to be a mother”. From a male perspective, women are seen as less intelligent than men. In court, Jay names Nicole as “the girl in that college sex movie who takes her top off” while Charlie is named as “a well-regarded, up and coming director of the avant-garde”. The male and female protagonists are given very different attributes despite the similarity of their works.
However, the naming strategy also shows the inequality of men in a divorce. In Jay’s defense of Charlie, he says that Nora is referring Charlie as the director of “a ramshackled downtown dump” when she is arguing custody. When she wants more money, Charlie suddenly becomes a “big rich genius Broadway director”. Men always occupy an inferior position in divorce. Society expects men to be strong and independent. They have difficulties gaining sympathy and often seen as the victimizer in the relationship.
4. Metaphor
Source: Pinterest
The use of metaphor in Nora’s discourse shows the unfairness of gender norms towards the two sexes. People can “accept an imperfect dad” but not “a mother who drinks too much wine and yells at her child and calls him an asshole”. The reason is our problematic belief system. The metaphorical expression alludes to the Biblical story of the Holy Birth which also conveys a sense of sarcasm towards religion and its effects on the norms. Its sacrilege to Christianity makes Nora’s statement bolder.
5. Cohesion
Source: Pinterest
The cohesion in the arguments between Charlie and Nicole shows the increase in female’s power in the battle between the sexes. Repetition of words and reiteration of synonyms are often used. When Nicole confronts Charlie about his affair, she uses the word “surprise” thrice to create a sense of irony. She wants to prove that she is equal in power as Charlie. In another argument, Charlie tries to justify himself by making Nicole the insatiable villain. He uses the word “voice” for three times. It seems to be an act against feminism which often emphasizes on female’s voice. Also, the two uses offensive words like “regressed” and “villain”. Both of them are trying to surpass one another. It shows the hatred between the couple and reveals the increase in gender equality in relationships.
6. Modality
For modality, it shows the problem of modern relationship. Conflicts can be solved if the two has better communication. They believe their spouses are the ones who want to get married but actually, both of them do not. In Nicole’s monologue, she uses the hedge, “really” twice. It seems like she is doubting her past decisions and realizes that it is naïve to get married so soon. For Charlie, he confesses that “there’s so much more I could have done” but it is Nicole who “wanted so much so fast” and he “didn’t even want to get married.” in his argument with Nicole. Both of them refuse to share their real thoughts. When they cannot hold these secrets anymore, their relationship collapses.
Conclusion
Although Marriage Story is just a media portrayal of the reality, it is a version of reality from the director’s eyes that we should be aware of. Skeptical as it seems, the public is not fully liberated towards feminism. The conventions of gender roles are still deeply rooted. They do not just affect the society but gender relations, causing more disputes between the two sexes. The problem is never the oppression of women but the oppression of equality for the whole humanity.
Language Culture and Society in Hong Kong (and beyond) 