Gender Stereotypes: The Big Bang Theory

Feminist: the person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes. Sexual stereotypes are deeply imbedded into today’s society. Ideals of the gender roles are passed down from generation to generation, creating a gap between what is socially acceptable for a woman to do and what is expected of a man. One thousand years ago humans chose dominance by physical capability, simply because it was essential for our survival, but the world has evolved. One thousand years ago physical strength was the most important part of survival for human beings. Men in general are physically stronger therefore it made sense to have a man lead. The world humans live in has evolved and is no longer run by the physically entailed, but by the most intelligent or creative(Adichie). Though this world has evolved, the gender expectations and stereotypes have stayed the same. Sexual stereotypes in America limit men and women to abide with,by the expectations of masculinity and feminism, create a sense of shame for women, and create a gap in today’s job industry.

Growing up as a child with parents that were both fairly busy with work I often found myself sat in front of a television either waiting for the day to begin or to end. I remember watching shows and seeing how the boys always seemed to be more outspoken, hyper-masculine and the leader in a given situation while the girls were always the passive ones who were depicted as shy followers. Now that I am older I find myself watching even more television, allowing me to see how the media depicts men and women in society. For example, The Big Bang Theory, in its earlier seasons, it only had one female lead, Penny. Her character was very stereotypical in the sense that she was the scattebrained neighbor. The way that men and women are portrayed has

Stereotypes are shown in all three of the women in the show. Amy who has her PhD in neurobiology is a stereotypical female scientist. She is badly

How women are perceived by others, and how women perceive themselves, impacts their leadership roles in the work place. Stereotypes and gender biases are themes women have been dealing with for centuries. How women are perceived by social medial and television have been influencing how they are treated by men, and how they view themselves when it comes to taking a leadership role in their organization. According to Omega Institute (2012), “The rapidly shifting landscape of new media and technology, including reality television and celebrity culture, continue to reinforce gender stereotypes” (p. 1). This leads to men still growing up viewing women as home makers versus bread winner. With more women entering leadership roles in the work place they lack the respect from men due to how these men have grown up to know the typical role of a man and woman. Men tend to feel belittled due to the gender stereotypes seen on television, and this leads to women struggling to succeed as a leader with the lack of support from their male counterparts. Lack of confidence with women in the workplace is also influenced and effected by how women are perceived in social media and television. According to Steele (2005), “Exposure to stereotypic commercials persuade women to avoid leadership roles” (p. 276). As young women grow up seeing the typical gender stereotypes they lack ambitions to break the mold and

On August 26,1920, the 19th Amendment,which guaranteed women the right to vote, was formally adopted into the U.S. Constitution

As mentioned above, I believe that ‘Big Bang Theory’ is a contributor to the common stereotype. Now why is that? According to an article on VentureBeat, written by Steven Sukkau, he states that “Shows like The Big Bang Theory strive for accuracy in their nerdiness. The terminology is right, the culture is authentic, but it only makes the little cheats like "heads exploding" (no heads explode in Halo) all the more obvious.”(Steven Sukkau, 2012). You see, he believes that because of little cheats like this, it goes along way of producing an image that directly conflicts with reality. One of these little cheats is having one of the female leads, Penny, being bad at video games with Sheldon looking at here with disgust. In a way, this shows that women and

Living in 21st century United States, being a much more liberal and inclusive environment than prior decades, gender “roles” and their normalities are being severely questioned and challenged. Americans have defined and established gender stereotypes that have become a critical part of how we look at gender roles and create biases about each gender. Stereotypes assume people who 'belong ' to a group will appear, behave, look, speak or sound like others from that group. The values, norms, practices, behaviors and traditions associated with the group are shared by all members of the group. For example, gay men are promiscuous, women are maternal and men don 't show emotions. Stereotypes are often dismissive, negative, and they are sometimes

The Big Bang Theory is an American-based sitcom whose scripts have, over the years, proven to be a masterpiece composition of words to entertain, create humor and fun, and educate the audience. Big Bang theory is primarily centered on five characters: Penny, Sheldon Cooper, Leonard Hofstadter, Raj Koothrappali, and Howard Wolowitz. Penny is the most social among the five characters and uses common sense and her social awareness to make it in life. The other four characters are all geeks and nerds who love science and are smart, but their interpersonal communication and social skills are poor. The geekiness and intellect of the four characters often get contrasted with Penny's social skills and common sense for a comical effect. The show, which premiered on September 24, 2007, incorporates Burke’s Dramatism features, mysterious science terminologies, different rhetorical strategies, and interpersonal expressions to evoke laughter.

Why are you here? If you've read the synopsis, you should have a decent idea of what will be in the story, but... whatever I don't even care anymore.

Have you ever thought deeper about a show you frequently and realized there are many underlying themes you had never before thought of. I have and for me this is “Two and a Half Men” which has many themes that reinforce the way the think of each gender. The show is based around three main characters which mainly takes place in their home. The main characters are comprised of: a man named Charlie, who is a wealthy womanizer; another man Alan, who is a more feminine man and constantly reprimanded for it; Alan’s son Jake, who is a child but grows up during the show. Throughout the show we see countless examples that men are the ones in power and women are objects only good for sexual desires.

After conducting an hour-long observation and data collection of The Big Bang Theory, I found three specific patterns. These were patterns of traditional gender roles, heterosexual privilege, and gender performance. The first pattern is the traditional breadwinner and housewife roles that are portrayed throughout the episodes. In the show women are seen occupying the household while the men occupy the workplace. These traditional roles reinforce gendered behaviors and interactions amongst the male and female character that reflect modern day society.

Gender stereotypes have always been a part of society through our communication and/or actions on a day to day basis. We see these stereotypes in “Day Star” by Rita Dove, “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, and “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy. “Day Star” by Rita Dove is about a mother who felt overwhelmed in her life as a stay at home mother. “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid is about a mother trying to give her young daughter advice on how not to, as she put it, “be the slut she 's so intent on being”, as well as general life advice. “Barbie Girl” by Marge Piercy was about a smart young lady who did not look how society wanted her to look so she cut off her legs and nose, her biggest features according to society around her and died.

While there is no apparent shortage of women in the media, for there are shows such as The View on ABC, and The Kelly File on Fox news, the key word is apparent. While women host these shows and others, the clear majority are co-hosted by a man, or hosted by men alone. While Kelly File ranks high within Fox News, The O’Reiley Factor and Hannity generally overshadow it. This does not mean that she never outscores them, because there are times when she does. And that speaks to the quality of her program. For by beating out established shows such as Hannity, or O’Reilly it shows that she is on the same level or perhaps higher than the men. Indeed, there is more than one show that usually has high rating, such as Outnumbered. A question that

During school years, I wasn't like "other girls". No I'm not going to tell you about how I was different or I fell in love with the popular kid and he didn't even know I existed. I was just the girl who never got into the phase of make up. I was never dressed up in cute dresses, or was remotely interested in "girly toys" (other than Polly Pockets, I mean who didn't love those adorable mini rubber barbies?!). I woke up five minutes before the bus would come to my stop, throw on my sweatshirt and take my hair out of my braid and run. I never worried about getting up an hour early to make sure I had my make up on point (not that there is anything wrong with that at all, it's just not what I did). I was always told by the girls I went to school with about how lucky I was to not have to wake up early to get ready for school. I always thought that was kind of weird though since they were all cute enough to do the same thing I did. I didn't think they needed to go through the trouble.

Writing is an art that has been around for a long time. It has seen numerous disputes and changes over time. Numerous works have been published, some under names that aren’t even real. These names are called pseudonyms, or pen names. They have been around for many reasons, such as the fear of being discriminated against, to disassociate themselves from their name, or so that they can appeal to a target audience.