Whenever the fall semester comes around, I always get into watching Grey’s Anatomy.  The “hardcore” theme is usually the boost I need to get into the school mindset.  This show, however, is becoming quite dated (especially the first few seasons).  Something that has been brought to my attention is how no strong leading female doctors were even up for question for chief of surgery when the original chief was going to retire.  Most of the female leads are busy fantasizing about men in the workplace which is a representation of dominant gender cultural norms in contemporary North American society.  There was only one woman up for the running of the chief of surgery however, she was drowned out by the many other men who were chasing that position.  This was most likely because she played the role of the disloyal wife who is ridiculed more than when a man commits adultery in the show.  I have not seen this show past season thirteen because I can only handle this show in small doses but I do believe many seasons later a female does become chief, improving their behavior.  Please analyze the difference in reactions to affairs between the woman having an affair compared to the man in the videos linked below.  It is obvious to see the difference in behavior between the man and woman’s reactions to who is being affected.

How the men act towards the women:

How women act toward men:

More examples of dominant gender cultural norms are found in the popular TV show, Friends.  I cringe at it sometimes now when watching it.  I did not take notice of these portrayals when I was fourteen years old.  The difference between the men and the women is immensely segregated.  Take a look through these gifs and how each gender is fit into its stereotypes.

Even more examples of dominant gender cultural norms are found in comic books.  I grew up loving the DC universe, especially Batman.  I remember asking my dad why all the women in them dressed so bare and he said it’s because those books are tailored for men.  This made me feel uncomfortable and gave me the most unrealistic body standards to live up to.

No human woman looks like that with giant round breasts and toned all over.  Heteronormativity and toxic masculinity played too much of a role in the early comics.  Men had too much of a hold on the comic industry and I believe they still do because lots of the women are wearing the same outfits.  Some more mainstream comics however are getting more realistic.

 

Next up the discussion on anime.  Oh my goodness, is this content ever geared toward hetero male viewing at times.  There is a lot of variety out there but just saying, the ones I have seen, some parts I don’t even want to watch around other people because I cringe so much the the content.  However, the narrative is so good so I just brush it off and move past it.  An example of  dominant gender cultural norms can be found in, The Seven Deadly Sins.  The main character tends has a habit of inappropriately touching this girl, Elizabeth, with out her consent.  She is very passive about it as well.  Elizabeth also has quite soft features and has the personality to back it up.  In contrast to this is the main male character, who contains the blood of a demon, can turn into this strong muscular fighter.  He is also strong willed and very confident.  Elizabeth started off with no confidence in herself and put all of her faith in to this power man type figure.

 

Lastly, lets look at this Mr. Clean commercial.

Notice how it is only the woman cleaning and the men only come around to enjoy he handy work through this new found cleaning tool.  This sets the dominant gender cultural norms in the commercial.

Now, these are just pieces of popular culture types I have shown.  There are many examples of gender essentialism with in these examples however, these are the representations of dominant gender cultural norms that I have found.  I still think society still has a long way to go in order to repair the damage on gendered views on contemporary life.

 

References:

• bootzz701. “3×1 Chief Webber and Adel.” YouTube, YouTube, 18 May 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAGDzDaq3hQ.
• bootzz701. “3×1 What Happened to Derek and Addison.” YouTube, YouTube, 9 Jan. 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HGYOFDL8h0.
• Giphy. “Be Animated.” GIPHY, https://giphy.com/.
• madelinecarrollnet. “Madeline Carroll – Mr. Clean Commercial.” YouTube, YouTube, 24 May 2008, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0YPsuZYZIY.
• “Pin De Richard Renato Em DC Comics: Batman, Super Herói, Mulher Gato.” Pinterest, 22 May 2019, https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/648448046328219860/.