Sex-Related Comparisons: Theory 163men but not women to have sex), (2) court-
ship behavior (men initiate, women respond),
and (3) commitment (men avoid, women
seek). When 25 primetime shows were coded
for the heterosexual script, between 15 and
33 such references were noted per hour (Kim
et al., 2007). The most frequent reference to
the heterosexual script (45%) was the idea
that sex was a defining part of masculinity (1a
in Table 5.2). Conduct your own analysis of
recent television shows in Do Gender 5.5.
One area in which women are under-
represented on television is sports. A study
that spanned two decades of sports coverage
showed that women athletes are taken more
seriously today by sports commentators but
that overall women’s sports receive very little
attention. Despite the fact that millions of girls
play sports today, only 1.6% of network news
was devoted to women’s sports compared to
96.3% for men’s sports in 2009 (Messner &
Cooky, 2010). It also appeared that the cover-
age of women’s sports in 2009 reached an all
time low from a peak of 8.7% coverage in 1999.Advertisements. Men hold the dominant
role in advertisements. In a content analysis of
radio ads, 72% of the central characters were
male, males were more likely than females to
have authority roles, and females were more
likely than males to be product users (Monk-
Turner et al., 2007). Similar findings emerged
from a study of television advertisements in
Bulgaria (Ibroscheva, 2007). Advertisements
continue to depict women and men in stereo-
typical ways (O’Barr, 2006). For babies, pink
and blue are the clues to gender. Men are por-
trayed as athletic, strong, typically outdoors,
and often involved in sports when they are
young. As they age, they become financially
successful rather than physically successful.
Ads emphasize appearance and nurturing
qualities for women. Even advertisements that
depict girls emphasize appearance. One ad de-
picts a girl playing dress-up with the quote “It’s
never too soon to learn how to accessorize.”
Whereas females are depicted with big smiles,
males are somber—conveying the idea that
women are emotionally expressive and men
are stoic. There is little sex-role reversal, and
when it does occur, it is usually accompanied
by humor.
Women also continue to be portrayed as
sex objects. In a content analysis of 1988 ad-
vertisements from 58 popular U.S. magazines,
more than 50% of the ads depicted women
as sex objects (i.e., used their sexuality to sell
the product; Stankiewicz & Rosselli, 2008).
The figures were highest for men’s maga-
zines (76%) and female adolescent magazines
(64%). A group of 24 teenage girls from a
variety of backgrounds, races, and neigh-
borhoods in Allegheny County, Pennsylva-
nia, formed what they called a Girlcott to
voice their opposition to such portrayals by
Abercrombie & Fitch. Abercrombie & Fitch
sold T-shirts that had sexist slogans across theDO GENDER 5.5
How Men and Women Are
Portrayed on TelevisionWatch one episode each of the 10 most pop-
ular television shows. You may limit your
analysis to comedies or dramas or compare
the two. What is the sex of the main char-
acter/characters? Describe the personality
characteristics, behavior, and occupation of
the characters in the shows. Are roles tra-
ditional or nontraditional? In what ways?
What elements of the heterosexual script
shown in Table 5.2 did you find?M05_HELG0185_04_SE_C05.indd 163 6/21/11 8:03 AM