How a masculine culture that favors sexual conquests gave us today’s ‘incels’
This article originally appeared on The Conversation on June 6, 2018.
After the recent shooting at the Santa Fe, Texas, high school, the mother of one of the victims claimed that the perpetrator had specifically killed her daughter because she refused his repeated advances, embarrassing him in front of his classmates. A month prior, a young man, accused of driving a van into a crowded sidewalk that killed ten people in Toronto, posted a message on Facebook minutes before the attack, that celebrated another misogynist killer and said: “The Incel Rebellion has already begun!”
These and other mass killings suggest an ongoing pattern of heterosexual, mostly white men perpetrating extreme violence, in part, as retaliation against women.
To some people it might appear that these are only a collection of disturbed, fringe individuals. However, as a scholar who studies masculinity and deviant subcultures, I see incels as part of a larger misogynist culture.
Masculinity and sexual conquest
Incels, short for “involuntary celibates,” are a small, predominately online community of heterosexual men who have not had sexual or romantic relationships with women for a long time. Incels join larger existing groups of men with anti-feminist or misogynist tendencies such as Men Going Their Own Way, who reject women and some conservative men’s rights activists, as well as male supremacists.
Such groups gather in the “manosphere,” the network of blogs, subreddits and other online forums, in which such men bluntly express their anger against feminists while claiming they are the real victims.
Incels blame women for their sexual troubles, vilifying them as shallow and ruthless, while simultaneously expressing jealousy and contempt for high-status, sexually successful men. They share their frustrations in Reddit forums, revealing extremely misogynist views and in some cases advocating violence against women. Their grievances reflect the shame of their sexual “failures,” as, for them, sexual success remains central to real manhood.
The popular 2005 film “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” nicely illustrates the importance of sexual success, or even conquest, to achieving manhood, as a group of friends attempts to rectify the protagonist’s failure while simultaneously mocking him and bragging about their own exploits. “Getting laid” is a rite of passage and failure indicates a failed masculinity.
Cloaked in the anonymity of online forums, incels’ frustrations become misplaced anger at women. Ironically, while they chafe under what they perceive as women’s judgment and rejection, they actually compare themselves to other men, anticipating men’s judgment. In other words, incels seek to prove themselves to other men, or to the unrealistic standards created by men, then blame women for a problem of men’s own making. Women become threats, cast as callous temptresses for withholding sex from, in their perception, deserving men.
Entitlement
If heterosexual sex is a cultural standard signifying real manhood for a subset of men, then women must be sexually available. When unable to achieve societal expectations, some lash out in misogynist or violent ways. Sociologists Rachel Kalish and Michael Kimmel call this “aggrieved entitlement,” a “dramatic loss” of what some men believe to be their privilege, that results in a backlash.
Noting that a disproportionate number of mass shooters are white, heterosexual and middle class, sociologist Eric Madfis demonstrates how entitlement fused with downward mobility and disappointing life events provoke a “hypermasculine,” response of increased aggression and in some case violent retribution.
According to scholar of masculinity Michael Schwalbe, masculinity and maleness are, fundamentally, about domination and maintaining power.
Given this, incels represent a broader misogynist backlash to women’s, people of color’s and LGBTQI people’s increasing visibility and representation in formerly all-male spheres such as business, politics, sports and the military.
Despite the incremental, if limited, gains won by women’s and LGBTQI movements, misogyny and violence against women remain entrenched across social life. Of course not all men accept this; some actively fight against sexism and violence against women. Yet killings such as those in Toronto and Santa Fe, and the misogynist cultural background behind them, remind many women that their value ultimately lies not in their intelligence and ideas, but in their bodies and sexual availability.
Fringe men or mainstream misogyny?
Dismissing incels and other misogynist groups as disturbed, fringe individuals obscures the larger hateful cultural context that continues in the wake of women’s, immigrants’, LGBTQI’s and people of color’s demands for full personhood.
While most incels will not perpetrate a mass shooting, the toxic collision of aggrieved entitlement and the easy availability of guns suggests that without significant changes in masculinity, the tragedies will continue.
The incel “rebellion” is hardly rebellious. It signals a retreat to classic forms of male domination.
Associate Professor, Grinnell College
This article originally appeared on The Conversation.
Does Hollywood Need Guns?
Guns have been an iconic prop of Hollywood storytelling since the early days of the industry. The genre of gangster movies of the 1930s could not have existed without guns, and the same for the popular TV Westerns of the 1950s. What made those stories engaging was the melding of guns with narratives that were true to their genre. Gangsters need guns just as much as the inhabitants of the Wild West. But in today’s world, the proliferation of guns is creating a crisis of major proportions. The ease with which Americans can obtain assault-style guns is turning our cities into the wild west once glorified in the Westerns of the 1950’s.
While it is difficult to disentangle the role that Hollywood storytelling has on the growth of gun use in the U.S., there is no doubt that gun use has proliferated in popular movies and TV shows, especially in crime-related genres. In our research over the past decade at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center, we have documented the rise in gun portrayal in popular PG-13 movies and TV-14 television shows. We have also shown that the use of guns in popular screen narratives is seen as acceptable by parents of children ages 15 and older when the guns are used for justified reasons. These include defending oneself or friends and family from others who pose a threat. When Bruce Willis in the Die Hard franchise shoots the bad guys even indiscriminately, he is seen as a hero worthy of emulation.
These attitudes are also observable in young viewers of these kinds of violent entertainment. In a study we conducted with late adolescents, ages 18 to 22, we found that viewing movie clips of justified gun violence was tracked by areas of the brain typically associated with approval. But when the gun violence was seen as unjustified, young people’s brains displayed a pattern more in keeping with disapproval.
We think these findings point to problems with Hollywood’s glorification of guns. Unlike other consumer products, guns are not advertised to the general public on major forms of media. You will not see an ad for a gun on TV or in popular magazines. The gun industry doesn’t need those sources of marketing when it can rely on Hollywood to feature guns as a justified form of self-defense. Not only does Hollywood promote guns, but it also increases fears of crime when it shows the need for guns as a form of protection.
We know that such portrayals are more likely to influence young viewers who are learning about the world through screen media. Research conducted in the 2000s found that adolescents who viewed a lot of films that featured smoking were more likely to initiate smoking. We do not have similar research on guns. But we have looked at changes in gun use in popular TV shows from 2000 to 2018 and found that as the proportion of gun use in violent scenes increased over that time, the proportion of homicides committed with guns also increased, especially for young people ages 15 to 24.
The film industry responded to concerns about featuring smoking in movies by reducing the use of unnecessary use of cigarettes, especially in PG-13 movies that do not restrict viewing. Why can’t the industry do the same for guns? In other words, do we really need to rely on guns to make violent stories appealing? Can’t Hollywood tell compelling stories about crime without overdoing the use of guns?
Dan Romer
Research Director, Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania
What Should an Alcohol Problem Look Like On-Screen?
Take a moment to picture someone who has a problem with alcohol. A “drinking problem.”
Got it?
If your notion of “drinking problems” is informed mostly by film, chances are the person you just pictured meets a couple of common stereotypes. Their drinking is visibly raucous (the life of the party!), or visibly lonely (alone in their basement). Or maybe their life is quite palpably falling apart: their family is worried, their friends are watchful, their employer is ticked off.
If, on the other hand, your awareness goes deeper than that – if you have personal familiarity with “drinking problems”– perhaps you pictured someone you know. Maybe you pictured the distinctly affected way that your sister gazed at you, gazed blearily at the world, after a couple of drinks. Maybe you remembered how your best friend in college would sink into a corner, sink into some unknowable reality, bottle in hand. Or maybe you grabbed a snapshot of yourself – the first time that you didn’t study quite hard enough for a test because you were hungover. That time when you hurt a friend’s feelings while drunk. The time you opted out of doing something important, something meaningful, something way more you – because hitting the bars sounded like more fun.
Maybe you remember asking yourself: Does she have a problem? Do I have a problem? before quickly dismissing it.
After all, your drinking – her drinking – most drinking – doesn’t look like “problem drinking” in the movies. For that reason, we don’t often confront it. As storytellers, it’s up to us to change the narrative, to change what people picture when they picture an alcohol problem.
Alcohol use disorder: an invisible problem
It may seem counterintuitive to refer to alcohol use disorder, or AUD, as “invisible.” After all, alcohol is a key player in thousands of car crashes, deaths, and sexual assaults annually. The CDC estimates that the cost of excessive alcohol use is 249 billion dollars every year. Far from being “invisible,” alcohol use disorder seems like one of the most obvious problems we have. (Although, in 2021, it’s facing stiff competition.)
In part, that’s true: many signs of alcohol use disorder are obvious. The Diagnostic & Statistical Manual – 5, as well as two of the most commonly used screeners for AUD - the CAGE and the AUDIT - include visible, clear-cut indicators of problem drinking. Things like: People criticizing drinking. People expressing concern. Drinking first thing in the morning. Injuring oneself or others while drinking. Failing to fulfill major obligations. These are visible signs that someone has a “drinking problem.”
And yet, these screening tools include just as many symptoms of alcohol use disorder that are totally invisible. For example, there’s the feeling you need to cut down. There’s the desire to cut down, followed by unsuccessful attempts. Sometimes those attempts are unsuccessful due to strong desires, urges, or cravings. (And it’s not always “the shakes”; sometimes, these cravings are purely psychological.) There’s telling yourself, “I won’t,” followed by “maybe I will.” There’s saying “Maybe just one,” followed by maybe just three. And there’s guilt about drinking – So. Much. Guilt.
For some, there’s the feeling of being less oneself while drunk: the feeling that a small part of oneself has been lost to the subtle erasure afforded by alcohol. Sometimes, this erasure of self is welcome: a little less perfectionistic. A little less attached to expectations. Sometimes, it’s less welcome, as the activities that we used to prioritize are quietly displaced by alcohol.
Here’s my point: The empirical criteria at the heart of alcohol use disorder are, quite often, invisible. On-screen, the pre-game or the frat party might be likely habitat for AUD, but this disorder can just as easily inhabit a quiet night of board games, a dinner date with mom or dad, or a weekend with a good book. If you’re a storyteller, this raises important questions: How do we tell a truer story about alcohol use disorder? How do we make the invisible visible?
Actionable insights: Making the invisible visible
Here are empirically supported ways to tell a truer story, and to help your audience spot the signs of alcohol use disorder in themselves.
Obsessing: After a character drinks – regardless of whether the drinking was uneventful or disastrous – they are soon eager to drink again. They are already thinking about the next opportunity to drink. This is especially key in young characters, who may not have constant access to alcohol. It’s not always about drinking regularly; sometimes, it’s about thinking about drinking regularly.
Wondering: In thinking about her alcohol use, a character asks herself, Is this normal? Could my drinking be a problem? Perhaps she floats this idea by others. It isn’t often that people without a drinking problem repeatedly wonder if they do, in fact, have a problem.
Disappearing: When a character drinks, his countenance and behavior is significantly different from when he is sober. He seems to be seeking a break from simply being himself. He craves permission to be someone different. Something fundamental to the character has vanished, and he is happy to see it go.
Erasure: Think about the long-term consequences of disappearing, of shooing away these fundamental pieces of oneself. Over time, it culminates into a less colorful, less varied, and less individualized life. In the context of a character’s timeline, the introduction of alcohol might correspond with a gradual diminishing of self.
Getting personal
Remember that friend who sinks into the corner? The sister whose hazy eyes betray that, inside, a fundamental piece of herself has drifted away?
That was me.
Within six months of my first drink, I suspected that I had a problem. Four years later, I got help. In between, I told myself that I couldn’t possibly have a problem. I just couldn’t. Drinking problems are easy to spot, I thought, reflecting on the portrayals of problem use I’d seen in books and on screen. That’s not me.
That’s what the media had taught me: drinking problems are obvious. They are sometimes wild. They are, at the least, a little messy. And so, I thought, the college student voluntarily reading her fifth empirical article that evening, getting up intermittently to refill her glass, could not possibly have a problem.
But I could. I did. And if I’d ever seen a relatable portrayal of alcohol use disorder on-screen, maybe I would have done something about it sooner. Maybe the cognitive dissonance would have caught up to me a little quicker. It’s time to give your audience that chance. Teach them something different about alcohol use disorder.
Anna Joliff, she/her/hers, MS Counseling Psychology
Research Specialist for the Social Media and Adolescent Health Research Team (SMAHRT)
Avoiding Mental Health Stigmatizations & Encouraging Help Seeking Through Entertainment Media
Mass media have the power to shape our perceptions, attitudes and beliefs toward certain groups, issues and individuals. For better or worse, most forms of media, including entertainment media, serve as primary sources of information for many viewers, influencing our understanding of those around us and in turn, our future behaviors and actions.
Unfortunately, for those struggling with mental illness, the depictions of characters with mental health issues often focus on negative and extreme stereotypical traits that portray these individuals as a danger to society and themselves. These depictions are not only inaccurate and unrepresentative of the millions of people worldwide who face mental health challenges, but they also reinforce preconceived stigmatizations which can lead to diminished self-esteem and social exclusion.
Mental health professionals are often portrayed as odd, unhelpful, unrelatable and/or unavailable, which can have major consequences on those affected by mental illness. These negative portrayals can interfere with help seeking behaviors and prevent individuals from receiving treatment due to factors such as fear, shame, embarrassment and discrimination. A startling two-thirds of individuals with a mental health disorder never seek professional help.
Too often, entertainment programs portray mental illness as something that destroys lives and fail to show viewers that mental illness is common and treatable. By depicting treatment and recovery, the media can help normalize mental health issues, fight stigma, offer hope, and connect viewers with resources for themselves or loved ones.
In a survey commissioned by the mental health organization Mind, based in the UK, findings showed that after seeing a news report or drama involving a character with mental health challenges, more than half of the respondents expressed that it had improved their understanding of mental health issues and a quarter said it had inspired them to start a conversation about mental health. Furthermore, out of the respondents affected by mental health issues, one third were encouraged to seek professional help and get assistance.
Several other studies have highlighted the power of the media to reduce stigma, increase understanding of mental health and increase help-seeking behaviors. For example, one study found that participants who watched a film depicting an accurate portrayal of an individual with schizophrenia, were less likely to endorse stigmatizing attitudes toward individuals with the illness compared to participants who saw an inaccurate portrayal of schizophrenia. Another study found that having a strong relationship to the main character of a television series who had obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) was associated with lower OCD stereotypes and greater willingness to seek and disclose mental health treatment specifically among participants with a mental illness.
It is clear that the media have the power to influence our perceptions, attitudes and beliefs about individuals living with mental illness and also to help those affected. Therefore, it is in the best interest of millions of viewers and their loved ones for content creators to portray characters with a mental illness accurately and positively.
Here are some actionable insights for storytellers:
Avoid perpetuating stereotypes about mental illness that may be stigmatizing and harmful.
Avoid including stigmatizing language in scripts, such as “crazy,” “psycho,” “looney,” “wacko,” etc.
Avoid making mental illness the defining feature of a character’s personality.
Introduce likeable and relatable characters who also might happen to encounter mental health challenges.
Portray doctors and therapists as helpful and supportive rather than incompetent or unavailable.
Model help-seeking behaviors such as talking to therapists, talking to trusted friends/adults and calling/texting helplines.
Model help-seeking behaviors not only for serious or diagnosable problems but also for common challenges such as stress, divorce and death.
Show supporting cast characters modeling supportive behaviors and describing options for seeking help.
Insert message of mental health treatment, hope and recovery.
Vicki Harrison, MSW
Program Director, Center for Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing
Stanford Psychiatry Center for Youth Mental Health & Wellbeing
Adrianna Ruggiero
Senior Research Coordinator for CSS
How to Achieve Authentic Racial Diversity in Hollywood Media
When I was younger, between the ages of 2 to 9 years old, there were only a few Black characters with whom I genuinely connected. Of course, I found great examples of characters who shared my identity in Rugrats’ precocious Suzie Carmichael and The Proud Family’s spunky Penny Proud, among others. However, I knew what to expect as the general unspoken rule: the characters who shared my racial identity would not appear as the active protagonists in my favourite shows. The hours that I spent watching TV after school often left me feeling disappointed and hungry for the well-rounded experiences that I saw conveyed in stories about characters with other racial identities.
As I got older, the children’s media landscape began to include more Black characters who were not only present but were also richly-developed and thoughtfully portrayed. I learned about the power of these media representations first-hand in 2009, when The Princess and the Frog premiered. Princess Tiana appeared on-screen as an ambitious, hard-working, resilient Black woman and changed my world. For the very first time, I saw myself fully represented in a daring and capable being who actively pursued her own happy ending. For the very first time, I imagined myself as an adult who could overcome any challenge and achieve my biggest dreams. Soaring eagerly upon the winds of change that Tiana brought about, for the next few years I spent every waking hour telling anyone who would listen about the deep beauty that I found in Tiana’s dreams. Throughout elementary and high school, I collected every film-related book, incessantly researched the film’s development, and made a hobby out of setting and achieving big goals to ensure that I could keep pace with Tiana’s signature brand of ambition. With every stellar grade that I achieved, I was rewarded with the internal glow that I imagined Tiana felt when she got her restaurant. “Almost There” became my mantra and my anthem.
My relationship with Princess Tiana is far from unique. Across the country, children are discovering, identifying with, and learning from the characters that they encounter as they spend over 4 hours each day watching TV, playing video games, and browsing websites. During these impactful hours, children are both constructing their identities and learning how to perceive others, particularly those from social groups with which they have little contact. Indeed, the inclusion of racially diverse characters in children’s media has increased over the past 2 decades. A recent report that I co-authored with the Toronto-based Children’s Media Lab revealed that between 2018 and 2019, 49% of animated characters on Canadian children’s television shows were depicted as people of colour; an increase from the estimate of 35% that was given one year earlier in a report which focused on both live-action and animated programs. Although these changes should be commended, since kids and teens are now engaging with media more than ever before, it is crucial to move beyond simply including racially diverse characters in stories. It is time for content creators to authentically portray racially diverse characters, as this will foster a genuine appreciation for diverse identities and inclusion.
When storytellers develop narratives, characters, and worlds that support well-rounded depictions of race, they create standout content that will reach wide audiences and inspire generations of viewers to live and breathe the social harmony for which our society hungers.
Authentic Representations of Race Strengthen Kids
While there are many real-life resources that children use to shape their identities, media offers children something truly unique: the opportunity to see themselves and their cultures represented in fantasy. When Princess Tiana entered my life in 2009, not only did she inspire me to imagine myself as a talented, resourceful leader who could deftly navigate life’s unexpected bayou adventures; she also showed me that I could accomplish these things while embracing my ethnic and racial identities. As Disney’s first African American princess, she pulled me off of my couch and into her lively world so that I could become the protagonist of my own life. The long-term impacts of media characters on children are well-documented beyond my experience.
One study revealed that for children whose racial identities were misrepresented in media, watching television was linked to decreases in self-esteem due to an absence of characters who positively reflected their identities. Other studies have revealed that negative representations of Latinx and Black characters lead viewers to feel ashamed and less positive about their social groups. In a landmark study, researchers found that Indigenous American adults who saw stereotypical representations of their cultures felt less positive about their identities, and predicted that they would achieve less in the future than those who did not see the stereotypical representations.
The inclusion of authentic, racially diverse characters is particularly impactful for children who are members of underrepresented groups. Seeing characters who not only look like them but who also share their experiences can help them to absorb positive messages that boost their self-esteem. Additionally, when children who are not from underrepresented groups see these rich characters portrayed, they may learn how to respect and empathize with individuals from other racial groups.
Authentic Representations Create Excellent Content
A list of the top-grossing films of 2019 in the US shows that authenticity sells. Many of the films that appear on the list, such as Frozen 2 and The Lion King, were created by production and development teams that travelled to the countries that appeared in their films and learned about the cultures that they depicted.
Lived experiences are particularly crucial when depicting characters from diverse racial groups. Acclaimed films such as the Oscar-winning and high-earning Black Panther and Pixar’s animated Soul (which has already been nominated for 2 Golden Globes and received 3 trophies from the Critics Choice Super Awards) were developed by directors, producers, and writers who shared their characters’ identities and experiences. As a result, they captured nuances that made the films deeply resonate with diverse audiences which, in turn, enabled the films to become blockbusters.
Films and television shows that feature authentic representations of race also stand out because they depict dynamic, three-dimensional characters that defy common tropes. This is important because children more strongly remember and connect with characters who have well-rounded and relatable qualities. In fact, many leading resources that offer tips for developing compelling stories advocate for the creation of detailed characters who have believable desires and fleshed out personality traits. When racially diverse characters are depicted as dynamic individuals who both inhabit and shape their worlds, they easily captivate viewers with their enduring appeal and attract a loyal fan base.
Authentic Representations Evoke Change
While it is crucial for all children to see themselves represented on the screen, creating characters through which viewers can also hear themselves, see their diverse abilities portrayed, and embrace their unique personalities can also dismantle harmful racial stereotypes and biases. A recent analysis of contemporary media showed that Black characters are often portrayed as unemployed and aggressive individuals. Other findings were that Latinx characters tend to be portrayed as individuals who are unintelligent and short-tempered; East Asian characters are often portrayed as characters who fulfill the “Model Minority” stereotype; and Arabic characters are often portrayed as criminals. While inauthentic representations persist, research shows that positive, authentic representations of people of colour can make public attitudes towards these groups more positive.
With the exciting possibility of making an enduring impact across the media landscape, content creators have an opportunity to transform films, TV shows, and video games into powerful catalysts for positive social change.
Actionable Insights
Encourage writers, directors, artists, and other industry professionals who have diverse racial identities to share their authentic stories.
When representing racially diverse characters, consult with as many individuals who share characters’ races, cultures, and experiences as you can. Since no single experience will apply to all individuals from a given racial group, consult with diverse experts at every stage of content development and production.
Create racially diverse main characters who have a variety of personality traits, quirks, abilities, appearances, and conflicts that make them relatable and able to stand on their own.
Hire voice actors who share characters’ racial identities. Many talented voice actors are aware of the impact that authentic representations have on young audiences, and are eager to work on projects that champion authentic stories.
Hold frequent user testing and focus group sessions with members of the racial group that you are depicting, to ensure that your characters and stories are respectful and resonate with your target audience.
The compelling strength that Tiana brought to my world through her well-developed personality ignited my decision to become a children’s media consultant: a role that has enabled me to watch and contribute to the trend of increasing authentic diversity in media by supporting industry leaders. During and beyond Black History Month, I celebrate and acknowledge storytellers’ efforts to authentically represent racially diverse characters so that their stories can be remembered and relished long after the credits roll. While we have trends yet to change, I truly do believe that we are almost there.
Josanne Buchanan, BSc.
Children’s Media Consultant at OK Play / Research Assistant at Children’s Media Lab
How to avoid picking up prejudice from the media
News, entertainment, and social media shape how we behave toward different groups of people. How can we limit negative influences?
This is an article written from our friends and colleagues at the Greater Good Science Center that can shed some light on avoiding prejudice in the media.
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, killing more than a thousand people and leaving tens of thousands homeless.
That was terrible. But news media may have turned this natural disaster into a disaster for American race relations by repeatedly broadcasting images of black people who were often described as “looting” in the catastrophic wake of the storm. According to a study by James Johnson and colleagues, these types of images may lead white people to endorse harsh treatment of black evacuees (by, for example, not allowing them to seek refuge in another parish). Participants were not any less likely to help white evacuees, suggesting that racial stereotypes of blacks as criminals may have played a role.
News media aren’t the only problem. In another study, the researchers found that exposure to hyper-sexualized rap music (as compared to non-sexualized rap music or no music) led participants to feel less empathy for a young black woman who was pregnant and in need of assistance—which was not the case for a young white woman in a similar situation. Why? Because exposure to the hyper-sexualized rap music seemed to have activated a stereotype that black women are more sexually promiscuous.
Other minority groups—“out-groups” in relation to the majority—are portrayed negatively in media as well. Research shows that Latinos are often depicted as low status, criminal, and as sexual objects, while East Asians and Native American characters are rarely seen in the media. When they are, East Asian characters are commonly depicted as devious villains and Native American characters tend to be depicted as animalistic and savage. Middle Easterners are often portrayed as terrorists in both news and entertainment media. These stereotypic depictions can lead us to feel and behave more negatively toward these groups.
Yes, media have historically shown minority groups in a negative light, and these portrayals can exacerbate prejudice and discriminatory behaviors. But sometimes media are our only way of connecting with minority groups at all. Indeed, media may be the only contact some people have with minority groups, especially those living in homogenous communities.
Here are steps we can all take to limit the negative impact of stereotypes in the media—and maximize the positive benefits media may have on our attitudes toward out-groups.
When media impact is positive
In a study we conducted at the University of Toronto, people reported on how much they saw different social groups (like Latin Americans, the elderly, and gays and lesbians) in the media each day for 10 days. We also asked them report on all the direct social interactions they had with these groups each day, and their attitudes toward them.
We found that media contact consistently predicted more positive attitudes toward social out-groups. Importantly, seeing groups in the media was a stronger and more reliable predictor of positive intergroup attitudes than directly interacting with these groups.
This is likely because people were not having direct social interactions with many different out-group members very often, but they were frequently seeing a wide range of out-groups in the media. Even in Toronto, one of the most diverse cities in the world, people report few direct social interactions with out-group members. This demonstrates just how important media is for providing opportunities for cross-group contact.
Our findings echo the results of other experiments. In a series of studies, Edward Schippa and colleagues found that watching media interactions with gay and transgender characters were related to more positive attitudes toward gay men and transgender people in general. They call this dynamic the parasocial contact hypothesis, which states that we can have one-sided interactions with media characters, perceiving them as real people and feeling like we could know them in real life. When we have these interactions with out-group media characters, we may feel better about the out-group as a whole.
But we’re not just being exposed to different groups through media—we’re also being exposed to interactions between members of different social groups. When we watch other members of our group have positive interactions with out-group members, we learn that positive interaction is possible. This appears to reduce our own concerns about interacting with the out-group.
Indeed, studies have found that when people consume media that include positive interactions between in-group and out-group characters, they seem to feel more positively toward those groups, and they show more interest in interacting with members of those groups.
How to minimize the impact of negative stereotypes
It is clear that seeing groups presented in a positive way is important for improving intergroup attitudes—and, clearly, if journalists and media-makers want to have a positive impact on society, they should think carefully about how they portray minorities.
However, if we as individuals are not able to avoid seeing negative depictions of minority groups, then it’s important to find ways to buffer ourselves—and our children—against their effects.
The first step is to recognize negative stereotypes in the media when you see them, label them as stereotypes, and resist their influence on how you respond to the group. There is some evidence that actively challenging stereotypic responses when they occur is an important tool in combating our explicit and implicit prejudices.
Moreover, you can deliberately expose yourself to more diverse representations of other groups.
Studies have found that people who have had more social interaction with minority group members are less likely to be affected by negative media depictions of these groups. This may be explained by the fact that they have more varied representations of what members of this groups are like, and therefore do not allow a single, negative representation to shape how they treat people from that group. Even if you are not able to do this by directly interacting with minority group members, you can consume media with counter-stereotypical depictions of these groups. Doing this repeatedly over time may reduce the extent to which you rely on stereotypes to shape your attitudes and behavior toward these groups, similar to the way direct social interaction does.
We can use these same strategies with our children in order to minimize the negative impact of stereotypes. First, we need to explain to our children what stereotypes are and why they are harmful. When you consume media with your child, you can point out stereotypes when you see them and explain to your child why that stereotype is not representative of the group. You should also encourage your child to consume media with counter-stereotypic examples of out-group members and positive interactions between members of diverse groups.
While some news coverage during and after Hurricane Katrina activated and reinforced stereotypes, much of it had the opposite effect, raising awareness about racial inequality. For example, several articles discussed how race influenced the response of the US government and the media to this horrible tragedy. This hopefully created greater awareness of racial inequality and issues facing the black community for those who read these articles.
Although stereotypes are still broadcast to us through media, we can resist their influence when we acknowledge that they exist and that they are a problem. Moreover, we can use media as a tool to come into contact with different social groups that we may otherwise not have contact with and to learn about their experiences. In doing so, we may reduce our prejudices and foster more egalitarian attitudes in ourselves and our children.
Amanda Sharples, PhD
Elizabeth Page-Gould, PhD
This article originally appeared on Greater Good, the online magazine of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley.
More Realistic Physical Representations in Media Will Support Youth Mental Health
More Realistic Physical Representations in Media Will Support Youth Mental Health
HIGHLIGHTS
• A CSS study found that the majority of human characters in children’s television in the US and Canada, especially females, were portrayed as thin or very thin.
• Studies show young women have a significantly more negative view of their body
• Exposure to sexualizing media leads to self-objectification in both men and women.
For many years, parents, child advocates, and mental health professionals have expressed their concerns about the influence of mass media on children and adolescents’ perceptions of body image, body satisfaction, and self-esteem. Over the past decade, with the rise of digital media and young people’s nearly constant engagement with media and technology, there has been an increasing alarm. Sadly, the media is filled with unrealistic representations of what our bodies should look like and do not accurately reflect the range of body shapes we see within our society—female characters and models often have bodies that are smaller and thinner than average, and males are often shown as physically strong and muscular. On top of this, these characters are often portrayed as being successful, accepted, sexually desirable, and happy while overweight characters are commonly used as comic relief, are often ridiculed in social situations and regarded as unattractive.
A recent report looking at children’s television in both the US and Canada showed that the majority of human characters in children’s television, especially females, were portrayed as thin or very thin. In addition, female characters were nearly twice as likely to be sexualized in the US based on factors such as revealing or flattering clothing, long eyelashes, and sensual lips.
While many things can contribute to one’s body satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) and self-esteem, several research studies have established that children and youth are indeed vulnerable to mass media images and messages that encourage and reinforce distorted body images and unhealthy perceptions about dietary health.
In one striking example, a landmark study over the period that television was introduced to a community in Fiji demonstrated the dramatic effect these images had on young adolescent girls, showing how they internalized the Western images of beauty, resulting in disordered eating habits and patterns. Moreover, a meta-analysis of 25 experimental studies examined the immediate effect of exposure to a variety of images and found that body image, especially for females younger than 19, was significantly more negative after seeing thin media characters than after seeing average or plus-size media characters or inanimate objects.
Exposure to hundreds and thousands of these inaccurate and unrealistic images over time sends the message that they are common and normal within society, when in fact, they are difficult if not impossible for most people to achieve. In fact, these images are almost always digitally manipulated, modified and enhanced to achieve this ‘ideal’ body image, creating an even larger gap between reality and what we see in the media. The impact of not being able to look like these characters in the media is associated with decreased self-esteem, body satisfaction, depression, and eating disorders.
Moreover, exposure to sexualizing media leads to self-objectification in both men and women – which feeds a destructive cycle of measuring self-esteem by physical appearance. At a time when rates of anxiety, depression and suicide are on a steep rise, especially among young women and girls, putting a stop to these distorted media representations is long overdue and more important than ever.
While the problem remains significant, we have seen some positive improvements in advertising and marketing campaigns in recent years. For example, Aerie, the lingerie retailer, created a campaign, #AerieREAL, which intends to promote body positivity by using raw, un-retouched images that feature models of different racial backgrounds and body types and more recently, models with disabilities and other medical issues. Similarly, Dove’s Girls Self Esteem campaign has a similar mission. Many popular retail brands, such as Target, Old Navy, Nike, and Forever 21, have followed suit by incorporating a diversity of body types and/or scaling back on re-touching photos in their advertising.
In TV and film, avoiding these distorted physical stereotypes is still the exception, not the rule. There are a handful of shows making a solid effort to promote more “body positivity” through inclusion of a variety of body types and characters, but they are unfortunately few and far between. We need to see much more of this – and urgently – especially for any hope of stemming the tide of rising rates of anxiety, depression and suicide among our youth.
Inclusive and realistic portrayals can promote body acceptance and reinforce self-esteem – and wellness should be prioritized over ratings. If done well, the ensuing culture shift should open the door for a new era of creative, representative content that viewers can relate to and embrace.
To contribute to positive body diversity in media, here are some actionable insights for content creators:
Offer more realistic cultural standards of beauty through a diversity of body types and experiences.
Avoid characters fixating on weight loss and beauty.
Create characters who model body positivity and acceptance.
Deviate from cultural norms of women needing to be slender and men, strong and muscular.
Offer an alternative narrative to one featuring women and girls as sexual objects and men as fixated on female physical characteristics above all others.
Show characters who deviate from the cultural norms of beauty as romantically desirable and socially accepted, not just as sidekicks or comic relief.
Vicki Harrison, MSW
Program Director, Center for Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing
Stanford Psychiatry Center for Youth Mental Health & Wellbeing
Adrianna Ruggiero
Senior Research Coordinator for CSS
How Can we Improve Media Representations of Autism?
How Can we Improve Media Representations of Autism?
Collaborate with Autistic People
Have you ever seen an autistic character on TV? Chances are, you answered yes. Since Rain Man introduced autism to the general public in 1988, autistic characters have become increasingly common on TV [1] and in movies. Learning about autism from autistic characters can help people understand and accept autism. Indeed, high quality contact is linked to more positive attitudes toward diversity [2]. However, media representations also have the potential to decrease autism acceptance by promoting stereotypes [3]. So, how can we improve media representations of autism? Hint: You would get the same general answer if you asked other types of minorities how to represent their identities more accurately.
Shows with autistic characters are often developed with substantial input from clinicians and family members of autistic people. For example, the puppeteer behind Julia, an autistic character who is wholeheartedly accepted by her peers on Sesame Street, uses her experiences as the mother of an autistic child to create a believable character. Yet autistic people themselves are generally NOT part of the process of developing autistic TV characters. This lack of involvement is surprising given that autistic people are often more knowledgeable about autism than others [4] and bloom socially through engagement in theatre [5].
By leaving autistic people out of the process of developing autistic characters, we risk creating one dimensional characters that represent only limited aspects of the autism spectrum. Indeed, most autistic TV characters are highly gifted and eloquent, albeit with social difficulties. Not only are savant-like characters overrepresented in media representations of autism, the gifts autistic characters exhibit show repetitive tendencies on the part of content creators. For example, the autistic characters in two separate TV shows (Touch, one of the few shows to portray a non-speaking autistic character, and Waterloo Road, one of many shows with verbally precocious autistic characters) demonstrated savant skills by reflecting on the Fibonacci sequence. Repetitive representations of autism may reinforce stereotypes while also depriving the large population of autistic young people of role models they can identify with.
We, 3 autistic college students, 1 autistic college graduate and a professor, would like to share personal reflections from the autistic members of our team about how media representations of autism get it right, get it wrong, and can get it better.
What do you like about how autism is represented in the media?
Billy: I would say in the past 10 years alone, we’ve come pretty far in the way autism is shown in the media. 10 years ago, the characters you saw on TV shows who had autism were side characters whose only defining characteristic was their disability. Today, you see characters on the spectrum who are stars of their own show like Atypical (2017) and the Good Doctor (2018) and are portrayed as complex characters in their own right. On the Good Doctor, Shaun is shown to be going through personal struggles of his own unrelated to autism such as him having not fully recovered from the trauma of his older brother’s death when they were kids.
Jin: I think Adam (2009) was a good portrayal if you consider the fact that the titular character is not only autistic. He’s depressed (his father died shortly before the film’s start) and that exacerbates the classic withdrawn symptoms that might present in someone who’s autistic. I heard complaints from someone that he didn’t end up “getting the girl” at the end and that this reflects negatively on autistic people and their ability to get into relationships, but personally it felt clear that they weren’t right for each other at the time (I didn’t like Beth anyway). It’s not like they made Adam void of sexual attraction (an issue with disability representation in general), because he very clearly voices it. I think Adam is a good look into someone who has to navigate depression and anxiety along with functioning differently in general.
What do you NOT like about how autism is represented in the media?
Nick: One of the biggest problems with characters with disabilities, not just autism, in media is that when writing a character with a disability, one can fall into the trap of writing a disabled character before one writes a character with a disability. In layman’s terms, the disability becomes the character instead of informing it. However, I’d argue a bigger problem is a hesitancy to portray people with autism who can be unpleasant on purpose. One example of this is The Good Doctor, where all of the ideas the autistic doctor has worked. It would have been a lot more interesting if something that he thought of didn’t work and he would have to take the responsibility of having made a decision that caused a patient’s death.
Billy: One of the biggest problems with how autism is represented in the media is that when a character with autism is portrayed on television, they’re presented as one dimensional characters whose depth is the stereotypical symptoms of their disability. Like Nick said, their disability becomes their character. In Atypical, the main character Sam, who has ASD, is portrayed as hopelessly naive with no idea how to approach social, and by extension romantic situations. We’re also presented as savants with total brilliance in one area, but disabled in all other areas. This goes back to Rainman (1988), in which Dustin Hoffman’s character is portrayed as a math genius, but is unable to take care of himself and lives in an institution.
Bella: Unfortunately, the media doesn’t include everyone on the autism spectrum. While the Good Doctor has an autistic character named Shaun who works as a surgeon in a hospital, there are not a lot of TV shows that show how autistic people struggle to get jobs. Sheldon, a scientist that shows autistic symptoms on the show Big Bang Theory, lived with his friends before he got married which is in contrast to stereotypes about how autistic people live in society as people who can’t have jobs or get married.
How can media content creators better involve autistic people in the process of developing media?
Nick: The best way to write a character with autism is to have it inform their character instead of being their entire character. For example, in Mary & Max (2009), Max is a man who is a social outcast because of the way the world has treated him. This is not always obviously reflective of autism.
Bella: Directors could research what life is like for autistic people. Although some shows illustrate how autistic people deal with their lives, they need to include autistic characters who display diverse symptoms. Autistic people can exhibit great strengths in technology, so directors could hire them to work at their companies. People can interview autistic people so that viewers can understand what life is like for autistic people. If TV shows could show how autistic people struggle to live in society, then society would understand more.
Here are some actionable insights for storytellers:
Media creators should employ autistic people as writers, actors, technicians and in other roles helping to create autistic characters. Rather than just having one isolated autistic character in each show, thus magnifying the sense that autistic people are different from “the norm,” diverse communities of people should be represented.
Greater representation of non-speaking autistic people is needed. Autistic characters should be as complex as any other character, with autism one aspect of their multifaceted identities. Autistic characters should have opportunities to succeed and to fail, to help and to be helped, and autistic people should play a central role in helping to create them.
Kristen Gillespie-Lynch
The graduate Center; City University of New York
Collaborator of the Center for Scholars and Storytellers
Nicholas Tricarico
The College of Staten Island; City University of New York
Billy Pinkava
The College of Staten Island; City University of New York
Bella Kofner
The College of Staten Island; City University of New York
Jin Delos Santos
Hunter College; City University of New York
References
1Morgan, J. (2019). Has autism found a place in mainstream TV?. The Lancet Neurology, 18(2), 143-144.
2Corrigan, P. W., Larson, J., Sells, M., Niessen, N., & Watson, A. C. (2007). Will filmed presentations of education and contact diminish mental illness stigma?. Community mental health journal, 43(2), 171-181.
3Draaisma, D. (2009). Stereotypes of autism. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 364(1522), 1475-1480.
4Gillespie-Lynch, K., Kapp, S. K., Brooks, P. J., Pickens, J., & Schwartzman, B. (2017). Whose expertise is it? Evidence for autistic adults as critical autism experts. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 438.
5Corbett, B. A., Gunther, J. R., Comins, D., Price, J., Ryan, N., Simon, D., ... & Rios, T. (2011). Brief report: theatre as therapy for children with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 41(4), 505-511.