Digitized Honors Theses (2002-2017)

Author

Date of Award

2009

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Faculty Mentor

Steven Rockwell

Abstract

Efforts to bridge the gap between men and women in portrayals on television have produced many opportunities for women. This research sought to determine if today's audiences saw these modern portrayals of women in traditional stereotypical gender roles. In this study, 93 participants viewed women portrayed in either traditional stereotypes or modern counter-stereotypes using the two sitcoms "Secret Life of the American Teenager" and "Sex and the City," and responded to survey questions that followed two fictional anecdotes. Overall, the conditional variable of the video clips did not result in significant findings. MANOVA showed a slight trend of stereotypical responses from the male participants on particular questions dealing with female portrayal in television and gender roles. The female participants seemed to show no effects of priming in their responses.

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