Hypermasculinity, Gender Roles, and Media

Another interesting article I came across during my period of research was "Sexually Related Content on Television and Adolescents of Color: Media Theory, Physiological Development, and Psychological Impact" by Enid Gruber and Helaine Thau, originally published by The Journal of Negro Education in 2003.

This article revealed the results of studies which monitored the amount and type of television consumed by pre-teens and teens across many races. Gruber and Thau found that, on average, African-American adolescents consume more media (television, music, movies, websites) than their White and Hispanic peers.

While exposure to media in and of itself isn't dangerous, Gruber and Thau feel the level of consumption of media by African-American teens was troubling, even dangerous. The authors feel that the greater the consumption of media, the greater the exposure to sexually-charged material that fosters acceptance of outdated or stereotypical gender roles--essentially encouraging hypermasculinity,homophobia, and misogyny.

Gruber and Thau also believe that many portrayals of African-Americans in creative media are subtly rooted in a racist ideology and portray lifestyles and experiences that are very different from the real lives of the teens consuming the media, essentially providing them with unattainable or unhealthy role-model that skews the expectations they have for themselves.

Finally Gruber and Thau remind their reader that, though all teens who consume sexually suggestive media are at risk for accepting and being assimilated to more stereotypical gender roles, African-American teens are at special risk because of their accelerated rate of physical development. The authors describe how African-American teens experience puberty at least 1.5 years before their White and Hispanic peers, thus finding themselves viewed as "adults" or "sexually mature" at a younger age, pressuring them to engage in earlier, often risky or uninformed, sexual behavior. These rapid physiological shifts, combined with the influence of the pervasive and unrealistic media ( in which characters rarely talk about safe sex or contraception) from which these teens get the majority of their information about sex and gender, is a recipe for disaster and bad choices for many teens.

While I was very interested in this article, I was ultimately disappointed that the authors never explained why African-American teens consumed more media than their peers. Personally, I am at a loss. I am still trying to think of a reason--outside the Neilsen and Kaiser Family Foundation statistics--why this might be so.