In Richard Dyer’s “The Role of Stereotypes,” heargues that the word “stereotype” is “almost always a term ofabuse” (11). Ultimately, he concludes that “[t]he role ofstereotypes is to make visible the invisible, so that there is no danger of itcreeping up on us unawares; and to make fast, firm and separate what is inreality fluid and much closer to the norm than the dominant value systemcares to admit” (16). In addition, in Jackson Katzs essay, Advertising and theConstruction of Violent White Masculinity, he attempts to prove that women arenot alone in feeling pressured by the media to fit a certain gender mold.
He argues that mens magazines and advertisements often contain images of whatthe media defines as masculine. From an early age, boys are taught to be toughand physical. Harry Brod describes the real man as being physicallystrong, aggressive, and in control of their work” (415). In other words,males feel just as much pressure to fit into a specific set of gender roles aswomen do.)
