Stack and Kelley have demonstrated how media and society influence each other; media depicts society while society enacts what the media portrays. As educators we need to also reflect upon “the way media influences how adults come to understand children and youth” (p8). There is a mentality that it is only younger people need to be protected by the influence of media but that is not the case. What we interact with can have serious repercussions on how we treat others and ourselves. If we take media and pop culture as the foundation of the realities around us then the generation that follows will follow the same footsteps and nothing will change.
On a personal level, throughout my educational years math has always played a critical part in my life especially when I decided to pursue math. When I had decided to pursue my math studies in university there were those that were surprised and felt the need to say to me “are you sure” and “it won’t be easy”. But my male counterpart received positive reinforcement, such as “you’ll do great”. If I did not have a strong sense of who I am and what I want, I could have taken my studies in a different direction. The reality is that men outnumber women in STEM fields and 2 reasons for this could be that society has considered STEM careers to be “unfeminine” and that females feel that they lack confidence in their ability, no matter how capable they may be. As well there is an unconscious bias amongst our society that math and science are “male” fields while the humanities are more suitable for “females”. It is these stereotypes that prevent young girls from pursuing math and science. It comes down to there being a lack of female role models in these fields and media has reinforced this representation. It has been discussed that media and pop culture play a powerful role when it comes to female empowerment. With respect to my example there needs to be more visibility when it comes women accomplishing and pursuing STEM studies/ careers. As well, we need to move away from the stereotype that a girl can only pursue STEM careers if she was a geeky girl. We must face and change these misrepresentations is to urge the creation of counter narratives. This is noticeable in shows such as Felicity Smoak from Arrow, Raven from The 100, and Amy from Big Bang Theory, all of which are strong, intelligent, feminine, respectable and relatable. Such female characters will help challenge gender stereotypes by normalizing women in scientific and technical fields. Only when “marginalized groups invent and circulate oppositional interpretations of their needs and interests, in strategic resistance to the power if dominant groups and institution whose ideologies are accepted as common sense in wider public spheres” (p10). 1. Stack, M., & Kelley, D.M. (2006). Popular media, education, and resistance. Canadian Journal of Education, 29(1), 5-26.
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