The idea of gender and gender roles in today's society shape the way we live and interact in our everyday lives. From the day you are born you are taught and interpret a certain way to act depending on what sex you are. The media is a leading contributor and developer of the typical gender roles in our world today. Kilbourne shows the way genders are depicted by one form of the media in, "Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt": Advertising and Violence. Television, being a colossal part of the media, I believe has the greatest impact on the interpretation of sex and gender roles. For this particular reason I decided to analyze The Simpsons, one of America's most popular television shows. I decided to take a look at some of the characters in the show and see how gender and gender roles took effect on that particular character under analysis. .
The first character I took a look at was Homer Simpson. He could represent the typical middle class father in our present day society. He is fat, lazy, and not too bright. Homer just seems to go to work every day, come home to his living room, and sit on the couch and drink beer. In some part of our society this is probably common practice for the male of the household and this is what Homer represents. .
In one particular episode Homer leaves for work wearing a pink shirt and is ridiculed by his son and co-workers. This is another part of the male gender role where certain colors are considered unmanly. Homer receiving the humiliation for wearing a pink shirt is a consequence for him not following the male gender role. .
Homer Simpson also shows how he fit's the ideal male gender role of our society by showing his aggression by going after and in some cases choking his son Bart. In these cases where Homer shows aggression he is living up to the dominant male masculinity of his gender as explained in Katz's, "Advertising and the Construction of Violent White Masculinity.
