Television Influences Our Views Towards the Opposite Sex

Studies have shown that children our influenced by watching too much television. If you think this is unlikely, you are mistaken because most preschoolers spend an average of at least 30 hours a week watching the tube (Anderson, Lorch, Field, Collins, & Nathan, 1986; Aulette, 1994; Kaplan, 1991). This means that by the time that the child is 16 years old, they have probably spent more time here than going to school. (Basow, 1992).

If you think about it, this is not surprising given how many shows are aired on television and the number of channels that are available now. These individuals will also be exposed to 20,000 advertisements each year (Stoneman & Brody, 1981) and witnessed more than 13,000 violent deaths. (Gerbner & Gross, 1976). That is a lot to take in and this includes how their attitude is influenced towards the opposite sex.

To explain how this happens, we have to remember that we take information and then try to put it together with what we already know. (Piaget, 1954) It may not always be correct and if this reinforced by their own experiences, it strengthens their stereotyped belief about men or women.

A good example is that a beautiful woman must measure a certain height, have specific breast measurements, hips and other physical features which are typically seen in television shows and in the movies. As for the women, the ideal guy must be tall and have great physique which are factors that have been determined by the National Institute of Mental Health.

Although the characters that these actors and actresses portray aren't real, we get to believe that they are and tend to find someone we like with those similar characteristics. Men and women try to achieve it themselves and do their best to make it happen using crash diets and cosmetic surgery.

Further evidence of how we are influenced by television is how such shows depict men and women. Most often, the characters that are portrayed show a man who is ambitious, competitive, rational, smart, powerful and tolerant while the woman is the exact opposite. She is attractive, happy, warm, sociable, fair, submissive and timid. So as a guy, you want to strive for excellence while for a girl, you focus on attractiveness and desirability.

Through the years, little has changed. On occasion, you see a woman who plays a domineering role but still, she has to be sexy.

There is no doubt then that too much exposure to the television and other forms of media does influence our perception towards the opposite sex. Was it done to increase the sale of a product or increase ratings? Perhaps and producers are still doing it.

But should we just let it continue? The answer is no because as parents, we should be the ones that influence them the most and not the media. It is our job to explain to them that this is just a show, not a depiction of reality.

We can do this by screening the shows they watch, limiting the times they can watch television and also access to other mediums such as magazines and the internet. We should also check who their friends are because when we are not looking, these people could show them stuff that are inappropriate.

If you think about it, we all went through that while we are growing up but it can change if we have our own kids now and the way to influence them the right way is with parental guidance.