Gender Stereotypes: Gender Roles In The Media

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The media in the contemporary world presents various types of information about gender roles and how each gender should behave. Aggression against women is a recurring theme in TV shows and movies, depicting sexual harassment, rape, and physical violence. It is daunting how popular such shows are amongst the general public. Shows such as The Game of Thrones and The Tudors both aired with a large number of viewers and quickly became a sensation amongst the viewers. However, these are shows that depict women in degrading terms, showing them as subservient, sex objects who can be raped and beaten without fear of retribution. The Game of Thrones episode 2: The Kingsroad focuses on several different characters in the world of Westeros. In the…show more content…
She is 17 years old, lively, and sexually active. To Henry, she is everything he could ever hope for: a young wife who is active in bed and the future mother of what he hopes will be a son. He dotingly sends her baubles and trinkets of all varieties on a daily basis, all of which causes her to jump in glee and show off to her handmaidens. However, since she is a young and beautiful queen, she receives attention from many men in court, especially that of Thomas Culpeper. Culpeper is Henry's groom and has occasional contact with Katherine when conveying Henry's messages to her. Through his interactions with her, he comes to lust after her but is quickly reminded that all of her body belongs to the King. In order to spend his lust and assert his power, he rapes a powerless, peasant woman and kills her aggrieved…show more content…
He explicitly states that "I would rather not trouble the sheriff. How much do you want for your silence? Come on. What real harm was done? Take a gold crown, enough to buy a dozen pigs and forget the whole matter." The reasoning Culpeper presents implies that the rape had caused no harm to the woman, but rather to property. The pain that the woman had gone through is worth a single gold crown, with which the husband can just buy some pigs for his farm. It is an outrageous reasoning that degrades the value of the woman and her pain to the level of a pig. From the way women are treated and referred to in the two shows, it can clearly be seen that women are thought of as sex objects rather than human beings. In the Game of Thrones, the only interaction that Daenerys has with Khal is at night for sex. Khal never speaks a single word to Daenerys. He simply enters their tent, turns Daenerys over in bed whether she is sleeping or awake, and has sex with her. Intimate scenes of Khal and Daenerys clearly shows that she is in pain and does not find pleasure in the act. However, what Daenerys feels is of no
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