Gender and Reality TV (Group 4)

This podcast explores how the media frames our perceptions of gender and gender stereotypes through reality TV. As an influential media source in society today, we feel that reality television has a large role in the shaping of the post-modern ideas of gender, focusing specifically on the female gender and perceived gender identity. We will address the question “How is female gender portrayed on reality TV, and how does the potential stereotyping affect the targeted audience?” We will do this by looking at how reality TV presents certain understandings of how gender is formed, and how reality TV uses this understanding to influence the perception and creation of a specific female gender identity. This will lead to an analysis of how the stereotypes presented on these shows change the ideas of idealized gender identity in the post-modern reality lived out in society today. We will explore this by looking at the reality TV series “Millionaire Matchmaker” and its portrayal of an idealized female gender role, and how this image affects its female viewership.