Maintaining the double standard: portrayals of age and gender in popular films

Sex Roles: A Journal of Research,  April, 2005  by Martha M. Lauzen,  David M. Dozier

• E-mail
• Print
• Link

In the film The First Wives' Club, Goldie Hawn's character laments, "There are only three ages for women in Hollywood: babe, district attorney, and driving Miss Daisy" (Schroeder, Swerdlow, & Wilson, 1996). This line sums up the unfortunate alchemy gender and age conjure for women in film. Prior researchers who have examined the representation of age and gender in the media have found that men enjoy longer and more vital screen lives than women do. The resulting double standard allows substantial numbers of male characters to age at least into their 40s, whereas many female characters remain forever frozen in their 20s and 30s. Moreover, female characters who do age into their 40s and beyond suffer more substantial consequences than do their male counterparts, including diminished mental and physical capacities (Bazzini, McIntosh, Smith, Cook, & Harris, 1997; Gerbner, Gross, Signorielli, & Morgan, 1980; Greenberg, Korzenny, & Atkin, 1980; Vernon, Williams, Phillips, & Wilson, 1991).

In this study we considered whether popular films continue to perpetuate this double standard. We examined the top 100 domestic grossing films of 2002, and considered (1) the quantitative representation of female and male characters in various age categories, and (2) the degree of purposiveness characters enjoyed, as measured by their possession of goals and effectiveness in achieving those goals, occupational power, and leadership status.

These cultural representations are nontrivial as they may interact with other factors to influence and reinforce perceptions of gender and age. Researchers acknowledge that many factors contribute to the formation of attitudes toward gender and age, including one's stage in the life cycle (Laditka, Fischer, Laditka, & Segal, 2004), application of unconscious or automatic schemas (Perdue & Gurtman, 1990), knowledge of the aging process (O'Hanlon, Camp, & Osofsky, 1993), fear of aging (McConatha, Schnell, Volkwein, Riley, & Leach, 2003), and personal experiences with the elderly (Bader, 1980).

Media images also contribute to audience members' understanding or misunderstanding of age and gender, which influence their perceptions of the size of various age cohorts and competencies of the individuals who make up those cohorts. Gerbner et al. (1980) and Korzenny and Neuendorf (1980) found relationships between heavy television viewing and negative perceptions of older individuals. Negative portrayals of older characters may be particularly damaging to younger viewers' perceptions, as they are unlikely to examine such portrayals critically (Giles, Fox, & Smith, 1993; Nelson, 2002; Passuth & Cook, 1985; Perdue & Gurtman, 1990). Further, the underrepresentation and misrepresentation of older female characters may have negative consequences for this population cohort and feed a sense of social worthlessness and hopelessness (Bazzini et al., 1997). Thus, the study of media representations of age and gender helps to illuminate the complex system of expectations and perceptions regarding individuals young and old, female and male.

Media Portrayals of Gender and Age

Double standards occur when the expectations meted out for members of various groups differ, and they often privilege one group at the expense of another. A substantial body of literature documents the double standard applied to aging women and men in our culture (e.g., Sontag, 1972; Wolf, 1991). Particular attention has been focused on the differential worth placed on the appearance of women and men and how this influences workplace expectations.

Sontag (1972) clearly articulated the interplay of appearance and work. She noted that frequently men's success is measured by what they do, whereas women's success is measured by how they look. "Being physically attractive counts much more in a woman's life than in a man's, but beauty, identified, as it is for women, with youthfulness, does not stand up well to age" (p. 31). According to Sontag's analysis, as men age, they are likely to enjoy greater satisfaction in their work as a result of greater success and knowledge. In contrast, women become "wounded" by the loss of their physical beauty, and thus the loss of their social value.

Approximately 20 years later, Wolf (1991) wrote about the enduring double standard in television news; she noted that female anchors' primary worth resided in their appearance, whereas male anchors' value resided in their authority and expertise. According to Wolf, male anchors enjoyed a wide latitude of appearance traits, including signs of maturity such as wrinkles and gray hair that contributed to their authority. In contrast, women anchors were required to conform to a more well defined and somewhat generic set of appearance standards, which emphasize youth. She noted that "If a single standard were applied equally to men as to women in TV journalism, most of the men would be unemployed" (p. 34).