Genders Role In The Media

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In the recent MSN article, the subject of how men and women listen to music is explained as a drastically different approach for both parties. While the author does not support these views, she goes on to explain that men are considered to be more interested in the intellectual side of music and women are more interested in the emotional side of music.
This theory has ideological tensions that date back to old-fashioned conservative gender roles of the man being the bread-winner and the woman raising the children. The man, in this case, as the hunter who uses his wit to bring the feast to the family. The woman, whose nurturing spirit and warm heart, takes care and nourishes the family. This theory shows more than obvious reasoning. They might as well have said men enjoy aggressive rock music and women like heartfelt ballads. The author does a good job realizing this though and makes it clear that she is just writing about the issue, not condoning the theory in any way at all.

This theory puts a further spin on some of the ideas that we've discussed in class. With Adorno's thoughts on Free Time, it emphasizes the obviously sexist angle. Where intellectualism can be equated to agency and emotion can be equated to shallow entertainment, it's clearly showing that men are the stronger and better gender. This is severly incorrect and no such claim could ever be made. Adorno would declare these findings as incorrect, stating that every human works and every human needs to practice agency with their leisurely activities of listening to music.

This article does do a good job of revealing the more negative ideologies that go into marketing and media, while also showing that as a female who writes the article she shows that agency and intellectualism is very much a part of her music listening experience. She even shows the intellectualism behind more shallow pop music, and that everything can be complex and interesting in a more cerebral way. To look at the most shallow pop culture products and carefully dissect them is a perfect example of agency. Media is ubiquitous and we must study the media, as Silverstone states repeatedly. Men and women should be equally able to do just this.