During my masters, I had studied stereotyping in society and how it has spread to the media as well. In this patriarchal society that we live, stereotypes about women are most common. Normal stereotypes are that they are emotional, weak, etc etc and not to forget the colour pink!
Although i kept an open eye to spot such stereotyping in the media, I got quite a shock a couple of days back.
The Deccan Herald, a popular newspaper, reported on October 19, about a situation in the Tiruvanathpuram airport. The headlines (front page , second story) read as below:
"PANICKY WOMAN PILOT SCRIPTS HIJACK DRAMA"
I am sure that most of the readers just read the headline and went on to do their daily chores. But this headline has been troubling me for a while.
I raise the following questions. Was it necessary to mention that it was a woman? Would a "male" pilot be "panic free" in a hijack situation? Do the men receive special training? Did the noun 'Pilot' require those two adjectives? If a male pilot had done the same would the headline read "Panicky Male pilot scripts hijack drama"? Who is creating the drama here, the newspaper itself?
This is how stereotyping gets stronger. I feel there was no need of both the adjectives in the headline. Readers will seldom see the item as a situation faced by a pilot, but see it as a situation which occurred because the pilot was a woman! Headlines and reports of this kind provide validation for stereotypes and make them stronger pushing people to take decisions based on the same. This is detrimental to the society!
So please be aware of stereotyping, and the next time your about to board the plane, do check if the pilots are male, female or transgenders!!
1 comment:
I noticed it too! In fact a few months ago, there was another headline where a "courageous woman pilot" averted a disaster. I wrote to dh protesting about the mention of her sex, but it was not published!
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