Media:

Instagram and Snapchat, Youtube and Tumblr have consumed my and almost
every other teenagers life. In our technologically advanced society everyone has been
influenced by any of these things. Subliminal messages are hidden in this media and
influence how we see ourselves, how we see gender and what roles are played, and
how white privilege is socialized to us. Media influences every part of our lives.
I have been socialized to see that there is a perfect body that everyone should
achieve; this is the idealistic image set by influencers on instagram and through
advertising. Skinny and tan are the two traits that have been ingrained in my head as
the ideal person - an ideal that is impossible to achieve.. Advertising companies take
advantage of this by making girls who use their products in magazines eternally try to
meet those ideals. This makes the company look like they have the secret ingredient to
make someone look attractive, thus making the company more money. This has taken
a very big toll on todays girls insecurities and asking themselves why they can't be like
this. In modern advertising, you can see change happening. A video, Fotoshop by
Adobe, uses a sense of mockery to tell women that it is a waste comparing themselves
to advertisements. People are starting to see that even though women in
advertisements might seem perfect, we should embrace what makes us beautiful and
unique.
Boys like blue and girls like pink, is something that is so normal and socialized to
people through the media. When I was younger, I would sit in front of the TV and wait
for the commercials to end so I could get back to watching the program. I would see
these commercials, especially during Christmas for very stereotypical girl and boy toys.
All the princess, pink toys would have female actors and the construction, car realm of
toys would have little boy actors. I would sit there amazed by the the girls toys, but
when the boys toys came on, I rolled my eyes and sat back for the 30 seconds. This is a
role in the institutional and cultural stage of the cycle of socialization, because in the
beginning stage of socialization, we are taught these things. And then when someone
sees these commercials, the stereotypes are enforced. As seen in the video, Gender

Stereotyping of Women in the Media on YouTube, women are portrayed as home

workers. Girls toys are made to make young girls think that doing laundry and taking
care of babies are what they should do. This is a form of socialization because it
teaches girls and boys what is socially acceptable. If they do not follow these norms,
they will get negative sanctions. This binds children into these categories of gender and
make people follow an unspoken system of what is right and wrong.
Scrolling through the videos I might like on Instagram, I find a lot of racist video
skits where people of color are portrayed as bad people who like to hit on girls, and
white men are portrayed as the heroes who save their girlfriends from them. This
happens with women also; white girls are seen as stupid and Pumpkin Spice Latte
loving. Typical white girl is a term used every day as a joke. But is it a joke? Or is it
something that suppresses our own individuality? Women or people of color are
considered part of the target group, which are the underdogs of the community, often
not paid attention to. These group are not how we idealize ourselves and often are not
as successful as an agent group member. Agent groups are the stars of the show and
are always the center of attention. White people, men, and upper class mostly make up
these groups. In a speech on November 21, 2015, President-elect Donald Trump was
talking about 9/11 and brought up a question a reporter with a disability asked. He
seemed to mock this reporter's disability. The impact of seeing this on the news or on
TV is huge for young viewers. When our country's highest representatives speech is on
social media, like Instagram or YouTube, young viewers may get a sense of how they
are supposed to act.
The media is responsible for portraying cultures other than the dominant North
American culture in stereotypical ways. When we see or buy stuff like Namaste in Bed
on Snapchat or Instagram, we are supporting people who are mocking thousands of
years of culture and ideological belief. In the media, we are exposed to a lot of
subliminal messages in music videos that continue to stereotype cultures. In the music
video for Lean On by Major Lazer and DJ Snake, you can see Indian dancers dancing
around the singer of the song. The director, perhaps inadvertently, creates a

master/slave tone in the video by showing the dancers dancing around the white
person. 1 When someone hears this on the radio and sees the video, it solidifies the
notion that white people are better than everyone else. The video portrays dancing that
is offensive to the Indian culture and paints a stereotypical picture of an already
marginalized group of people. When this happens, we have a very clear, superficial,
and most of the time incorrect idea of what a culture looks like and believes in.
Ideological beliefs are a very important part of today's current events and society. This
plays a huge role in the institutional and cultural stage of the cycle of socialization.
In todays media, it is a norm to have some sort of internet connections for
everyone. We are so dependent on media to bring us current presidential news, what
our friends are doing, and much more. Because media consumes so much of our lives,
the effects have shaped us to idealize a certain body image and standards for
ourselves. Media is the most important agent of socialization.

"3 Reasons Why There Is Cultural Appropriation in Lean On by Major Lazer & DJ Snake (Ft.
M)."Better to Speak. N.p., 27 Aug. 2015. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
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