Gender stereotypes in Australian newspaper texts: a cognitive linguistic aspect

Abstract

This paper aims to expose gender stereotypes embodied in the descriptions of men and women found in the Australian newspaper THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (sections “Family” and “Relations”). The analyzed newspaper texts epitomize journalistic style texts and provide coverage of societal issues, discuss, vindicate and propagate certain ideas and form public opinion. They are mostly ideologically charged which presupposes the appearance of entrenched images which may contain either positive or negative evaluative component. Such images eventually develop into stereotypes – culturally conditioned, coherent and hardwired mental structures serving as a schematic standard feature of an object, event or phenomenon. Among a great gamut of stereotypes I focus on gender stereotypes, a consistent, simplified and emotionally charged behavioral pattern and character traits of males and/or females manifested in all aspects of human life. They represent an embodiment of cognition aimed at the environment and symptomatic of certain social strata. Since stereotypes are not only the elements of journalistic text ideology but constituents of the human cognitive sphere as well, I analyzed them employing the methodology of cognitive linguistics, namely the basic frames theory. Basic frames are schematic mental structures which form the backbone of our informational system. The frames consist of propositional schemas containing static and dynamic characteristics of an object under scrutiny. The analysis results reveal the list of typical features of males and females which proved to contain both universal qualities (sincerity, romanticism, amiability) and those characteristics which are stereotypically associated with representatives of a certain sex. Thus, modern men are mostly depicted as adulterous and selfish, yet chivalrous and virile, while modern women are independent and ambitious. Such portraits of average males and females are regarded as gender stereotypes symptomatic of Australian society in the early 21st century.

Keywords

• basic frames
• gender stereotype
• gender
• journalistic style text
• propositional schemas
• stereotype