Male gaze – The perspective of a notionally typical heterosexual man considered as embodied in the audience or intended audience for films and other visual media, characterized by a tendency to objectify or sexualize women.
Voyeurism – Defined as an interest in observing unsuspecting people while they undress, are naked, or engage in sexual activities. The interest is usually more in the act of watching, rather than in the person being watched.
Patriarchy – A system of society or government in which the father or eldest male is head of the family and descent is reckoned through the male line.
Positive and negative stereotypes – For example, women are positively stereotyped as warm but negatively stereotyped as weak; Asian-Americans are positively stereotyped as competent but negatively stereotyped as cold; Black Americans are positively stereotyped as athletic but negatively stereotyped as unintelligent.
Counter-types – The definition of a countertype is a positive stereotype and emphasizes the positive features about a person. An example of a countertype is that all religious people are kind.
Misrepresentation – The action or offence of giving a false or misleading account of the nature of something.
Selective representation – Selective representation is when some groups of people are represented more in government than others. In the extreme case, selective representation can mean that whole groups of people are made ineligible to vote; in the US women could not vote before 1920, for example.
Dominant ideology – The ideas, attitudes, values, beliefs, and culture of the ruling class in a society; usually also the function of these in validating the status quo.
Constructed reality – Sociologists generally accept that reality is different for each individual. The term social construction of reality refers to the theory that the way we present ourselves to other people is shaped partly by our interactions with others, as well as by our life experiences.
Hegemony – Leadership or dominance, especially by one state or social group over others.
Audience positioning – Audience positioning refers to the techniques used by the creator of a text to try to get the audience to understand the ideology of the text.
Fluidity of identity – The concept of identity changing because of time, for example maturity or change of circumstances.
Constructed identity – The process of people developing ideas and beliefs about themselves.
Negotiated identity – The process of people fidning out “who is who” in society.
Collective identity – The idea of fitting into certain categories or groups, perhaps based on interests, gender or age.
