A Content Analysis of Social Groups in Prime-Time Spanish-Language Television

Latinos’ Perceptions of Intergroup Relations in the United States: The Cultivation of Group‐Based Attitudes and Beliefs from English‐ and Spanish‐Language Television

“…Thus, there is a wider variety of roles for Latinos on Spanish‐language networks (vs. English‐language TV). Second, although Spanish‐language television depicts gender stereotypes not unfamiliar to English‐language television shows, Spanish‐language programming does not link Latinos to crime as frequently as English‐language programming (Mastro & Ortiz, ). Latino viewers may get a reprieve from seeing their culture represented as deviant and dangerous on television by turning to Spanish‐language rather than English‐language programming.…”

“…Content analyses of Spanish‐language television programming reveal the following about Latino characters: women appear in almost equal numbers to their male counterparts; men hold more professional jobs whereas women hold more parental/familial positions; characters are frequently family‐focused; and lighter skin is privileged (e.g., Mastro & Ortiz, ).…”

Media Effects

“…This occurred more often with Latina females than Latino males. Moreover, Spanish language television reinforced "the harlot" stereotype, depicting rich Latina women who were sexualized, provocatively dressed, and sporting slim body types (Mastro & Behm-Morawitz, 2005;Mastro & Ortiz, 2008). In addition, these programs depicted dark-complexion men as aggressive (e.g., "the criminal" stereotype), while portraying men with a fair complexion as intelligent and articulate.…”

Young characters in television fiction: youth identities, models and portrayals in the digital age

“…Female characters are often less frequently seen, or fewer in number, than male characters (Signorielli and Bacue 1999). Furthermore, the women portrayed tend to be younger than the men (Signorielli and Bacue 1999), thin and provocatively dressed (Fouts and Burggraf, 2000;Barriga, Shapiro and Jhaveri, 2009), and occupying positions or showing attitudes which are weaker or submissive, while men tend to be stronger and more powerful (Mastro and Ortiz, 2008). Other studies have shown that women tend to be depicted more often as victims of male violent episodes, and men tend to be shown as aggressors (Fernández-Villanueva et al, 2009) or as individuals with more propensities towards aggression (Scharrer, 2001).…”