The media can be a toxic thing and the evidence in this is the way that it can have just a direct effect on reality. The stereotypes and representations within the media are consumed and often believed, as per the hypodermic needle theory, which means that often society adopts the values and morals that the media preaches. A key example of this is in regards to gender stereotypes.

An example of the media's portrayal of issues and gender stereotypes affecting society is within a recent class discussion where we discussed the concept of strip clubs and the majority of the class automatically assumed that the strippers in these strip clubs in conversation were women rather than men. It is obvious where this standard stereotype comes from when we evaluate the mainstream media's portrayal of strip clubs and the under-representation of men being strippers. For example, there are few examples of men being strippers in the media - "Magic Mike"(2012), directed by Steven Soderbergh, is one film that defies this stereotype - yet there are many that focus on females being strippers. Examples of this include "Showgirls" (1995), "Striptease" (1996), "Burlesque" (2010) and "Exotica" (1994), to name but a few. The ratio of films that feature male strippers to films that feature female strippers is a prime example of how stereotypes are created within the media and how normalisation occurs but these gender roles are created throughout the media, not exclusively to the film industry. 

This concept is also exampled within the "beauty ideal", as discussed by Naomi Wolf, that is portrayed within the media - especially within print media such as the magazine industry. Models, both male and female, are often airbrushed and their images manipulated to create a standard of beauty which is then expected by the audience to be a product of reality. Related to this, characteristics that the media dictates a women should have are therefore associated with feminity and are then socially condemned for a male to possess, in regards to the full strength of the stereotype. The same goes for women possessing characteristics which the media suggest should be a characteristic of men.

The media has the power to influence and affect the lives of the people who consume it; it is able to create social norms and enforce ideologies and values into society through the repetition of it's propaganda.