Images That Injure

Susan Dente Ross is professor in the Department of English at Washington State University, Pullman, WA.Paul Martin Lester is professor of communications at California State University, Fullerton, CA.

This expanded collection of new and fully revised explorations of media content identifies the ways we all have been negatively stereotyped and demonstrates how careful analysis of media portrayals can create more beneficial alternatives.Not all damaging stereotypes are obvious. In fact, the pictorial stereotypes in the media that we don't notice could be the most harmful because we aren't even aware of the negative, false ideas they perpetrate.This book presents a series of original research essays on media images of groups including African Americans, Latinos, women, the elderly, the physically disabled, gays and lesbians, and Jewish Americans, just to mention a few. Specific examples of these images are derived from a variety of sources, such as advertising, fine art, film, television shows, cartoons, the Internet, and other media, providing a wealth of material for students and professionals in almost any field. Images That Injure: Pictorial Stereotypes in the Media, Third Edition not only accurately describes and analyzes the media's harmful depictions of cultural groups, but also offers creative ideas on alternative representations of these individuals. These discussions illuminate how each of us is responsible for contributing to a sea of meaning within our mass culture.

We are all aware of problematic stereotypes and prejudices regarding ethnicity, race, or gender; indeed, there are many laws to discourage such discriminatory behavior. The reality is that detrimental stereotypes in the media are so numerous and pervasive that they negatively affect the entire American population-not just a minority of citizens.