Portrayal of women in sexuality and marriage and family textbooks: A content analysis of photographs from the 1970s to the 1990s

Previous research into gender role stereotypes in the mass media has focuse d on television, radio and magazines. The present study sought to determine whether similar patterns can be found in photographic images of women in c ollege-level Human Sexuality and Marriage and Family textbooks. Over 1000 p hotographs of women were content analyzed Results indicated that in the 197 0s, photographs were devoted primarily to traditional images of women. In t he 1990s, while there were more photographs of women devoted to feminist me ssages, photographs with traditional messages still dominated. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for studies of gender role de velopment.