In 1999, the research group Children Now asked boys between the ages of 10 and 17 about how their perceptions of the male characters they saw on television, in music videos and in movies. From the study, the group concluded that the media do not reflect the changing work and family experiences of most men today—and that this fact is not lost on the boys, who noticed the discrepancies between the media portrayals and the reality they knew.

Some of the study’s main observations:

• on television, most men and boys usually keep their attention focused mostly just on women and girls
  
  
• many males on TV are violent and angry
  
  
• men are generally leaders and problem-solvers
  
  
• males are funny, confident, successful and athletic
  
  
• it’s rare to see men or boys crying or otherwise showing vulnerability
  
  
• male characters on TV could not be described as "sensitive"
  
  
• male characters are mostly shown in the workplace, and only rarely at home
  
  
• more than a third of the boys had never seen a man on TV doing domestic chores

The study also revealed that the boys were quite aware that these male characters on television differed from their own friends and fathers, and from themselves. They had also noticed that media portrayals of success do not necessarily reflect their own ideas of real-life success.

The work of French sociologist Pascal Duret sheds a different light on the subject. In his 1999 study Les jeunes et l’identité masculine, Duret attempted to analyze young peoples’ perceptions of male "virility." Though responses varied according to sex and social class, most kids saw virility in terms of physical strength and a muscular body. Courage, and the ability to protect, were also considered to be virile traits.

When young people were asked to name models of virility from the movies, actors like Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger were common choices. But it wasn’t just the actors’ physical appearances that made them virile in the eyes of the young people; it was also the context in which they appeared. What these actors had in common was violent scenes in their films, and Duret concluded that even though the young people may have been unaware of their bias, for them violence was an essential aspect of virility.

As well, social class had a major impact on perceptions of virility: young people from disadvantaged backgrounds viewed virile characteristics much more positively than youths from more advantageous backgrounds. Duret attributed this difference to the value poor people can give to the idea of the "self-made man," who can become what he (or she) wants by dint of hard work.

This research, and the Children Now study, both suggest that the media should take the opportunity to reach beyond these stereotypes—and to present a fuller and more realistic picture of the lives, experiences and identities of men and boys today.