TV Shows and Gender

Yesterday I was outside with my mom trying to teach my three year old nephew how to play baseball. He's not very good at it, but he didn't want help from us either. My mom says to him, "Miller, you're a boy so you're supposed to be able to play baseball!" I got a little offended and told my mom that he doesn't have to be good at sports just because he's a boy. She agreed, but also pointed out that on basically every TV show or movie, boys are always supposed to be good at sports or else they a considered weird, nerdy, etc... Of course, this got me thinking and I realized that (duh) she's right. On basically every TV show that I watch, the post popular guys are the ones who play sports. For example, on One Tree Hill, both Nathan and Lucas are star basketball players and now their lives are just so perfect. On The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Jack is always wearing his letterman's jacket, which is a big part of athletics. On Greek the Omega Chi's and the Lambda Sig's are the top fraternities on campus, and athletics are really important to them, even if it just an intramural sport. I could go on and on, but this just goes to show that TV shows are always reinforcing gender stereotypes. Boys are supposed to play sports. The girls are supposed to cheer them on. I've never really thought about it, but the majority of TV shows that I watch have these same gender roles. It's very rare when gender roles are reversed, and when they are it's usually for some kind of comedic benefit.