Stereotype, Bias and Representation

Am I able to find representation, bias and stereotypes simple by looking into a magazine?

Just by browsing a typical teenager magazine, TeenVogue, it was relatively easy to find pictures with representations and stereotype.

The first one that I found was a picture of two girls jumping into the water, just by the smile of their faces, the posture of their body and the background I can asume it is a representation of freedom or happiness. In reality it is a picture if two young ladies jumping, but I could say the representation mentioned is clear, if not evident.

Picture taken form Vogueteen, April, 2012, p. 10

Looking for stereotypes is kind of easy if we are talking about teenagers. As a Middle School teacher I know this age is full of stereotypes,  like being young means being happy or that you are pretty if you are skinny. The picture that I found that represent a stereotype for me is a picture of three teenagers going to a party and being fully happy,like if going to a party is happiness it self. There are perfectly dress  makeup... and happy. That is the way teenagers are represented in commercial, magazines, pictures...

Picture taken from Vogueteen, April 2012, p. 71

Finding a picture of bias was not that easy for me. I looked over a Sports magazine, Sports Illustrated, and even though I barely know something about Football, I saw a picture where they represent a team as a winner, the other team looks small and insignificant near the other. They are presenting the "New York Nets" clearly as winners for the next season. Every newspaper, magazine have a clear tendency, but in this picture they really represent "their team" as the best one. It can be considered as byas as they do present just one side, they present their tendency as the correct one.

Taken from Sports Illustrated, September 2011, p. 41-42

Definitions:

Bias.- Particular inclination or tendency. In favor of it/opposed to it without having full knowledge of it.
Representation.- Give or serve as, picture, sign, symbol or example of.

Stereotype.- Fixed phrase, idea, belief used and represented without charge.

Oxford ESL Dictionary