They were the stereotypical toys of the girl, and help to create the image of the stereotypical “girlchild” in the mind. This then continued into when it described how the classmate described her “great big nose and fat legs.” This helps to create the picture that she is no longer the little girlchild that was perfect in every way in the view of society. Instead, she has become different, because she has features that go against the stereotypical definition of beauty that is defined by today’s modern culture. The fact
So this has contributed to how we see society today, people notice girls doing better in school and genuinely how people see education. Sue Sharpe researched and investigated the ambitions of girls in the 1970s and the 1990s and compared them. Her results showed a major change in the way the girls saw their future. In 1974 Sharpe interviewed girls and resulted in low aspirations such as wanting children, marriage, and love as their main priorities. By the 1990s Sharpe went back to the same school and interviewed girls again and they had changed their priorities to careers and being able to support themselves by being more dependent rather than relying on a husband.
“ Seen Through Rose-Tinted Glasses”: The Barbie Doll in American Society Wether we realize it or not the toys our kids play with everyday have an immense impact on their behavior and development. Motz essay describes the perfect example of what these toys do to our society. In her essay, Marilyn Ferris Motz describes how Barbie portrays an image of a woman that lives based on her appearance, her popularity and her status. When playing with this dolls, girls take on the role of a teenager or an adult woman, letting them imitate adult female behaviors they see on other people and on the media. Girls take on the role of the doll enabling them to participate in dating and other social activities.
Judith Lorber breaks down the semiotics that is engraved in the concept of gender in her piece “The Social Construction of Gender.” She explains how gender affects our lives by controlling our identities. Lorber explains that gender in its essence is semiotic. Hence, there are many risks being taken when exposing children to the lifestyles of these fictitious characters all due to the semiotics that seeps into a child’s subconscious. Through these films, children are taught the difference between beautiful and ugly, strong and weak, happy and sad, manly and womanly, etc. Lorber says “Individuals are born sexed but not gendered, and they
Body dissatisfaction is a major impetus for surgical enhancement. The more a woman is unhappy with her physical looks the more likely she is to get an enhancement procedure. The other body image driving force is appearance investment. Many women want to do it for themselves and or for social reasons. These women feel that appearance is important to their self worth.
Since claiming their role in society as capable human beings, women have been treated unfairly in the society when they haven’t been directly excluded from various fields that are socially less “suitable” for a woman. As a young man who has grown up with significant female influence in my life and as a young musician who is in a rock band with two women, I know these stereotypical male views to be completely baseless. Even in infancy children are doused in the complex ideas of gender roles and what it means to belong to a certain gender. Before encountering the views of a patriarchal society a child will first encounter this sexism in the home, no matter how subtle. While boys are encouraged to be adventurous and granted freedom that is perhaps undeserved, their female counterparts will be given toy ovens and princess dolls to play with.
“The Curse of Masculinity” Media is obviously a strong cause in socializing the society and teaching us the proper gender roles we will come to take and eternalize. Since children have a limited experience of the world, they are particularly more vulnerable to being influenced by media stereotypes. Disney movies, like all other media, are powerful vehicles for certain notions about our culture, such as our gender roles (Riley). Gender roles allow individuals to refer to certain attitudes or behaviors that classify a person’s stereotypical identity. They are often learned by household structures, access to resources, and specific impacts of the economy.
(Al-Ghafari) Some gender roles confine both sexes to traditional duties and responsibilities. Media plays a role in constructing gender roles and in presenting the image of the girl as a woman, and the boy as a man that has different roles. (Al-Ghafari) Media can play a significant part in transmitting a society’s culture to children. The way in which gender is portrayed contributes to the images that children develop about their own roles in society. Gender bias can be seen in books, movies and television shows, for example, evil female characters, such as the stepmother and the ugly witch.
For example, while.males are aggressive, strong, instrumental, etc., females are weak, submissive, affective, nurturant, etc. Sex differences in power and in social participation are conceptualized as consequences of these inherent differences between the sexes. When the emphasis is placed upon society, persons are viewed as empty slates, the product of the socialization process which integrates them into a
Reflection Paper 2 Reflecting back on many of the readings, I sensed an underlying fear associated with “doing gender.” At times this fear was associated with going against the cultural gender norm or the fear of not fitting in to one’s own gender stereotype as viewed by others. Seeded within this fear were complex emotions involving the inner desire to challenge cultural norms and stereotypes. Our authors’ state that, “Our behavior in almost all situations is framed within our knowledge of ideal gender” (p 159). As our country becomes culturally diverse, this becomes a problem as not all cultures fit into our values and expectations, especially as related to masculinity and femininity. We have learned to ‘do gender’ throughout our growing lives in school, at home, and through the media.