Do you agree with this?
Gender stereotypes are generalized behaviors and attitudes that are thought to be normal and appropriate for a person solely based off his or her biological sex. This leads to people making quick judgements about others based on their appearances and attitudes.
Do gender stereotypes determine an individual’s gender identity? Should they?
“What maketh the man? Is it chromosomes? Or is it genitalia? Or,..is it just clothes?”
– Dinita Smith
leads to….
Do you think there is any way these Disney movies played a role in how we all grew up and developed the gender stereotypes we have today?
Seems like an obvious question, huh?
Gender stereotypes have a much bigger effect than society may think. It can directly affect how an individual will identify their gender in society due to the pressure of fitting these stereotypes. It also strongly affects how media portrays gender. This then also leads to individuals succumbing to these stereotypes because media is presented all around the world.
They pressure individuals to look and behave a certain way that is seen as common and normal by society. Gender stereotypes don’t allow people to themselves. Everyone is too busy trying to fit in, and gender stereotypes are helping lead them to what they think they have to be.
“Gender stereotypes are highly prescriptive. The qualities they ascribe to women and men tend also to be ones that are required of women and men. For example, the stereotypic belief that women are warm and caring is matched by a societal prescription that they should be warm and caring. Similarly, the stereotypic belief that men are strong and agentic is matched by a societal prescription that they should be strong and agentic”
– Deborah Prentice and Erica Carranza, Princeton University
“Appearance has a lot to do with how we perceive gender and the kind of attributes we assign to people upon meeting them.”
– Jamison Green
Many of society’s gender stereotypes translate to a person’s appearance; clothes, hair style, piercings, tattoos, makeup, etc. Whether we notice it or not, and as Green suggests in his article, we all make a quick judgement of a person we meet based on their appearance.
Oh, she is wearing pink, heels, and a lot of jewelry and makeup with curled hair? Must be a “girly girl”.
She is wearing baggy pants and an oversized hoodie? Must be a tomboy.
He’s wearing a dirty, ripped t-shirt and jeans? Must be very manly and tough.
That male is wearing skinny jeans and a nice polo? And has nicely shaped eyebrows? Must be gay.
So, these seem familiar right? But maybe the first girl has an interview and wants to look presentable. Maybe the second girl is feeling sick and just needs to run to the store and get medicine. Maybe the first guy is just out of clean clothes (because guys don’t know how to do laundry, right?? Just kidding). And maybe the second guy just likes to look clean and neat.
Jamison Green is completely right in the fact that an individual’s appearance influences how another person perceives their gender. We all do it, but we need to keep in mind that we are not always correct, though appearance and body customization is a way for someone to express their gender. Our society has an issue with generalizing these gender stereotypical appearances and applying them to every individual as if we are all the same.
There is a very distinctive difference between gender and sexuality, and unfortunately many people mix them up. Gender can be divided into more than just male and female. In Dinita Smith’s article Beyond Appearances: The Ambiguities of Sexuality, she distinguishes all of the different terms, such as transvestite, hermaphrodite, transgendered, and their politically correct definitions. Gender is defined in the way you an individual thinks and behaves, whereas sexuality is an individual’s biological sexuality based off their sex organs.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/allison-lantagne/gender-roles-media_b_5326199.html
This article describes how advertisements aiming at all different ages incorporate gender stereotypes in some way whether it is intentional or not. The author mentions that even for a gender neutral object such as sidewalk chalk, the advertisements were sending different messages for boys versus girls. On the other hand, some advertisements such as Tide detergent intentionally goes against gender stereotypes by advertising a stay at home dad.
“Images show us a world, not the world.”
– R. Leppert
Leppert’s article talks about how incorrectly media can portray gender. In his quote above, it is important for society to understand that media does not represent our world, but instead, “re-presents” it. Meaning, what is presented in media may not exist in reality. In fact, a lot of time it happens that way. This negatively influences what people think to be normal in society and results in them trying to conform to these norms. It encourages people to be something that they aren’t, or to change themselves from who they truly are.
