Gender stereotypes through appearance

“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.