Media's Effects: Child to Adult
In today's culture young girls all across the world are growing up in very different situations; yet, one thing is always a constant, men being the superior. Katha Pollitt, an award- winning writer for magazines such as The Nation and New York Times, discusses how this divide between men and women shown by the media is critical in the upbringing of today’s youth. From princesses always needing saved to the cute little bunny with pink bows in the background these create the acceptance of a male made world. Much like Pollitt, Jean Kilbourne, EdD, is a marvelous writer who has been shocking many since the 60’s with her concepts on how advertizing degrades women of all ages and cultures. With Pollitt’s experience …show more content…
At a young age the parts of the brain that allow people to form ideas and their own concepts are growing rapidly. Therefore, the images and sayings heard by children can completely alter their way of thinking. Pollitt explains this blossoming of the mind when she states, “Preschoolers are like medieval philosophers: the text-- a book, a movie, a TV show-- is more authoritative than the evidence of their own eyes” (546). Kids don’t have the mental capacity to just know when something is wrong, if that’s what they’re seeing on a daily basis it becoming part of them as they grow. Because of the way society normalizes a divide in gender this is the reality to them! Yet, it is not just kids that media targets this on, but people of all ages. All around there are advertisements all using different tactics to get buyers. Kilbourne discusses the constant surroundings of media when she says, “Advertising helps to create a climate in which certain attitudes and values flourish, such as the attitude that women are valuable only as objects of men's desire, that real men are always sexually aggressive, that violence is your erotic, and that women who are the victims of sexual assault “ asked for it” (478). All of these different ideas media portrays to it is audience have drastic effects. Believe it or not even grown adults still conform to their …show more content…
In order to make money these corporations take females and make them into robots that are purely there to be sexualized to the public for a profit. Mrs. Pollitt herself talks about the many ways girls are just seen as adorable place holders to stand by while the boys take charge of the situation. This continues on into adulthood where in movies women are usually portrayed as harmless housewives or the sexy girl next door, both are just as degrading. While considering all the background characters played by girls Pollitt claims, “Boys are the norm, girls the variation; boys are central, girls peripheral; boys are individuals, girls types…. Girls exist only in relation to boys “ (545). It is time that this divide between genders is dropped and all humans are seen for what they are, equal. Who’s to say that a little girl isn’t just as capable of saving the world from a fire breathing dragon as a little boy. In reality neither of them are because that would never happen, still why is it just the boy who gets to play the hero? It is a lot more serious than who gets to kill the dragon though, the real issue takes place as these children get older. In this world where women are seen as weak it is easy for them to be taken advantage of. This is where Kilbourne shares her two sense by stating, “Objectification and disconnection create a climate in
In today's culture young girls all across the world are growing up in very different situations; yet, one thing is always a constant, men being the superior. Katha Pollitt, an award- winning writer for magazines such as The Nation and New York Times, discusses how this divide between men and women shown by the media is critical in the upbringing of today’s youth. From princesses always needing saved to the cute little bunny with pink bows in the background these create the acceptance of a male made world. Much like Pollitt, Jean Kilbourne, EdD, is a marvelous writer who has been shocking many since the 60’s with her concepts on how advertizing degrades women of all ages and cultures. With Pollitt’s experience …show more content…
At a young age the parts of the brain that allow people to form ideas and their own concepts are growing rapidly. Therefore, the images and sayings heard by children can completely alter their way of thinking. Pollitt explains this blossoming of the mind when she states, “Preschoolers are like medieval philosophers: the text-- a book, a movie, a TV show-- is more authoritative than the evidence of their own eyes” (546). Kids don’t have the mental capacity to just know when something is wrong, if that’s what they’re seeing on a daily basis it becoming part of them as they grow. Because of the way society normalizes a divide in gender this is the reality to them! Yet, it is not just kids that media targets this on, but people of all ages. All around there are advertisements all using different tactics to get buyers. Kilbourne discusses the constant surroundings of media when she says, “Advertising helps to create a climate in which certain attitudes and values flourish, such as the attitude that women are valuable only as objects of men's desire, that real men are always sexually aggressive, that violence is your erotic, and that women who are the victims of sexual assault “ asked for it” (478). All of these different ideas media portrays to it is audience have drastic effects. Believe it or not even grown adults still conform to their …show more content…
In order to make money these corporations take females and make them into robots that are purely there to be sexualized to the public for a profit. Mrs. Pollitt herself talks about the many ways girls are just seen as adorable place holders to stand by while the boys take charge of the situation. This continues on into adulthood where in movies women are usually portrayed as harmless housewives or the sexy girl next door, both are just as degrading. While considering all the background characters played by girls Pollitt claims, “Boys are the norm, girls the variation; boys are central, girls peripheral; boys are individuals, girls types…. Girls exist only in relation to boys “ (545). It is time that this divide between genders is dropped and all humans are seen for what they are, equal. Who’s to say that a little girl isn’t just as capable of saving the world from a fire breathing dragon as a little boy. In reality neither of them are because that would never happen, still why is it just the boy who gets to play the hero? It is a lot more serious than who gets to kill the dragon though, the real issue takes place as these children get older. In this world where women are seen as weak it is easy for them to be taken advantage of. This is where Kilbourne shares her two sense by stating, “Objectification and disconnection create a climate in