Pros And Cons Of Gender Stereotypes

Superior Essays
Gender stereotypes have been around since the dawn of time and have only escalated. Gender stereotypes are everywhere. They 're in television shows, advertisements, commercials, etc. In these type of stereotypes, women are usually shown as the inferior ones, always the ones to stay home with the kids, the ones who should be in the kitchen, the less powerful ones, and many other standards. Meanwhile men are portrayed as the strong, masculine one, also the ones known as the “breadwinners”, meaning the ones who bring home the money to support their family. Also, in today 's society it 's become a big issue that children should stick to their own genders when it comes to colors, the way they dress, and things they play with. Some might argue …show more content…
This being said, they mean that having gender stereotypes restrict what certain people can do and what they can 't do (debate.org). For example, according to society it would be odd seeing a little boy playing with a barbie doll because society has conditioned us to believe that boys should not play with barbies because they are too feminine. This is quite ironic as well because action figures are practically dolls. But, there have been many cases like this that I have read online where people defend this argument and have talked about how something similar to this has occurred in their life, or their children. According to an education minister, Elizabeth Truss, toys played a big role in affecting children in their career choices as adults. For instance, some toys will prevent girls from being in careers such as science and math. Truss and other colleagues pledged for all toys to be gender neutral. What Truss is talking about is actually a huge issue because it can affect children in the long run. For example, a boy who is given action figures and toy weapons during the majority of his childhood, and is not allowed to play with any toys or games that may be only for girls, he will likely end up growing up with an idea that specific behaviors and interests are only appropriate for men, and vice versa (Sinclair). This isn 't the mindset that parents should …show more content…
There have been many correlational tests and experiments done that have connected the skinny body image in the media to body hatred, and eating disorders among women. This effect from the media has been shown to be stronger with young women. This proposes that long-term exposure during a person 's childhood is the cause of the negative effect of media in early adulthood (NEDA). This phenomenon does not only affect women, pressure from the media to become muscular causes disorders in men as well. This effect is not as significant as the effect on women, but it is still important to acknowledge. This research shows how important it is to know about situations like this and how serious it actually is. It also helps show the impact they have on people 's lives. This is something that I think is very important to know because these types of things can be very harmful during adolescence and eventually affect people in the long term when they 're

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    (Orenstein 69-70). This does two things: it prevents girls from exploring things that aren’t normally “girl activities” like sports, and it indirectly prevents boys from exploring things that aren’t normally “boy activities” like dolls (Orenstein 69). America 's obsession with setting gender stereotypes in children affects America 's culture as a…

    • 924 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Gender roles and stereotypes have always been an issue in society, and they still are to this day. Although feminism and woman’s rights have come so far in the past years, there is still more progress to be made and the sexist labels do not only happen to women. Having gender stereotypes, that begin when we are young, creates the platform for many of these sexist issues that women, as well as men, are still facing. The article “Why Boys Don’t Play with Dolls” written by Katha Pollitt expresses the ideas of male and female stereotypes along with feminism.…

    • 965 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Women have it harder than men… Women aren’t treated equal… Society is dominated by men”. Has society even thought that maybe men don’t have it as easy as society thinks? Society has focused too much on women's rights movement that they forgot about men. Media has affected gender roles throughout generations.…

    • 607 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    In a society many people have different expectations for girls and boys, from weight to intelligence. Perspective three states, “As a whole, parents hold different standards for their kids based on gender, but it's not done consciously”. Society just has the assumption that girls need to be skinny because they are girls, and that guys should be smart because they are boys. This statement is more accurate than perspective one which talks about how parents worry about their daughters being overweight more than their sons because girls can be more cruel. This doesn't really give the reason for parents wanting their sons to be more smart.…

    • 237 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The men and women of America constantly reference and utilize sexist stereotypes of modern day society. We cannot completely blame our current day society for this abundance of sexism. Many of these ridiculous notions are passed down generationally or simply learned from watching our parents or elders in the community. Children began to pick up on these gender identities set up by society at a young age. Feminine and masculine attributes are generally viewed as opposites.…

    • 1448 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    When children are restricted to use certain toys or play certain games that the society perceives to conform to their specific gender roles they are not capable of exploring their abilities or realizing their talents more sore if these capabilities do not conform to their gender roles. Science has clearly proven that apart from biological capabilities both males and females have equal physical and mental abilities therefore children should be given and equal opportunity to develop psychological without the constraints that arise out of societal stereotypes of gender roles and…

    • 1998 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Our society has built up these gender stereotypes stating men are big, strong, superior (to women) and aren’t allowed to show compassion while women are these petite, soft-spoken emotional disasters. The current children of this generation, i feel have it the easiest when it comes to dealing with the gender notion. Everything aside, they are still faced with gender normalities. Only a few decades ago our nation used the term “stay at home mom”,but you would never hear anyone say “stay at home dad” because our culture believed that the men had the jobs and made the money while the women would clean and take care of the children. Many Disney characters had been accommodated into this stereotype in order fit the current culture that we have become…

    • 718 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    What is sociological imagination? From C.Wright Mills Sociological imagination is the realization that personal troubles are rooted from public issues. The distinction between personal and public issues is that a personal problem refers to problems that individuals blame on themselves due to own failings. While public issues are social problems that affect several individuals.…

    • 1846 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Positive Body Images

    • 941 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The underlying cause of eating disorders is how the individual view themselves. Positive body images play a vital role in the physical, emotional, and psychological development of adolescents. Alternatively, poor body image can have a wide range of negative consequences, which can lead to eating disorders. This paper will examine the controversial article “The Perils of Eating Disorders” and how it correlates to the research article “Exposing the perils of eating disorders” by Brody and Nagourney.…

    • 941 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The way parents choose toys and the difference in how they treat sons and daughters reflect clearly gender stereotype in society. From a child’s infancy, or even during pregnancy, parents embrace gender norms, stock up on pink or blue outfits as soon as they find out the sex of their children. They play more roughly with boys and talk more lovingly to girls. Toys play an important part in defining gender roles. If parents buy girls dolls, dollhouses, high-heeled shoes, and makeup set, they give one set of messages that girls are girly and virtuous.…

    • 862 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Bulimia Nervosa

    • 1487 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The media can be considered as one of the most pervasive forces in the world. It is always seeking to inform us, persuade us, entertain us, and change us. Adolescents and young adults in particular, spend a weightily amount of their time viewing and interacting with the media in the form of television, music, magazines, social media, and the internet. Every day people are bombarded by pictures and messages telling them to strive to be like the people they see and read about. The sociocultural body ideal has changed over time and has been molded into an almost completely unattainable standard.…

    • 1487 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    An estimated 30 million people of varying ages and genders struggle with an eating disorder in the United States. (Textbook in Psychiatric Epidemiology, p.343) Why is it that eating disorders are so prevalent in western societies? An answer to that would be because of what the media portrays as normal. The media depicts unrealistic and harmful body standards for both men and women, but predominantly towards women. Slender body types are widespread in every type of media from magazines to movies.…

    • 1423 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    People often judge others because of their weight, but if we look towards reality our weight does not determine our health, so why discriminate. Girls are told they have a pretty face, but they would be prettier if they would skinny. Skinny does not make people pretty, if we let social dictate how we see ourselves we are always going to be unhappy. Women want to look like the girls in the magazine, when the girl on the magazine does not even like the girl on the magazine. As women we let society pick the way we should look like, but we should just learn to accept the beauty of uniqueness.…

    • 1033 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Eating Disorders in Modern Society “Just at the time that girls begin to construct identity, they are more likely to suffer losses in self-esteem” ("The Facts About Girls in Canada"). Women face many challenges in society, a number of which are concerned with one 's self-esteem and body image. Body image has a large impact on women, especially thought who are particularly sensitive about weight and thinness. Many people consider skinniness to be a mark of beauty, however, women who are not considered skinny often fall under the category of unattractive. Women who are not necessarily thin feel self-conscious because they do not fall into society’s typical archetype of a beautiful, thin woman, a stereotype that is based on media and pop culture.…

    • 1573 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many people strive for changing stereotypes but if one were to think of the reality that one is in, there would be no possible way to change minds and ideas of society. There is always going to be issues for both men and women. The thing society needs to think about is how those issues are shown and taken care of. Stereotypes in 2016 are somewhat the same as they were ten plus years ago. In example women are still expected to present themselves in a way that is fitting to one’s eyes, men are thought to be the ones who bring home the income and be strong and emotionless in front of the public eye.…

    • 777 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays