Codes Of Gender

While watching the documentary “Codes of Gender” I began to reflect on how these codes affect me in my life and society. For me, the gender codes represented in advertisements and other forms of media do not affect the way I view other women as individuals. When I look at magazines or billboards displaying the codes explored in the documentary I always feel disconnected from them. I consciously know that these images are a unrealistic and unnatural portrayal of women in everyday life. I tend not to make assumptions of the women I meet based on the gender codes that define what a women should be. With that being said, as I watched the documentary I found myself trying to defend the media and the codes they trap women in. This made me realize that even though I do not make these assumptions about an individual, I do make them about women as a whole. When I meet a woman who is not sensitive or portrays any of what the documentary would define as “feminine traits” I feel temporarily offset by it. The feeling does not last long because I consciously know that everyone is different and cannot be forced to fit into the characteristics defined by society but …show more content…
In a video by Buzzfeed it shows men switching roles with women. When we see a woman being sexual in unnatural places, nothing registers as unusual because we are accustomed to seeing this. Women are sexual, therefore they can be sexual anywhere. But, when we are shown a man doing the same thing our brains see just how unusual these positions and actions are. Men are attractive because they are strong and protective, the opposite of women, and we have trained our minds to work this way. When we see the roles reversed, our perception of these roles are thrown off. This also shows that gender code are more deeply rooted in us then we would like to