We learn to be masculine or feminine largely by what is around us. Our parents teach us basically what it means to be a boy or a girl, but the media portrays each sex in very different ways. Men are seen as strong and the protectors of everyone else (i.e. women). On the other hand, women are portrayed as weak, timid, and incapable. By adhering to these stereotypes, most ads end up being sexist.If you buy any magazine, most ads will use women in some way, and a majority of those ads will use women in some form of a degrading way. The media teaches us that women are objects, merely possessed by men, because they can not think for themselves. This dehumanizes women in general because now, as an entire gender, they are relying on men rather than themselves.
For Men, they may be stereotyped as stupid or lazy in ads, but their bodies are never scrutinized like women's bodies are. The media sends us messages that the passive women of America need to be perfect. This then begs the question of since men aren't severely judged like women, is the media insinuating that men are better than women? Whether this is true or false, there is no doubt that the media sees women as one set of submissive characteristics and men an another set of qualities; completely separate from each other. The media defines our gender roles, and it is difficult for anyone to deviate from those standards.
Not only are gender roles dominant in advertisements, but it has filtered down even to our toys. As little kids, there are the "girl toys" and the "boy toys". Girls are supposed to play with barbies and have tea parties; meanwhile, boys are given action figures that promote violence. We are exposed to our roles at a very young age, and by the time that we start paying attention to the media it is already ingrained into our minds that we are supposed to be a certain way.
I completely agree with this blog. From the time we are born, girls and boys are lead down separate paths. They bundle newborn baby boys in blue, and girls in pink. Dolls dressed in pink line the edges of girls' cribs, while blue and green stuffed animals smile down at little boys. What is that saying about our society? To give a boy a doll is wrong? And a girl playing with trucks seems strange, somehow incorrect? The vast differences that society creates for males and females only increase and get worse as we grow into teenagers. Ads found everywhere show young women with their bodies exposed and in compromising positions; their limbs spread and bones jutting out from under falsely tanned skin. Women are practically taught to be submissive from the advertised messages they see every single day. And at the same time, ads that show a woman, happy and fully-clothed, wouldn't sell their product as well as ads that show half-naked women.
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