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Fairy tales and traditional gender roles
Two ways that the media influences stereotypes
A paragraphs on gender stereotypes
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“People are much deeper than stereotypes. That’s the first place our minds go. Then you get to know them and you hear their stories, and you say, ‘I’d have never guessed.’” Says Carson Kressley. Carsons words speak true. We judge people, we stereotype them, because we don’t know them, but does that really make it ok? The answer is no. If you stereotype someone, then you’re just labeling them and what right do you have to be able to do that? You don’t know that person so why should you have a say on what that person is like? Stereotyping has been around for countless of years and sometimes you don’t realize you’re actually doing it, but if you really make the time to get to know the person you just judged I guarantee you that you were most likely wrong about them.
In fact, in my survey, seventy percent of students said that stereotypes are usually inaccurate. Forty percent of these students also answered yes when asked if they’ve ever been stereotyped.
Students are experiencing stereotypes at school. School is full of drama and the chances of being stereotyped increases by a tenfold. If
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Even in Disney movies, made for children, there are stereotypes that can seriously affect how these kids grow up. I’ve noticed the way my young relatives look up to these characters, but I’ve also noticed the lack of understanding that they don’t need a man to be able to do something they want to do. In my survey eleven out of twenty two students knew about the stereotype that men are far more superior than woman. I’ve also noticed that some of the males treat the females with disrespect just because they’re females . The males think their football games are far more important than a female's soccer game. It’s safe to say that there’s definitely stereotypes at our high
Everyday we experience stereotyping in one way or another. Over the years stereotyping has become such a large part of our society that it is a vital part of our everyday communication. It has caused many of us to not really think about who a person really is, or what they are about, but to accept instead a certain stereotype that has already been created by our society and given to an individual. Stephanie Ericsson makes an excellent point in her essay when she says “they take a single tree, and make it into a landscape.” The statement she was trying to make by saying this is that many times, a stereotype is made by an individual because of something done by one particular person in a certain group, but is then given to the whole group as a result. Our society has given a stereotype to practically every form of human being out there. Some examples of this are the blond that is said to be dumb, the kid with glasse...
I believe our school should take a step towards improving its culture by getting rid of stereotypes and promoting equality. To make our school a better and safer place, we should try and stop people from thinking about and believing stereotypes. So students will not be hindered in any aspect of their school experience, and so they may do their best and get a fair chance for their future. Works Cited Shankar Vedantam, “How a Self-Fulfilling Stereotype Can Drag Down Performance”
There is no shame that everybody had at least stereotyped once in their lifetime. Stereotyping is a common thing that happens whether someone does it intentionally or unintentionally. Some stereotyping causes mixed emotions; anger, sadness, humor, inspiration, many more. Though stereotyping will never be wiped from existence, many people have told their stories and seen from different perspectives when stereotyped. Take, for example, Judith Cofer and Lars Eighner.
Many thoughts come into the mind when hearing the word stereotype. The society has been exposed to too many stereotypes. These stereotypes result in controversial issues, which in turn, affect adults and children. The TV shows, internet, and social media are sources that expose children, as well as the adults, to stereotypes. Examples of those stereotypes are religion, sexism, and race. As children grow up by, the age of four they are able to pick up many stereotypes through those sources and without the perception and knowledge these children carry these stereotypes along with them in their long term memory. Moreover, children are not able to know or distinguish whether those thoughts are negative or positive stereotypes, which in turn, cause
Despite the tremendous steps that have been taken towards reaching gender equality, mainstream media contradicts these accomplishments with stereotypes of women present in Walt Disney movies. These unrealistic stereotypes may be detrimental to children because they grow up with a distorted view of how men and women interact. Disney animated films assign gender roles to characters, and young children should not be exposed to inequality between genders because its effect on their view of what is right and wrong in society is harmful to their future. According to Disney films, it is important for women to achieve the stereotypical characteristics of a woman, such as maintaining their beauty to capture a man, and being weak and less educated than male characters. The women in Disney movies are always beautiful, which helps them to find a man.
Shrek, an enormous, disgusting green ogre falling in love with a beautiful princess (later turning into a nasty ogre) is a perfect example of a stereotypical fairytale, right? Well in the movie Shrek, the voice over in the trailer talks about a “hero” attempting to rescue a “fair princess” with the help of “his trusty companion." Besides the fact that the hero is a voluptuous green ogre and the companion is a donkey, everything fits in normally to the definition of a traditional fairytale (Diaz). Also according to Mary Kunimitsu, in fantasy films “There may be characters with magical or supernatural abilities such as witches, wizards, superheroes, mythical creatures, talking animals, and ghosts” (Kunimitsu). In Shrek, there are many of these different characters. Therefore, by explanation, a traditional fairytale with the beautiful princess getting saved by the prince and falling in love is exactly what happens in the movie Shrek, just with a twist. The voice over in the trailer for Shrek states it perfectly as he says “Shrek is a highly irreverent take on the classic fairytale” (Adamson). As an untraditional fairytale, and a parody, the movie Shrek poses the breaking of stereotypes of gender and film fairytales all the while keeping the criteria of a fairytale.
Society cements certain roles for children based on gender, and these roles, recognized during infancy with the assistance of consumerism, rarely allow for openness of definition. A study conducted by Witt (1997) observed that parents often expect certain behaviors based on gender as soon as twenty-four hours after the birth of a child. The gender socialization of infants appears most noticeably by the age of eighteen months, when children display sex-stereotyped toy preferences (Caldera, Huston, & O’Brian 1989). This socialization proves extremely influential on later notions and conceptions of gender. Children understand gender in very simple ways, one way being the notion of gender permanence—if one is born a girl or a boy, they will stay that way for life (Kohlberg 1966). “According to theories of gender constancy, until they’re about 6 or 7, children don’t realize that the sex they were born with is immutable” (Orenstein 2006). The Walt Disney Corporation creates childhood for children worldwide. “Because Disney are such a large media corporation and their products are so ubiquitous and wide spread globally, Disney’s stories, the stories that Disney tell, will be the stories that will form and help form a child’s imaginary world, all over the world, and that’s an incredible amount of power, enormous amount of power” (Sun). Because of the portrayal of women in Disney films, specifically the Disney Princess films, associations of homemaker, innocence, and dependence are emphasized as feminine qualities for young children. Thus, children begin to consider such qualities normal and proceed to form conceptions of gender identity based off of the movies that portray the very specific and limiting views of women (...
According to the Author Shankar vedantam Article How a self fulfilling stereotype can drag down performance.” Stereotypes is a highly simplified,general and exaggerated type of representation they are also can be negative”. “Stereotype could be positive or negative anytime your grouping race or individuals together and make a judgment about them without knowing them, this is an example of a stereotype.” “Stereotyping is the defined of over simplified attitude people hold toward those outside one's own experience who are different”. I made a google form to find out what people think more than 80 percent of kids taking my survey are 15 year old the other 20 percent was a 14 year old. Mostly 60 percent are female the other 40 percent are males.
Have you ever stopped to think how stereotyping affects other people? People have been affected by stereotyping over most of their lives. It normally starts with preschool and works its way up past the age of eighteen. Children learn to stereotype at a young age. College students and professors continue this horrible pattern. But to top it off people still stereotype others way into their late ages. Stereotyping is found in everyday events and in the work place. Stereotyping should be put to a stop. It’s affecting people’s lives in a negative manner.
Fairy Tales have been around for generations and generations. Our parents have told us these stories and we will eventually pass them down to ours. In this time of age the most common fairytales are Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and The Beast and many more. Children idolize their favorite character and pretend to be them by mimicking everything they do in the stories. The character’s behavior is what is viewed as appropriate in society. These fairy tales show a girl and a boy fall in love and live “happily ever after”. The tales in many people’s eyes resemble a dream life that they would want to have of their own. However, have you ever really looked at what makes up a fairy tale? Many things are unrealistic but the most unflattering aspect of these tales is how women are depicted in them. Fairy tales give an unrealistic view to how women should look and behave in real life.
In a society unbridled with double standards and set views about women, one may wonder the origins of such beliefs. It might come as a surprise that these ideals and standards are embedded and have been for centuries in the beloved fairy tales we enjoyed reading as kids. In her analytical essay, “To Spin a Yarn: The Female Voice in Folklore and Fairy Tales”, Karen Rowe argues that fairy tales present “cultural norms which exalt passivity, dependency, and self-sacrifice as a female’s cardinal virtues.” Rowe presents an excellent point, which can be supported by versions of the cult classics, “Cinderella” and “Snow White”. Charles Perrault’s “ The Little Glass Slipper” and the Brothers Grimm’s “ Snow White” exemplify the beliefs that females are supposed to be docile, dependent on the male persona and willing to sacrifice themselves. In many cases, when strong female characters are presented they are always contradicting in these characteristics, thus labeled as villainous. Such is the case of the Cinderella’s stepsisters in Perrault’s “Cinderella” and the stepmother in the Brothers Grimm’s “Snow White.” These female characters face judgment and disapproval when they commit the same acts as male characters. With such messages rooted in our beloved fairy tales it is no wonder that society is rampant with these ideals about women and disapprove of women when they try to break free of this mold.
Koch et al. (2014) worked with 99 German students of the University of Heidelberg and found that stereotype threat
With evolution of visual media and animation fairy tales has evolved with the course of time to cater to different types of audience around the globe. Popular animation houses have created and re-created both the popular and unheard fairytales into beautiful motion pictures which has transformed once read tales into a visual celebration. The conventional stereotypes have been broken and new refreshing tales has evolved, tweaked and twisted to appeal to the new age audience. The front runner in the fairytale business Walt Disney has tried to break conventions and came up with movies like Brave, Tangled and Frozen in the past decade. Then and again the question which remains is that whether these new age fairytales really manage to untangle themselves
In elementary school one of the most common phrase used was, “You can’t do that you're a girl.” Society puts gender stereotypes and expectations on children at a very young age. I never really understood these stereotypes and expectations until later in my life. I couldn’t figure out why it was that boys were not allowed to like the color pink, and if the girls wanted to play “boy” sports it was seen as unusual. My family consists of my parents, my sister and I; so I never had sibling of the opposite gender in my life. I didn’t have someone to compare gender differences with. I was given toys no matter what gender they were geared towards. I remember receiving hot wheels cars and baby dolls the same year for Christmas and never thought anything thing of it. I think that these experiences has really shaped who I am today.
A lot of us are guilty of letting our stereotypes operate without our conscious awareness. I think I have gotten better over the years of sensing when this happens but it is nearly impossible to completely guard against. I think a lot of people try to justify their stereotypes to a certain extent. I think some look to develop a rationale to make themselves feel better about their own prejudices.