Walking down the busy streets of Tempe, I found myself at the local CVS located on University and Mills Ave. As soon as I entered the store, I immediately began my search for the aisle that haunted my childhood set the social construction of gender within my pre-adolescent mind. It took me a while to locate the aisle, due to the simple fact that I am not fond of asking for assistance, for that is something men do not do. I could not help but notice the bright florescent light that guided my vision to a purple sign which encrypted “TOYS”. While looking at this adequately small assortment of toys, I unconsciously started to pace back and forth and eventually found myself sitting on the floor. I was stumped. I kept thinking, “What is this lady talking about? What gender binary? I am so confused!”. This particular assignment not only puzzled …show more content…
me, but brought me back to the years as a child when my grandmother asked what I wanted for my birthday. It also forced me to think differently in ways of which I wasn’t prepared for. Upon looking at the plethora of toys, the main thing that caught my eye was what looked to be a distinct separation of what was predominantly boy and predominantly girl toys. I had come to this belief due to the display of colors. On the left side, it indicated a more masculine approach displaying colors of blacks, blues, and reds. For these colors evokes a dark undertone and a stoic appeal, symbolizing how American boys are supposed to act. While on the opposite side, it possessed flamboyant colors of pinks, purples, sky blues and magentas. Obviously this side was for the little girls whom couldn’t wait to possess these objects, so they too could be objects of femininity themselves.With one glance at this particular side, I couldn’t help but smile and feel warm inside. I looked closely at each toy in particular and what I found was evidently shocking. I went straight for the action figures. The sight of some of Marvel's and DC’s greatest accomplishments excited me. It brought me back to the days of when I was a child playing with my brothers, trying to find ways on how we can save the world from monstrous villains. The feeling was quite nostalgic. While holding one specific toy, on the carton, it had images of Iron Man, The Silver Surfer, Hulk, and the infamous Superman. They were the ideal images of Masculinity. Men that were heroic, muscular, responsible, protected and provided, but most of all they were my heroes. Although I was overwhelmed with enthusiasm, two questions suddenly sparked my attention. First, where were the Superwoman's? I looked around for the toys that symbolized female superheroes and they were nowhere to be found. This led me to believe that men can only be the protectors of society. While on the other hand females had idols such as Barbie and the Bratz dolls. This certainly imposed not only a sense of hegemony, but a sense of Hegemonic Masculinity. Where men were being put on a high pedestal, while women were deemed as utterly inferior and incompetent of possessing the same qualities as the opposite sex. It was sexism at its finest. Second, where all the black super are heroes?
In a state of nostalgia,I was that black little boy again telling everyone that I was Superman on Halloween. To my dismay they responded, “You can’t be Superman, you're black!” In that case, being any well-known superhero was out of the question, unless I possess a pigment that was not composed of high amounts of melanin. The only exception was the Green Lantern, but we all know he was replaced with a whiter individual. This scenes of whiteness, where people who have a lighter complexion of skin have a certain privilege or benefit in the comic world, isn’t entirely new to me. Being a black individual, I have lived with it my whole life and experience it every single day. Just like every black person, I suppress it and act like it doesn’t bother me. Once I picked up the action figure, it reminded me of how society thinks I am less of a human and unable to do things as well as a whiter person. It made me think of all the black little boys, whom are being subjected to idea that they can’t accomplish anything or in this case save the world from villains. It says that we are the
villains. I took a different approach and stepped into the shoes of a female to try to elaborate how they would look at this situation. Reaching for the box that encaged a slim figure white doll, known as Barbie, I couldn’t help but to cringe. It did not help when a group of ignorant and infantile set of males repeatedly cough out the word “gay”, while walking past me. It took me back to the years were boys picked on me, simply because I did not fit the gender binary for a typical boy. Still holding this pieces of merchandises, I started to evaluate it and looked beyond the pretty face. I could not find anything “wrong” per say, until I started noticing the noticeable. Barbie doll, a slim fit, white, blond, straight haired, tall, and who seem to be wearing provocative clothing woman. On the front of the box it said, “A princess is kind” in bold purple letters that sparkled. From a female’s perspective, this seemed to give off a negative normativity. I could not help to assume that in order to fit the ideal image a beautiful woman, I would have to resemble Barbie. I would have to be a white, tall, skinny, blond, straight haired, and (let's not forget) have an exceptionally friendly personality. To the right of Barbie, there was Cinderella and the Bratz doll who evidently shared the same cunning resemblance. The fact that she was wearing provocative clothing led me to believe that it was typically for the male gaze. It objectified women’s bodies as though they were less of a human, but more like abstract mosaic in an art show waiting to be critiqued. It also led me to believe (like Beyoncé and other female singers in the music industry) it is telling girls to embrace their bodies, if and only if, you are skinny and/or have the ideal body for the male eye. I found myself lost in a sea of questions only to drift into a river of confusion. Where were the black Barbies? The Mexican Barbies? The plus sized Barbies? Where were the Barbies that resembled real life people? After about 45 minutes of sitting in this aisle, I found myself with more questions from when I came in. A store worker kindly approached me and asked if I needed assistance finding anything. I hesitated for a brief second and then gave in. By that time I was dumbfounded. I spoke to her briefly and then asked, “Since we are talking about gender roles, what is it that makes you cringe when your nephew picks up the doll toy?” In which she replied, “Because it’s Barbie.” And then went on assisting another customer. Her simplistic response set the tone of a cultural discourse that I was barely coming to realizations with. How society normalizes gender roles with false binaries where there is only two genders. If one does not fit into those categories, they are belittled and dehumanized. Fed up with the whole situation, I thanked the store worker who assisted me and started to walk out. While walking out I had noticed a young African American woman looking for an item. She was dark skin, tall, skinny, and wore somewhat revealing clothing. But there was something I noticed, her tracks started to slip out. A track is a slip of hair that is widely known in the African American community. After the brief discovery of what the Barbie dolls presented to the young females, I started to ask myself, “how far does it go?” Has this young women unconditionally subjected herself to this unrealistic image of a Barbie doll? Thinking in order to fit into society's norms, she must discard her natural hair to appear straighter for the comfort of others (presumably for male individuals). In conclusion, toys play a gargantuan role in American way of life or life in general. They set false gender binaries, heteropatriarchy, various amounts of hegemonies, and basically govern how you think about yourself and contribute to this society. They also set a stage for a legacy of oppression, where you are at a constant battle in trying to fit in with social norms which only leads to dissatisfaction with one's self. This assignment lead me to a series of flashback and forced me to think a different way. The way that industry market to children needs a serious adjustment. Evidently it led me to the question, Is making profit worth the coast of humanity? Toy companies are making a pretty penny, while young girls and boys are being taught binaries under the false pretences of how men and women are supposed to be.
In order to fully comprehend the how gender stereotypes perpetuate children’s toys, one must understand gender socialization. According to Santrock, the term gender refers to the, “characteristics of people as males and females” (p.163). An individual is certainly not brought into the world with pre-existing knowledge of the world. However, what is certain is the belief that the individual has regarding him- or herself and life stems from socialization—the development of gender through social mechanisms. For instance, when a baby is brought into this world, his or her first encounter to gender socialization arises when the nurse places a blue or pink cap on the baby’s head. This act symbolizes the gender of the baby, whether it is a boy (blue cap) or a girl (pink cap). At the age of four, the child becomes acquai...
Toy stores are perfect places for a sociologist to use their sociological imagination. Gendering and racism is thought to be something that is socially constructed as opposed to biologically constructed. Gendering starts during infancy, and around 2 years old children start to internalize these gender differences. I argue that children’s toys help socialize children into gender specific roles. Toy stores, like Target and Toys R Us help us understand what types of toys help to gender children. I will explain how the toys in the toy aisles differ and compare. Not all toys are either male or female, some toys are gender neutral.
What is meant by Identity? Identity is a universal characteristic of which one can be recognized. One can be recognized by their race, gender, sexuality, family or social class. Identities shape a person that help them get through the journey to their dream and life. Factors like gender and family play a vital role in shaping a person’s individual identity. Gender identity is one’s perception of the activities that is “masculine” and “feminine.” Family identity can be seen in one’s family values and culture. Family plays a vital part in one’s gender identity. In today’s world, Identity is a major part of life, it defines who we are, where we come from. A person’s
To fully understand toys as a reinforcement of gender roles, one can observe the display of toys in Toys R Us. When walking in a toy store, one can see the obvious categories the toys are separated by which is by sex. Entering Toys R Us, one can see the categories of the aisles on the left side are in blue. Some of the categories in this section were action figures, cars and trucks. From an overall view, the colors showcased from these aisles are in dark colors such as dark blue, black, dark grey, dark green, dark orange, etc. In this part of t...
Gender Identity is a strong topic that many discuss in day to day living. It’s important to understand that gender identity has three different terms, according to Dictionary.com. A lot of people have many different opinions about gender identity. You’re probably thinking There is only two genders in this world male and female. I too, believe that there are only two genders in this world and that people are born straight. Grysman explains, “Gender is among the earliest categories that infants become aware of, and from toddlerhood on, children categorize both themselves and others as female or male.” (613.) People are not given a choice to be who they want to be, since your gender is assigned at birth.
Over time, comics have grown to be much more popular than expected, no mater how supernatural or unrealistic these superheroes and superpowers appear, the tend to reflect the real world and its society. Comic books emulate the society they are formed in. A small change in the diversity of comic books can surprisingly have a large impact on the perspectives of several people about racial discrimination. However in some cases, the authors might utterly fail in attempting to bring out diversity in a comic book which may just lead to more a negative viewpoint from society and its readers. Take the example of “The Punisher”, a modern day white superhero who wakes up after his surgery to be African American. Why? The doctor supposedly used a substance called melanin which darkened his skin and altered his facial features. This is an example of an extremely poor attempt to to add diversity to a comic book. It’s astonishingly shallow and just adds to such a peculiar plot development. To make it even worse, The Punisher’s pigment change rapidly wears off after a few issues and eventually arrived with the final issue with the pathetic title of “Fade to White”. A better solution to the lack of diversity in a comic book would to possible attract a more diversified crowd of authors whom might bring about a deeper understanding of different cultures and religions. A white writer may have difficulty designing an Asian character, therefore in order to introduce more diversity, the solution traces back to the source of these comic books; the
Different culture and different periods of history construct gender differently. Due to the social construction of gender, gender always ranks women below men of the same race and class. The rich details of the historical and field studies have given the notion that violence is always related to masculinities. Men is always referred as the subject of the action “violence against female” when speaking of the phrase “violence toward women”. Men privilege has existed because of the multicultural cultural masculinities. As a consequence, the growth of violence against women has risen since the unequal relationships between the two genders have lasted for varying periods. Women should seek for various abilities of addressing and overcoming the violence in order to protect them.
Black superheroes hold a weight on their shoulders, one that is not expected of their white counterparts. They must represent not only themselves as individuals but also be a symbol for the black community as a whole. At the same time they are often relegated to the sidelines, only existing in the narrative to fill a quota. The birth of the iconic black superhero, began in the 1960’s and continued on through the 70’s. The characters released during that era, by the two largest comic book companies Marvel and DC, all played played a huge part in shaping how Black people are seen in the media today.
Social Construction of Gender Today’s society plays a very important role in the construction of gender. Gender is a type of issue that has raised many questions over the years in defining and debating if both male and female are equal. Today, gender is constructed in four different ways. The The first way gender is defined is by the family in which a child is raised.
The terms sex, gender and sexuality relate with one another, however, sociologists had to distinguish these terms because it has it’s own individual meaning. Sex is the biological identity of a person when they are first born, like being a male or female. Gender is the socially learned behaviors and expectations associated with men and women like being masculine or feminine. Gender can differentiate like being a man, woman, transgender, intersex, etcetera. Sexuality refers to desire, sexual preference, and sexual identity and behavior (1). Sexuality can differentiate as well like being homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual, etcetera. Like all social identities, gender is socially constructed. In the Social Construction of Gender, this theory shows
Gender is such a ubiquitous notion that humans assume gender is biological. However, gender is a notion that is made up in order to organize human life. It is created and recreated giving power to the dominant gender, creating an inferior gender and producing gender roles. There are many questionable perspectives such as how two genders are learned, how humans learn their own gender and others genders, how they learn to appropriately perform their gender and how gender roles are produced. In order to understand these perspectives, we must view gender as a social institution. Society bases gender on sex and applies a sex category to people in daily life by recognizing gender markers. Sex is the foundation to which gender is created. We must understand the difference between anatomical sex and gender in order to grasp the development of gender. First, I will be assessing existing perspectives on the social construction of gender. Next, I will analyze three case studies and explain how gender construction is applied in order to provide a clearer understanding of gender construction. Lastly, I will develop my own case study by analyzing the movie Mrs. Doubtfire and apply gender construction.
Social Construction of Gender is a process, stratification system and structure. The day to day interactions emphasize gender as opposites. Take for instance, conversations, formalities of daily life, sayings, and so on. The social construction of gender is created through social interaction – through the things we do and say with other people. This means that gender it is not a fixed or inherent fact, but instead it varies across time and place.
Self-identification does not have a category, its meant to express feelings and simplify us. Feminist break through in contemporary art has given female artists the chance to redeem power of their bodies with the use of self-portraiture. Questioning identity: Gender, Class, Ethnicity gives us an understanding as to how gender identity works and the ways in which we are influenced through social conventionalization. Identity gives reason to question yourself, what type of person you are and how you might appear to others. In society we have different groupings based on certain identity traits.
The relationship between sex and gender can be argued in many different lights. All of which complicated lights. Each individual beholds a sexual identity and a gender identity, with the argument of perceiving these identities however way they wish to perceive them. However, the impact of gender on our identities and on our bodies and how they play out is often taken for granted in various ways. Gender issues continue to be a hugely important topic within contemporary modern society. I intend to help the reader understand that femininities and masculinities is a social constructed concept and whether the binary categories of “male” and “female” are adequate concepts for understanding and organising contemporary social life with discussing the experiences of individuals and groups who have resisted these labels and forged new identities.
Gender identity is whether one feels as though they are a male or female. I never really thought about this much until I started taking classes that talked about gender identity. According to society, I am considered a female because my anatomical make up. However, I have never completely assumed the normal gender role or gender role stereotypes. As a child and teen, I loved to climb trees, lift weights, and play football. I did not enjoy playing with dolls, playing dress up or having tea parties, therefore, I did not do those things. I also was not sensitive like other females. As an adult, I do frequently adhere the gender role or stereotypes. Although, I still enjoy doing many male things like fishing, hiking, and camping but I also cook,