Gender Difficulties - Focusing on Women
Do you want to be happy? Stop trying to be perfect. Sociology is the study of how norms, values and behaviors develop throughout time. One of the biggest dilemmas in the United States modern society is gender stereotypes. When I say gender stereotypes I am specifically talking about women. I think that the majority of ads we see are targeted towards women. There have been many issues surrounding gender equality, but there is still a fight. Being a female in American society today is very different from many other countries. We have many more rights than women in a lot of middle-eastern countries. Many countries around the world supply little or no freedom for women. For example, in Islam (the Muslim religion women are required to wear a head wraps (a type of turban) to identify themselves. However, we still have rights to gain in order to be equal to men. The importance of this issue rounds on the fact that many people still feel that the way women are treated and looked at is unfair. Throughout my life, I have seen anything and everything from society of how I’m supposed to be. However, I have grown up with very open and accepting people. Even with that though I have been socialized to be pretty, skinny, and perfect (perfect outer image) as a female in American society today. I have been both negatively and positively socialized in society today. The society that I have been raised in has very specific things that a person needs to fulfill in order to be accepted. Perfection is one of the main thoughts spinning through a women’s head in current American society. In other words, we have been socialized to think about perfection. The “ideal body” (Kelsey Serdar, Female Body Image and the Mass Media) states that many women see magazine adds and immediately feel bad about their appearance. Tons of U.S. citizens post “selfies” everyday; women especially like to edit these photos with Photoshop or other apps. I have been in a digital arts class for about a month now and as a class we have watched various videos of the Photoshop process of magazine featured celebrities. The process is extensive and totally unnecessary. Some women (and a few men) even resort to plastic surgery, which is really drastic. One more thing is that everyday millions of women across America and other countries put on make-up (myself included) just to have a sense of perfection. I think a lot of women feel that they won’t be loved if they aren’t perfect or they want to please people. Conformity is another issue. “She has blonde hair, I want the same thing.” Personally, I have grown up around people who aren’t perfect and I think that has put me in a place to better accept myself into society without thinking I’m useless. Let’s face it; the people that you are around all the time are a really big influence. Society however has shown me that the expectations of women are high and mostly unrealistic. Society is a thing that puts a LOT of pressure on a LOT of people who get hurt or even hurt themselves because of it. Body Image is one of the most influential things that women are taught in U.S. society. “Body image is a complicated aspect of the self concept that concerns an individual’s perceptions and feelings about their body and physical appearance –(Kasey Serdar Female Body Image and the Mass Media.) MEDIA! Seeing this word many of us think TV, Movies; I think advertising. The advertisements that we see daily everywhere are a big piece of peoples concerns about not being perfect. The people in these ads have perfect hair, eyes, and skin. We should remember though, that all of these people have been heavily airbrushed and fixed up to perfection. I’m sure that seeing some of these models would give people an entirely different reaction. Companies do this to get you to buy their products. They are basically saying, “Buy this product and you will look this way!” or “Your love will want you back if you buy this.” Media plays a largely impacting role in socializing people to think a certain way. Media and society have such a big handle on individuals in the U.S. that we don’t even know how to separate stereotypes from ourselves. We get so sucked in with false implications that we can be perfect. No one is perfect! Even with that fact, females commit suicide three times as much as boys (Wikipedia, Teenage Suicide in the United States, Sex Ratios). In my mind suicides should never happen and a reason for some of these suicides was that the person didn’t like the way they looked. You may have a perfect body but what about what’s on the inside? We are so focused on our outer sides that we forget what really matters. Personality makes you who you are and being cared about for your personality is way better that being cared about for your looks. A lot of people would disagree with the previous statement and that’s ok, but just think about. We need to explore our options on how best to “handle” society and the stereotypes that it’s built on. Society has such a big impact on so many people under their influence; some of us forget to be true to who we are. John Lennon once said, “If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there’d be peace.” I think this mean that if everyone stopped trying to be perfect and fit in all of the time, we would all be happier. Jenna Marbles (blogger sensation) told us “In order to find out who you are, you will at some point, have to feel really isolated, left out, different.” (Jenna Marbles, Thoughts on being yourself video (YouTube)) To me this states that it will be hard to separate yourself from society, but in the end, it will be worth it and you will be happier. The way we look at society and vice versa need to change because bad things happen all of the time when it comes to society. In my mind, society will always have some sort of “grip” on people, wanting them to be a certain way. This project as reminded me of the issues at hand and how we should think about these things. In our society, my socialization has been good and bad. However, being a teenage girl in modern society, I have come to see all the results of people under this type of pressure. People say things like, “you have to be skinny and pretty or no one will like you.” Things like this lead to depression, self-harm, and suicides that should’ve never happened. Gender stereotypes are everywhere and we should learn about them, as they are such a big part of life. Societal impact can be a really scary thing when looked into, and I really encourage things being looked into farther. Citations: Serdar, Kelsey – Female Body Image and the Mass Media John Lennon – Quote Jenna Marbles – Thoughts On Being Yourself – YouTube |
Socialization Project Reflection Questions
1. Concerning my mask, I am most proud of the effort I put into it to make it relate to my topic. I am proud of this because I think people are better at understanding thing when provided with a visual. 2. “Body Image is one of the most influential things women are taught in U.S. society” is my favorite part of my essay because I think it really touches down on how sensitive this topic of gender is. Women are taught to look like models; to be beautiful, and be skinny (some even go to the lengths of starving themselves. This paragraph from my essay talks about the facts around women’s self concept. I think this is super important. 3. I will remember many things about this project, but the thing that is the strongest in my mind is the idea of me needing or not needing society. I will think before I’m doing something or saying something that might really affect someone negatively or positively. 4. The Habit of Heart and Mind that I could use a little bit of work on is evidence. I could have better stated some things in this previous project. I think this will help me to better understand the topic next time. |