It is virtually impossible to prevent children from being affected by socialization of gender. Even before the children are born, their parents have the gender of the baby determined so they know what color to paint the room, what kind of toys to buy, and in this case, which towel set their children should bathe with. As if being constantly reminded in public of how each gender should behave, the socialization of gender is so inescapable that the simple act of bathing is subliminally molding our youth. Girls are trained to value the color pink, and to take care of their appearance. They learn from an early age what our culture has defined as beauty, but they are not taught how to be comfortable with themselves if they do not match this standard. Boys are raised to be independent, self-providers that never show weakness. Society has determined weakness to also include feminine characteristics and tendencies, such as wearing girls clothing and showing a fondness for dancing or playing dress-up. Boys that do show this weakness are subjected to seemingly unending amounts of harassment that is very damaging to a child's development. While society should not reinforce these sexist stereotypes in our children because they do not promote equality between genders, it is important to realize that removing them completely would be to take away the innocence of being a child.
4 comments:
I like the definite distinction of the colors blue and pink. If the picture was zoomed out and you couldn't see the characters on the towels, you could still pick out which ones were for boys and which ones are for girls. A boy with a pink Bratz towel would most definitly get made fun of. And a girl with a Carz towel would probably not get made fun of to her face: the other girls would probably say things behind her back (even at a young age). And I also like your title.
I think it is so pathetic that boys and girls need to have seperate colors and cartoons. It has even come down to what towels they use to dry off after a bath now? Doesn't the blue "boys" towel do the same job as the pink "girls" towel. Little things like this play a huge role in gender socialization. If media payed less attention "boy" things and "girl" things, there would be less socialization and more equality between genders. Who is to tell you that you can have a blue cars towel because you are a girl? Or a boy cant have a pink towel because it is a "girl" towel?
Everything today is becoming so much more gender defined. Even as we get older girls and boys still have different bed sets. They don't have graphics like Bratz or Spongebob, but girls still have more "girly" colors such as pink, purple, and orange. Boys still have colors such as blue, green, and browns. I think its kind of ridiculous how many things these days are so gender defined. Towels? Really? You need a towel to dry off after a bath does it have to have tinkerbell on it or transformers? If they do whats so bad if a girl uses the transformers one or the boy using the tinkerbell one?
I can not agree with you more. Your picture caught my eye because it reminded me of every time i walk into a store. There are so many things that appeal to either male or female. I do not think there is any real way that you can keep a boy or girl from being somewhat gender socialized. They see what mommy or daddy does and reflect that. If they do not see it from their parents then the media does it. Where in cartoons and shows who has what roles. Even if the kid the child was not allowed t.v he or she would see it on the play ground around school. Where girls may color as boys play kickball, baseball, or some other sport that involves strength, agility, and decision making strategies. Good picture and explanation.
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