How do children learn the codes of gender?
From birth, children are taught to follow specific gender scripts. Gender scripts are a set of social and behavioral norms that are generally considered appropriate for each sex. These codes of gender can be seen almost everywhere in our society. Children can learn gender roles from one’s family, others at school, or even through the media. In the image, Brooke, 17, is having her make up done by her mother. The mom is teaching the daughter how to follow the strict feminine gender norms. The appearance of the mom in the picture is significant because parents have much influence on how and which gender scripts kids learn. Girls are to follow more feminine gender scripts; boys are to learn masculine traits. Due to these gender scripts, girls are taught that beauty is a highly valuable quality for ladies to have and to devote much time on appearance. However, the media has exaggerated the ideal beauty standard to unrealistic lengths. Young girls try to imitate what the media shows them is beautiful. The magazine and the makeup (considered an essential for almost every woman) in the image represents this. In conclusion, children learn the codes of gender in a number of ways. Parents, fellow peers, and even the media help to shape how kids learn gender in our society.
2 comments:
What children learn from their parents growing up is what shapes what kind of person they are going to be. With this young girl’s mother showing her how to do her makeup she is going to pick up the “girly girl” traits with her learning how to do makeup herself and most likely wearing it as an everyday accessory. She is also holding what looks like a beauty magazine, possibly looking at a picture of someone in the magazine and asking her mom to make her look like the women in the pictures. On the mirror there is also a lot more makeup which kind of might throw out the message that you aren’t beautiful unless you put all of this over your face and cover up what you really look like. The pressure to be “beautiful” for young girls is so strong that some may go to such high extents just to look like the magazine models.
I like that in this photo it is not only media that is influencing the girls gender role it is her mother as well. Her mother seems to be helping her look like the women in the magazine. Those women are usually photo-shopped and unrealistically beautiful which makes girls have impractical expectations about how they are supposed to be. The make-up in the background by the mirror might infer that girls have to wear a ton of make-up and hide your natural beauty to live up to the beauty standards that society expects of females. The daughter is wearing superman pants which are usually a boy’s type of clothing, and she is also wearing a pink top which pink is usually worn by females. This might show that she may like boy things but feels the need to ignore them and focus on what she thinks is more important, how she looks.
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