From:
Carolyn
The feminine beauty ideal is
the socially constructed notion that physical attractiveness is one of the
women’s most important assets, and something all women should strive to achieve
and maintain, but what message will this send to children that look up to you?
In this picture, I am being held by my brother as my niece imitates the same
actions. This picture was taken on Easter, and I like to get all dolled up on
holidays even though my day consists of staying at home with my family. When my
niece saw that I was all dressed up with sparkly shoes she wanted to wear a
dress and sparkly shoes. While helping her to get ready she put on some body
mist and lip gloss, which she put in her purse to take with her. Getting all
dressed up for certain occasions just makes me feel good about myself, it makes
me feel confident, but I wonder if it makes my niece feel a certain way, or if
she just likes to match me.
Romantic Socialization starts early
in girls and is exposed by models in storybooks, video games, and films on
television (Glick, and Rudman 215). My niece likes the “princess dresses” that
are sparkly, pink, and frilly because she loves how pretty they look. Children
are very observant and pick up on actions and words quiet frequently. For
example, when female characters’ spin around in their dresses; children tend to
do the same, or when children watch adults put on makeup or paint their nails
the children will want theirs done as well. Like my picture for instance, I was
just goofing around with my brother and my niece told my brother to pick her up
so that I could take her picture.
In early magazines, such as
Cosmopolitan and Glamour, magazines for girls were heavily promoting attractiveness
and dating as constant themes, and women were encouraged to view their worth as
their ability to attract the other sex from an early age (215). As my niece
gets older is she supposed to feel obligated to use her beauty as a tool to
attract the opposite sex? I don’t think an individual’s beauty, or that the
opposite sex is attracted to them should be defined as their worth. I don’t
want people to be degraded by others because romantic socialization should only
be viewed in a certain way. I believe that my picture defines not only beauty,
but that women’s worth isn’t just her attractiveness or what is on the outside.
And having someone dear to your heart viewing you as a role model; proves that
we have so much more to offer.
Rudman,
Laurie A., Peter Glick, and Susan T. Fiske. The Social Psychology of Gender:
How Power and Intimacy Shape Gender Relations. New York: Guilford, 2015.
Print.
1 comment:
The photo, to me, looks like it provides the example of how girls are conditioned how to find a man early in life. Romantic Socialization starts at such an early age, especially with young girls, telling them that they should love the pink frilly dresses, and all things princess, especially Disney. The white seems to resemble purity to me, and it makes it even better that the picture was taken on Easter, a day when many people who do not celebrate in a religious way try to resemble purity by wearing white. I also think the fact that it is the same boy holding both girls, because girls are conditioned to impress older boys. Regardless of their age group, girls are supposed to look to impress the next age group. I think that that people realize how damaging it can be for little girls to feel the need to change the way they look to impress people. As girls get older, putting on makeup and get dressed up turns more into something girls do for themselves, but at an early age it can be damaging for toddlers to be watching movies where the princess gets the prince solely from her looks. If a girl is different, whether she be less girly, or taller than most of the boys in her class, or doesn’t think she is pretty, by seeing these messages, even if it doesn’t seem overtly hurtful, the messages that they subconsciously absorb can be damaging to their self-esteem for years to come.
From Krishia
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