Children are information sponges, and having simple products such as toothbrushes being marketed to a specific gender is going to be noticed. By differentiating these products we can see that the culture of our gender is highly represented in the products we produce, such as toothbrushes. In puberty we begin to grow hair in “unwanted” places, so in turn many start to shave. There is an obvious difference between the two razors that reflect what society thinks about each gender. In my photo, called “Genders of Health and Beauty”, it shows the differences in products that are specifically made for each gender. This represents the gender roles that we are teaching to our children and adolescents.
When we begin to become more independent as kids, we start to buy the “regular” version of things such as toothbrushes. These adult toothbrushes can silently instill the gender roles we commonly teach our children. The toothbrush on the left is bright pink with purple and made with curves in the handle and top. This would be considered the women’s toothbrush, but not only is it just a different color or shape but the brush feels dainty in itself. The plastic is thin and cheap and it doesn’t seem like the bristles will even hold up against time. This plays directly in to what our society can think about women, they are dainty or love pink or curvy. Where as on the right, the toothbrush is plain and straight but it seems more durable than the latter. This could be seen as a man’s toothbrush, but there are plenty more on the market that cater to “men’s characteristics”, so this toothbrush is definitely more unisex. By introducing these characteristics in to our growing children we can see how we perpetuate the system of these two genders.
Shaving in our culture is like a rite of passage into puberty, because the first thing that can happen in puberty to both sexes is new hair growth. Girls are definitely more pressured to shave their legs and armpits than boys to shave their face. But, just focusing on the shavers that are being sold, you can clearly see a difference between the two. The one on the left is clearly a “woman’s razor” and, you can tell by again,how dainty, lightly colored, less intense and once again, curved the razor is. In commercials for these razors you often hear that they are curved to fit a woman's skin better yet there is no difference in skin between the sexes. The one on the right, would be considered the men’s razor, you can tell because darker in its’ colors, heavier, and, straighter. By having our adolescents being so heavily influenced by just a razors color and shape it affects how they think about the gender that the product is meant for and, often they correlate the same characteristics of the product to the gender.
Children and adolescents are constantly changing and growing, so by introducing them to the world of genders while going through everything they deal could mean they internalize these aspects of products. Doing so makes girls feel like they have to dainty and curvy and not as intense as boys or, make boys feel like they have to be strong, intense and not curvy. This puts a lot of pressure on them as they grow that can be detrimental to their health.
1 comment:
From:Robbie
It baffles me that the hygiene industry markets products that serve the exact same purpose differently. The companies correlate the color pink and smoothness with femininity and they correlate the color blue and ruggedness with masculinity. No matter the look of the product, it does not change how well it performs or how useful it is. Razors are going to cut hair and toothbrushes are going to clean teeth. Now that I am older I have realized this, but when I was younger I did not see the bigger picture here, I assume like most other young children. Whenever my mother bought me a toothbrush she always bought me a blue one, one that was considered to be a “boy toothbrush”. After several years of this, it was basically ingrained in my mind that boys only used “boy toothbrushes” and if they did not, it was wrong. This is a terrible message to send to little kids because this emphasizes the “two cultures of childhood” even more. I really like how the photo contains a sense of parallelism, the two “girly” products are in a column to the left and the two “boyish” products are in the column to the right, showing that even though they serve the same purpose they are nothing alike. I also really like the things in the background of the photo like the bathroom counter-top and the faucet. These two things are a rather neutral color and it emphasizes the differences between the razors and the toothbrushes, it also shows how hygiene products are marketed to each gender unlike household appliances, like a sink.
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