As early as childhood, continuing into our daily adult lives, both men and women are characterized by gender roles and schemas that affect the interaction and behavior between them and the society surrounding them. These schemas are first seen throughout the daily lives of children and persist throughout adolescence and adulthood. According to verywellmind.com, a schema is defined as “a cognitive framework or concept that helps organize and interpret information.” These schemas help children identify themselves as either “males” or “females” and perform the roles that identify with either one of these categories. Children shift their behavior to better fit the norms associated with a given role so they do not deviate from the “standard” girl or boy. Societal influences such as media, surrounding family and friends, and other peers fundamentally affect the cognitive process that affects the thought on traits that are associated with males and females. The media places their messages into our conscious awareness every making these roles more and more prominent. They do this through forms of advertising, over or underrepresentation of the genders, and normalizing stereotypes.
My photo, “The Mirror of Beauty Standards”, symbolizes the effects of mass media on the rising youth and what it means to be a “girl.” Society has a norm for what is “attractive” and “not attractive.” These standards coming from the rich and famous, the press, and other forms of entertainment. Children are exposed to this type of material from an early age through young children’s books and also through unrealistic beauty standards in the common day “princess” and “popular girl.” This photo shows two eight-year-old girls looking in the mirror. Attached to the mirror is taped on images of an assortment of advertisements. These advertisements display women in bright lights, showing off their long, curvy bodies, smiling as if this is what you need to look like to be happy and accepted. The girls are looking at these images with aspirations that that could be them someday. Since this is modern day, technology infuses these ideals into the younger generation more because they are raised and brought up on it. There is a makeup tutorial displayed on the iPad on the counter. This shows just how accessible and influencing the media can get. The girls are both applying the makeup to their face. One of them is applying lipstick and the other is brushing her hair. The camera is in the perspective where you can see what is happening in the mirror and what is happening in the present foreground. The mirror represents the lens in which society portrays the standards for beauty. The young girl closest to the camera is applying lipstick, it looks out of nature in her hand because her hands can’t quite grasp it right. This shows how pressured young children feel to adapt even though it is out of their scope of development. The standards depicted through all sorts of medias are completely unrealistic, but they still are showered upon our youth. After this photo was taken, the young lady on the left decided to turn herself into a clown by putting lipstick across her cheeks in forehead. This shows kids will be kids, and the although media is influential it does not have to be the definition of us.
Citations
Cherry, Kendra, and Steven Gans. “What Role Do Schemas Play in the Learning Process?” Verywell Mind, 1 Oct. 2018, www.verywellmind.com/what-is-a-schema-2795873.
1 comment:
From: Bruce
This is literally our culture today. The internet is now setting the new norms. The photo show two young girls taking time out of the day to practice their beauty and cosmetic skills. Of course, these schemas are set throughout childhood and on up through adolescents. Gender schemas are set in the characteristics of the individual, displaying actions and thoughts of what it is to be boy or girl. The picture shows the perspective of how many children such as little girls are turning to the internet to learn how they should look or present themselves. Before young girls was not allowed to use blush and lipsticks, now some of these girls age 10 to 13 now understand the techniques of applying foundations, understanding what colors best match them, and picking products that give them more depth based on their look opposed to their actual age. All this through YouTube and other internet sources. It’s setting a new standard of how girls should look being that so many females of younger age are interested in this cosmetic lifestyle. The picture shows the sisters participating in two different actions, while one is prating on her makeup the other is focused on her hair. And I’m sure they collaborate on how both of them can get better at different categories of beauty. The taped images is a potential goal that maybe both of them want to achieve one day, hopefully reaching a super model status of beauty. The photo does a great job at capturing both girls in the single mirror displaying a more point of view look as if you were there watching this take place. While it’s not against any laws for younger girls to buy cosmetics and be good at them but it starts to display them differently to different crowds such as older men and this can cause potential problems. Everyday these lifestyles become more and more accessible to any age willing to learn.
Post a Comment