Conforming to the Gender Schema

 

From Maura:

            For as long as I can remember, I envied girls who I thought were more beautiful than I was. Whether it was playing with makeup or dolls, I was playing a role of how I wanted to look or appear to others. And this was normal behavior for a young girl. From early childhood, boys and girls are socialized to learn, play and interact differently from each other (Rudman, 59).  My photograph is intended to capture how gendered codes of play can psychologically impact women throughout their lives.

            My photo shows me with markings on my face, indicating that I am getting cosmetic surgery, and I did my makeup to look swollen, bruised and bloody in post-op. The symbolism behind the makeup is that although I am getting cosmetic procedures done to improve and adjust my appearance, it’s quite dreadful to look at and fathom. The media targets young girls who are quite impressionable to believe that to be a woman, you must be beautiful. Corporations such as Disney Channel use animated characters (human and non-human) to have petite figures, batting eyelashes, thin waists and perfect hair and makeup to be the protagonist female character (Picker, 2002). And I never met a girl growing up who would choose to be Maleficent or Ursula in place of the princesses who juxtapose these roles. Despite the role I am playing in my photo, fresh out of surgery, I still have lipstick on and mascara. It is routine or instinct for a multitude of women to wear makeup. It is so normalized that it is not questioned why women do it.

            Another aspect of the photo is that I’m not looking at the camera, but am gazing away and appear to be in a daze. Both of these creative techniques give the subject of the image less power. When the subject is looking directly at the camera, the viewer of the photo tends to develop eye contact with the subject focusing in on the center of the face, establishing power of the subject. When the subject is not looking into the camera, the viewers eyes tend to wander to other parts of the photo. My shoulders are bare and the frame cuts out right below my bare shoulders, suggesting that I am not wearing clothes because it is not visible in the frame. The image is close to my face, but I am also off-center, which diminishes power of the subject as well. Plastic surgery is often used to even the symmetry of a face (Dr. Rodriguez, modified 2019) and because half of my face is showing more than another, the symmetry of the photo is off. Facial symmetry has played a paramount role in the body dysmorphia I have developed throughout my life. I had been self-conscious of my teeth since elementary school and my enamel grew in very yellow due to febrile seizures I had during infancy. I would get bullied and teased for my teeth so I begged my mom to have them fixed. Since fourth grade, I have had veneers on my front six teeth. But the problem for me got worse. I noticed my smile was crooked and to myself, I look like I talk out of the corner of my mouth. I thought I had a huge nose and uneven eyes. This relates to the topic because girls are given positive reinforcement based on their appearance. A survey in my Sociology textbook asked young girls if they were worried about their appearance. In a study conducted by psychology professor Stacey Tantleff-Dunn and doctoral student Sharon Hayes at the University of Central Florida, nearly half of the 3- to 6-year-old girls stated they worry about getting overweight. A third of those say they would alter a person's appearance like their weight or hair color (cconover, 2009). This is three to six year olds wanting to physically change their looks, which can be achieved through plastic surgery. There needs to be a shift in society and media, moving away from the niche physical appearance of girls that is perceived as attractive and start to represent girls in a more diverse way.

I Just Want Your Validation

 From: Emma

       Starting from a young age, girls are told what to wear, taught how to act, and to overall receive approval from those around them. Many little girls can be found playing dress up for fun, or getting into their mom’s makeup. This is most likely encouraged even if they don’t recognize it.

        In the photos, you can see the subject being zipped into her dress by multiple hands, and another hand steadying her face as they apply her lipstick. These hands are representations of the mother figure in the subject’s life, encouraging them to be proper, and fit into tight clothes, to keep her figure nice and slim, to be the best looking girl of the bunch. These hands aren’t forceful, but they are steady. They take up lots of space in the frame and hold power even without much force. They encourage these actions and thoughts of becoming the prettiest, of fitting into society as a proper young woman, even if she may not be meaning to do so. But her mother’s mother probably did the same to her, so what else does she really know to teach to her daughter? In Girl Culture by Lauren Greenfield, her series of photos included a picture of Mary Cady and her fellow Southern Belles. She talks about her views of being a girl, the proper way to be a lady, and saying how men should take the lead, at least in her life. Now nothing is wrong with that, but she says how, “Being a southern belle is part of the rule for the family,” meaning that she didn’t really have a choice. She has been told her whole life that she needed to be a perfect wife and a proper lady, so she knows no other options. She knows only what was taught and encouraged. She is not upset at the hands that fed her and taught her this way of life nor were they harmful, but they did for sure impact her and will do so for the rest of her life.

       The subject of the photo has been, for years, seeking out validation from anyone she can; her parents, friends, family, and eventually boyfriends or girlfriends, as she has been taught to. As she grows older, she starts to start to seek validation through her sexuality, hence the red lipstick, which calls back to the late 1700s and 1800s where red lipstick was seen as a seduction tool and incredibly powerful. Despite this, she is still a young girl, she is still that innocent child, represented by her white dress. Though she may be shrouded in her innocence, surrounded by the white dress, the red lipstick still sticks out, it still shows her attempt to take control of herself and her sexuality. The close up of the lipstick being applied shows all the thought that goes into a simple element. Then the far-away shot that shows the insignificance of that simple task. Not only that, but just how much the minuscule task affects the overall look. The white dress remains the focal point of the subject’s appearance, showing that despite her attempt to enhance her sexuality, she is still innocent. In Lauren Greenfield’s photo essay, Girl Culture, one of her photos shows a young girl named Lily who is only 6 years old. In her interview, she says how, “[Teenagers] dress up cool so boys like them. I saw it in a movie,”. Not only does this show that she’s already worried about others opinions, but it also shows the effect media has on her view of opinions and how she should gauge them.         

         As mentioned before, she seeks validation from others and in the photo, I used the open space to show that others opinions don’t really matter at the end of the day. The subject spent time getting ready, putting on makeup and wearing a fancy dress, but in the vastness of the empty field, no one is there to let her know that she’s pretty, tell her that she looks amazing or that she looks “so grown up”. It’s hard for teenage girls to be their full selves when they’re taught to worry about others opinions, even if subconsciously. There’s a pressure to be liked, be innocent, and yet, not a prude; to be sexy, but not slutty; seek attention, but slyly and to remain coy. This highlights the power that has been given to others opinions, when really all that should matter is your own.

Works cited

-        Lubitz, Rachel. “The Sordid, f*Cked up History of Red Lipstick.” Mic, Mic, 29 July 2016, https://www.mic.com/articles/149814/the-sordid-f-cked-up-history-of-red-lipstick. 

-        Greenfield, Lauren. “Girl Culture .” Girl Culture - Lauren Greenfield, 2001, http://v1.zonezero.com/exposiciones/fotografos/girlcult/index.html. 

Gendered Toys

From: Abigail

            Children learn stereotypes from the media around them. Almost all children have toys that are stereotypically catered towards their gender. Whether it be that girls are supposed to play with Barbies and boys are supposed to play with trucks. Gender stereotypes and roles are enforced in the toys they grow up with. Instead of girls just being able to use regular Nerf products they have girl Nerf which is the pink and purple Nerf toys, whereas the boys are blue and orange. Girls are often advertised light colors like pink, Barbie dolls, and dress up. In contrast, boys are advertised dark colors like blue, trucks, and toy guns.

Laurie Rudman’s article “The Two Cultures of Childhood,” strongly inspired my photograph. Toys being advertised to specific genders impacts the way that kids think. Rudman states in her article this impacts the children’s ways of thinking.  “…cognitive associations of different attributes, behaviors, objects, or social practices with ‘male’ and ‘female’” (Rudman, 59).  The photograph helps demonstrate the differences between the stereotypical “male” and “female” toys. Rudman makes a point about the different color scheme between sections. “Consistent with the general theme that boys re rougher and girls are sweeter…” (Rudman, 60). The “female” toys in the isle are bright and pink, whereas the “male” toys in the isle are dark and blue.

The creative techniques that I tried to incorporate into my photograph include camera angle, and similarity/difference. I used camera angle when trying to capture both the “female” toys and “male” toys. I slanted my camera so that I would be able to get a picture of the toys and color of the isle catered towards each gender. I had to combine but the pictures so that the viewer could see the differences. I used similarity and difference when taking my photograph because I wanted to capture how toys are advertised to each specific gender. There is a big difference between the “female” and “male” toys that you can see through the photograph. The type of toys and colors play a big part in the differences.

When toys are advertised strictly to specific genders it impacts children’s way of thinking. Boys can play with dolls and girls can play with trucks. Toys should not be gendered. When put into a box of what it is to be “female” or “male”, children are not able to express themselves.

 

 

Works Cited:

Rudman, Laurie A., et al. “The Two Cultures of Childhood.” The Social Psychology of Gender: How Power and Intimacy Shape Gender Relations. The Guilford Press, 2015, 59-63.

 

I Want to be a Barbie Girl

 From: Emily

 

            When a child is growing up, they idealize many things such as looking pretty and fitting into society. Most young females look up to Barbie as to how they should look, which is very unrealistic. Barbie always has the perfect face of makeup and a slim figure. Barbie gives off false pretenses what a perfect girl should look like, when in reality every body is a perfect body. When taking this image I focused on my gaze, the accentuation my waist, the comparison of Barbie and I, and the focus of the foreground/background.

            Creative elements of a picture are very important to how the viewer interprets the image. In the image I took I focused on how I was portraying my emotion; this would be an example of gaze. The goal was to display a feeling of contempt and sadness and/or the feeling to be something I am not. Symbolism is characterized as the use of objects to display a different meeting then what is literal. I used a Barbie to display the unrealistic beauty standard that society has imposed on young girls. Barbie has this perfect little body that society expect everyone to have and if they do not, they are not seen as desirable. In the background of the image, I was layering on makeup to try to make myself more doll like, something that society expects. The clothes I was wearing emphasized my smaller waist which society hypersexualizes as typical feminine thing.  The pink shorts and the pink shirt represent how pink is deemed more a feminine color. I included Barbie in the foreground because I wanted her to be the focus of the image, she was the most prominent thing.

In the article, “The ‘Two Cultures’ of Childhood”, we learned the toy have such an impact on how children learn social roles. The article goes into detail about how gender schemas influence all children beginning in early childhood through adolescents into adulthood. An individual's perspective about sex and gender is determined by the gender schema in which he or she lives. The article explains the boys tend to play with toys that have an aggressive demeanor while girls tend to play with softer/ submissive toy. “Gender schemas become part of self-identity, influencing children’s preferences, attitudes, and behavior as they strive to act in socially appropriate masculine or feminine way (Rudman, 59).” These toys teach girls and boys the expected gender roles of society. Girl toys tend to focus on how girls are expected to look and how they should want to fall into a maternal role. Even with Barbies, there is a child-sized doll that Barbie mothers. Girls will go through great measures just to be compared to their Barbie doll in the slightest. I have even experienced the consequence of playing with Barbies and other toys like that myself. When I was little, I’d always play with Barbie, and as I got older thought that is how I should look. I began to limit myself with how much I would eat, so I would gain that tiny little waist that Barbies had. I would always ensure my makeup was done every time I left my house. Barbie put an unrealistic lens on my life that society deemed acceptable. 

 

Works Cited

 

Rudman, Laurie A., et al. "The Two Cultures of Childhood." The Social Psychology of
Gender: How Power and Intimacy Shape Gender Relations. The Guilford Press,
2015, 59-63.

Tough Guise: With and Without

From: Madelin

            From a young age, many boys learn how to put on a performance. This act—taught to boys by their peers, family, and role models to appear manly based on the idea that “being a man is about domination, power, aggression, and control” (Katz 16:25-16:30)—is called the “tough guise”. In my two photos, I aim to analyze this performance: what the “tough guise” is, why numerous men embrace the “tough guise”, and what its like to live as a male who rejects the “tough guise”.

            The first photo I took represents what it looks like when a man accepts the tough guise. The model in this image is standing confidently, holding a weight, not concealing his muscles—all these elements symbolize that the tough guise is about being strong or showing that you are “tough enough to inflict physical pain and take it in turn” (Katz 14:33-14:36). In addition, there is a blue tint covering everything in the image. Blue is largely associated with boys; I specifically chose this color to demonstrate that adopting the tough guise is seen as peak masculinity, what men are “supposed” to act like. Thus, embracing the tough guise often earns men respect and power, portrayed through the photo’s low camera angle looking up at the model. However, it appears that adopting the tough guise comes with some detriments: as Jackson Katz states in his documentary, men “can’t show any emotion except anger” (Katz 14:25-14:27). While maintaining the tough guise, men lock up and hide away most of their feelings, hence the vertical bars of a staircase railing being in the image (similar to a prison cell), and the blur concealing the model’s expression.

            The second photo I took represents what it looks like when a man refuses to perform the tough guise. When a boy does not act tough and chooses to show other emotions, Katz believes that that boy is then at risk of “being seen as soft, weak, feminine or gay” (Katz 14:42-14:44). In the image I created, the model is sat on the floor with the camera looking down at him to demonstrate this weakness, while the blurry shades of pink at the edges of the photo demonstrate him being seen as feminine by others (despite seeing himself as masculine with his blue colored vest). Due to this perception others create when a man does not embrace the tough guise, the man is often ostracized and bullied, which is portrayed in my piece by the hands pointing at the model. This ostracization and bullying, for some men, is not something that they can handle. Backed into a corner (as is the model in my piece), these men will eventually accept the tough guise as a way to “shield their vulnerabilities and avoid being ridiculed” (Katz 15:33-15:36); the tough guise is often forced on to men.

            Overall, this “tough guise”—this act that boys are taught to perform—is harmful. The men who adopt the tough guise act out in violence and unhealthily bottle up their emotions, while the men who do not adopt the tough guise become targets of harassment. The mere existence of the tough guise impacts men negatively regardless of whether they choose to accept it or not.

 

 

Works Cited

Katz, Jackson, et al. Tough Guise 2: Violence, Manhood & American Culture. Media Education Foundation, 2013.

Playtime

From: Natalie

            From the moment we can truly intake information and what is being put out through movies, television, stories, etc., young girls are taught that attention is a leading factor in our lives. We are the pigs, and attention is the carrot on the stick. We chase after it in various ways, emotionally, physically, sexually, it’s a form of love that we will go great lengths to obtain… but why is it so much harder for us? My two images depict two siblings playing, not together, but in the same room. The young girl stares up at the popstar taped onto her mirror, holding a makeup brush like her own microphone, and simply stares in awe. She portrays little emotion because she is so taken by the star, but lacks the confidence and belief in herself to try to make the seductive expression or pose seen on the poster, because she is a child. The celebrity is taped above, not next to her, to convey that she has all the little girl wants, so they are not on the same level. The young girl idolizes her, she knows that the girl on stage has the attention of thousands and her, and through that the little girl draws her conclusions as to why. The body-accentuating outfit, the promiscuous lip bite, the confident stare and pose, these are all factors the girl sees that will get her to be seen and loved. In Lauren Greenfield’s Girl Culture, Alison (17) states that “[attention] is something people just crave. It’s a form of love, and everybody needs love. That’s why girls want to be famous like Britney Spears. They want people to show interest in them.” This is exactly what the young girl in the mirror is learning, while she should be enjoying her youth and playing with toys like her brother, captured in the next image.

            In the second image, the girl’s brother is seen playing with a monster truck, but also a Barbie. He isn’t saving the Barbie, he is having a major battle between the doll and the truck, and you’d be surprised who was winning. However, in the left corner, a hand is reaching out to grab the Barbie out of his clutch. The image as a whole depicts the standards and gender roles placed on children at such a young age. Since he is a boy, he should not be playing with a feminine girl’s toy. Society will tell him he’s weak, or gay, and punish him for simply playing. He does not notice the hand about to grab the toy, because he thinks nothing wrong of what he is doing, he just is playing with two toys, and is caught up in his moment of fun. But the hand is reached out, assertively, to grab the toy, to quickly teach the boy what is “masculine” and what isn’t. The Two Cultures of Childhood talks about the gender schemas children learn at a concerningly young age, which eventually become a part of their identity. They develop cognitive associations of different behaviors, objects, or social practices as “male” or “female” (Rudman 59-60), which the hand in the image is about to enforce.

            The two images together convey the differences between children’s playtime. The young girl is considered playing pretend, but in reality she is beginning a journey of self-loathing and looking up to highly unrealistic standards. The young boy is genuinely playing, having fun, which he will continue to do even when the Barbie is taken from him. He will instead move onto strictly action figures and pretend weapons, just like society wants him to. He will not yet stare at himself in the mirror like his sister, that will come later, for now, he will just play.

 

 

 

Works Cited

Greenfield, Lauren. “GIRL CULTURE.” Girl Culture - Lauren Greenfield. Zone Zero, 2001. v1.zonezero.com/exposiciones/fotografos/girlcult/index.html.

Rudman, Laurie A., et al. “The Two Cultures of Childhood,” The Social Psychology of Gender: How Power and Intimacy Shape Gender Relations. The Guilford Press, 2015, 59-63.

           

              

Elements of Childhood that are Gendered

From: Karla

The subtopic I chose for my project is how elements of childhood are gendered. During childhood, things are very clearly gendered from pink clothing and dress up dolls for girls to blue clothing and superhero action figures for boys. We grow to know these gender norms and accept them no questions asked. We develop these things from a very young age and I’ll be exploring this with a photograph.

My image includes a wooden poseable figure used for drawing and on either side of it there are clothing items. One side has clothing meant for girls indicated by the pink hue and the other side is boys clothing shown with the blue hue. In the middle we have the wooden figure with a question mark on its head and a very light heart on its chest representing a child being stuck between two completely separate worlds created by society. From a young age, children “quickly develop strong gender schemas” (Rudman) which means they quickly fall into their respective gender group and act that way. So, for boys they’d become rougher and girls would want to be pretty and dress up. In my photo, the boy's side has a jean jacket with videogame characters on it, black sweatpants, gray tank top, blue hat and tennis shoes showing the roughness and toughness of masculinity. On the girls’ side we have a white coat with the name Barbie on it, light blue shorts, pink tank top, blue sandals and a white hat showing the soft and pretty look of femininity following the gender schema learned at a young age.

Not only that, I didn’t use a person or real clothing because I wanted to show the childhood side of it; the toys we all know and love. I even incorporated the one thing most of us got with our artist kits that weren’t gendered, a wooden figure! I wanted something to act as neutral as possible while on either side we see things that are very clearly gendered. As explained by Rudman, when it comes down to miniature human figures, both genders play with them. However, girls call them dolls and boys call them action figures and will be offended if you don’t call them that. The name implies the theme of play, that being both active and tough, aggression being “a strong theme of boys play,” (Rudman) while for girls it would be the opposite. The wooden figure takes out any possibility of it being gendered since it has no features. It would only become gendered if the figure were to put on the clothing presented.

The photo is taken from a top-down view to show all the components. Everything is close together to imply the pressure of social norms on the figure in the middle. Both sides almost mirror each other to show that gender isn't two separate groups and is actually more similar than what we think. Finally, the title has its own meaning. I titled the image “Conjecture” meaning “an opinion or conclusion formed on the basis of incomplete information,” because hypothetically once the figure puts on a set of clothing, be it the masculine or feminine style, it will be seen as either masculine it feminine even though it was genderless before putting on clothes.

Gender and gender norms are learned from childhood and they should be questioned and challenged. They present us with groups and ideas that not everyone fits into and it’s okay to not fit into these groups. Society has brought this cloud of negativity for those that don’t fit in and it shouldn’t be that way. Challenge norms and break the mold. 

 

Work Cited

Rudman, Laurie A., et al. "The Two Cultures of Childhood." The Social Psychology of

Gender: How Power and Intimacy Shape Gender Relations. The Guilford Press,

2015, 59-63

 

The Masculine Hetero

From: Alaina

I chose to focus on gender schema and the affects it has on straight people who do not act or dress accordingly. Gender schema tells women that they should be sensitive mothers and men should be domineering fathers. We feed into this by actively trying to fit within the socially acceptable bounds of femininity or masculinity (Rudman, 60). Men wear baggy pants and looser tops focusing less on their body shape to appease the female gaze, yet women wear short crop tops and tight leggings with perfectly curled lashes and artificial sun kissed glow attracting the male gaze. Men lift weights and train for hypertrophy while women run on treadmills and do quick fix ab workouts. Only in the case of homosexuality would there be crossover between the genders. Or at least that’s how society makes us feel.

            What happens when a man wants to wear a crop top, or a woman wants to dress in non-form fitting clothes? What if a man wants to curl his lashes and achieve a faux rosy cheek? And what if a woman wants to lift heavy weights for hypertrophy and feels like a fraud covering her face in makeup? C. J. Pascoe points out in the case of the boyfriends that working out and tearing off their miniskirts “shed their …possibly homosexual identities” (Pascoe, 47). When we feed into the notion that we can tell how a person aligns sexually by the way they dress, we further the internalized warfare over self-expression versus conformity.

            One creative technique used in this picture is lighting/color. I wanted a gloomy tone to the picture to represent the internal despair of this girl. She feels in the dark navigating being a straight woman who identifies with masculine appearance. The use of face was important to express the emotions she feels while trying to convince herself to wear a more feminine outfit. Her face proves this effort is in vain and exemplifies the disappointment she feels that she cannot will herself to be comfortable wearing the dress. Another technique featured in this piece is background. The makeup sprawled behind her as well as the heels to accompany the dress show that she has in the past succumb to the pressure to spend money on the ingredients to femininity. Even with all the correct tools, something is still not right.

Works Cited

Pascoe, C.J. “Making Masculinity: Adolescence, Identity, and High School.” Introduction to Women’s,      Gender & Sexuality Studies: Interdisciplinary and Intersectional Approaches, edited by L. Ayu       Saraswati, Barbara Shaw, and Heather Relihan, Oxford Press, 2018, pp. 43-52.

Rudman, Laura A., et al. “The Two Cultures of Childhood.” The Social Psychology of Gender: How Power and Intimacy Shape Gender Relations. The Guildford Press, 2015, 59-63.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo Assignment

From: Nicole

Growing up it was always something it became a part of me, which was learning from everyone around me. Being an only child I learned pretty much from everything, and everyone I saw outside of learning for myself. When I saw girls wear make-up it made them look even more likable to guys. Growing up I did not have social media right away, and the latest trends of what other girls had. So, I pretty much learned from other girls around me, and everything I saw from movies and then social media. When seeing this topic, I related to it because I grew up being insecure and extremely shy. I struggled for a very long time to love what I see in the mirror every day. I struggled to also look at my body and love every ounce of it because I took what a lot of others would say about me despite it being something to improve upon. I took it all on myself and beat myself up for it. I hope anyone who is reading this, doesn’t feel alone and I understand what you may be feeling. 

When thinking about beauty, I think of beauty tools and anything that is aesthetically pleasing for others to see. It's anything that would be appealing to the eye that goes together and looks good in a bathroom cabinet. I wanted to highlight the different angles and colors used when editing the photos shown. And focus on going beyond the norms and dismantling what a selfie should look like online. I feel proud of myself for taking this photo of myself that I incorporated because it took years of letting go of other opinions. and self-love to want to show pimples on my forehead, circles under my eyes, and no make-u

For the photos, I wanted to make a collage of what came to my mind about beauty and also going beyond societal expectations. In addition to using different levels of exposure to light, and vibrancy of colors. And use different angles from up and down at the candle and perfume and eye shadow. I went with my desk as a background for letting everything shine and showing all the colors. I want these pictures to be a symbol of how silenced young girls still are from being encouraged to be themselves. There are so many things available but yet there is no encouragement but being okay with yourself. When editing with lines I wanted to show things unedited vs when things are edited where you can see lines on the background or exposure from the light. With the camera angles, I figured a collage can show a variety of photos far away and close up of each of the objects together. I wanted to experiment with unedited vs un-editing the photo of me. To show that there is no such thing as perfect clear skin, everything I saw growing up was all filters and photoshoots of body parts, etc. With the face and senses, I wanted to show the expectation in a photo which is to smile more and show a serious photo with no emotion. Because that’s what social media teaches young girls to smile or be silenced with negative insecurities. The intention with the objects close together is to display different shapes and objects with each other. In addition to showing an abstract-like effect with the different shades of colors together. I wanted to be creative and also show everything unedited because it’s the same regardless if a photo is unedited or not. 

 

There are similarities in the shapes of the photos, as well as the objects some are small circle shapes some are bigger shapes. There are different textures in how the objects feel like the headband is soft and stretchy. The eye shadow is a smooth material on the outside and the beauty tools are smooth but a heavier material. My skin is smooth but has pimples and shows circles and my nose shows my pores. There is no such thing as perfect clear skin, it’s all edited to discourage us from natural beauty. I wanted to do an open space for everything so it all felt less trapped. I wanted to utilize the space of my desk for spreading things out and putting things closer together. All of these things are prevalent in Lauren Greenfields' essay, because the biggest things that are seen in girl culture is a restriction, being quiet, and either smiling or no expression. Girl culture only teaches young girls to be a certain way and when you don’t it’s all going to be a rough time for you. 

 

In doing additional research about unrealistic beauty there is a lot of colorism with people of color that is left out., Funmi Fetto is the editor of British Vogue magazine and wrote the beauty industry is still failing black women talked about her stories growing up and started writing about the beauty industry when she was 15 years old. She talks about how for years beauty industries are still excluding women of color. She talks about enjoying reading magazines but skipped the beauty section. This was not “geared towards her. (Fetto)” and that on each page she saw no one looked like her. Fetto says “The faces on the pages didn’t look like me. The products weren’t geared toward me. I had no place here (Fetto)” She remembers hearing some of her parent's Nigerian friends say, “This is not our country” hearing this makes me unnerved that this has all been going on for years and that people of color don’t feel like they belong. 

 

I spoke to a friend about this topic she told me that it was difficult growing up. Being a person of color she struggled with not feeling represented by beauty products that did not match her skin tone. she also feels that beauty industries still need to work on representing people of color. 

 

There is still so much to dismantle among the false truth behind the beauty industry. and the untold stories that still need to be told about not being represented and heard. A few things that I know I can do and you can do too is unfollow anything that doesn’t show natural beauty.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/global/2019/sep/29/funmi-fetto-happy-in-my-skin-beauty-industry-diversity

Categories of Gender

 

From: Adalynn

Children’s media primarily features boys as the main characters in shows and movies. There is usually only one girl who is stereotypically feminine, and who acts as more of a sidekick character to the boys. As a result, little girls learn that boys are the ones that go on adventures, have ambition, and are in charge. If a young girl has ambition, she only has male characters as role models, and every female character is just there to look pretty. As Katha Pollitt explains in her article “Hers; The Smurfette Principle,” “Little girls learn to split their consciousness, filtering their dreams and ambitions through boy characters while admiring the clothes of the princess” (Pollitt 1991).

            In my photo, I chose to explain the two categories gender roles in media create, and how a young girl who is still developing ideas about these roles and how she relates to them will experience inner conflict. One creative technique I use in my photo is symbol. The items around the block represent different facets of the girl’s mind: she wants to be beautiful and feminine, but she also wants to have an education and career. The pink block is surrounded by makeup and hair products. These items symbolize femininity and beauty. This part of her identity aligns with what she sees in media. However, the items representing career, education, and ambition are around a blue block. Another creative technique I used was color. The blue block represents male characters in media, and the pink block represents female characters in media. The media the girl is exposed to divides traits and potential into a boy category and a girl category. The girl is conflicted and, therefore, is standing between the two categories. The last technique I used was foreground and background. The two categories are in the background and are blurry because the girl’s ideas about gender roles are still forming. They are malleable and are constantly being added to or adjusted. They are not yet concrete, but everything that she consumes and experiences from now own will make them increasingly concrete—including media.

 

Works Cited

Pollitt, Katha. "Hers; the Smurfette Principle." Hers; The Smurfette Principle. The New York Times, 07 Apr. 1991. Web. 24 Oct. 2022. <https://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/07/magazine/hers-the-smurfette-principle.html>.

 

Two Different Worlds

 

From: Frances

When you walk in the toy section of a store you can tell the difference between which isle is for the girls and which isle is for the boys. The girl section is always bright pink filled with toys like dolls and beauty kits where the boy section is always blue filled with toys like cars, action figures, and guns. This influences children to develop gender schemas which is associated with different attributes that define being masculine as strong, rough, and tough whereas being feminine is nice, sweet, and soft. My topic is based on “Toy and Activity Preferences” from the article “The ‘Two Cultures’ of Childhood”.

Girls and boys develop separate social worlds or cultures because of how differently they are taught. In this society there is gender segregation which encourages boys and girls to learn different social norms and interaction styles. A big part that comes into play with this is their play style from the toys that they are given. In my photo you can see baby dolls dressed in pink which represent feminine ideals. This teaches girls family roles when they pretend to play the role of a mother and the baby doll being their baby promoting “warmth and nurturance with women.” Next to the baby dolls you can see blue and red cars, monster trucks and helicopters which represent more action. This teaches boys the being tough role, playing more rough promoting “strength and power with men.” These themes carry through to gender stereotypes as well. Color is one of the main characteristics that stand out when looking at this picture. Certain colors and shades can create an effect on something or a certain object which contributes to how we view it. When you look at this picture, you can automatically tell which side is for the boys and which side is for the girls just based on the colors. In our society, bright colors, mainly pink are associated with girls while darker colors, mainly blue are associated with boys and if you were to wear or like the other gender's color then you would be considered as unusual because you are not following the gender norms. This effects children’s behavior because it teaches them to like certain things and avoid certain things based on their sex.

Works Cited

Rudman, Laurie A., et al. "The Two Cultures of Childhood." The Social Psychology of Gender: How Power and Intimacy Shape Gender Relations. The Guilford Press, 2015, 59-63.

A Young Girls Focus

From: Sarah

My photograph shows my younger cousin playing with a doll while there are other toys that society would consider boy toys, in the background untouched. The reading “The Two Cultures of Childhood” stood out to me when I was imagining this picture. This reading was of significance to me because it is explaining that the segregation among genders over time allows the “gender norms and schemas” (The Two Cultures of Childhood) to form. I chose to title my photograph “A Young Girls Focus” because of the creative elements being used to display the fact that young kids learn gender norms so naturally without even trying. From this reading, I will be focusing on the sections “Toy and Activity Preference” and “Intersection Styles.”  
    

In the section “Toy and Activity Preferences” it is emphasized that “children have learned to avoid playing with toys associated with the other gender.” My photograph helps prove this point. The little girl is playing with a doll, a toy usually dominated by young girls. She neglects and does not care about the other toys in the background. Those neglected toys are a baseball bat, weights, a football, baseball, and a wrestling action figure which are all considered by society toys that boys would be seen playing with. Even though there are plenty more toys behind her, she still decided to play with the toy that is associated with her gender. The next section that helps explain my vision for my photograph is the “Interaction Styles.” It is said, “girls become less likely to engage in aggressive behavior while boys become more likely.” While yes there are no boys in my photograph, the toys that are associated with boys can prove that point. A wrestling action figure and a weight all represent toughness, and toughness is something we relate to males. Girls are associated with being soft and sweet. My photograph shows the little girl being sweet and coddling the doll. This action is considered normal in our society. Kids learn from a youthful age to conform to gender norms without even realizing and that is what my photograph is showing.  
    

To emphasize the point of my photograph, I have used some creative elements. The first one that I focused on was the background vs. The foreground. Objects in the foreground are the focus of the picture and that same reasoning goes for mine as well. I was specific to putting my younger cousin in the foreground so your eyes would be drawn to her first and notice that her focus was on the doll. I then proceeded to make sure the “boy toys” were in the background because those are not the focus of the young girl. The final creative element I used was the blurry effect. The girl and doll that are in the foreground are clear because they are focusing on the toys specific to the gender of the person in the photograph which happens to be a girl in this case. The toys that are considered part of young boys' traditional play are in a blurry background. The blur represents the fact that since we have a girl playing, she has naturally learned to avoid the toys of the opposite gender, hence the blurry effect because the toys related to boys are not the girls focus.  
    

In conclusion, I chose to capture this picture to highlight how natural it seems for one gender to conform to societal norms without even trying. Young girls learn to play with toys associated with their gender and vice versa for boys. Choosing the topic “The Two Cultures of Childhood” and using certain creative elements to capture this topic was an excellent choice for my photograph to represent. 

Growing Up, Growing Out

From: Grace

            I chose the topic of unrealistic beauty standards for my artistic inspiration. Specifically, I am referencing the pressure on girls to start shaving their body hair when they hit puberty. I was in fourth grade when my mother shaved my legs in the kitchen sink for the first time. It was a confusing experience that made me suddenly very aware of my body’s natural hair growth. As I got older, shaving became a regular and necessary part of my beauty routine. I believed that women had no other option but to shave their hair. For all of my friends and I, having hair under your arms was a shameful experience and an embarrassment. Hair was something that was supposed to be hidden on women because it is seen as a masculine trait. Laurie Rudman, the author of “Two Cultures” Of Childhood states, “Gender schemas become part of self-identity, influencing children’s preferences, attitudes, and behavior as they strive to act in socially appropriate ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’ ways. (Rudman, 59)

In the photograph, the woman is wearing lingerie which symbolizes the societal pressure for girl’s to be sexy from a young age. The figure is wearing it as a symbol of conforming to societal beauty standards. The underarm hair is the focal point of the photograph which represents the focus on women’s body hair and appearance by the media. Patriarchal beauty standards tell women that having body hair and being sexy are two separate concepts that cannot coexist. I highlighted this juxtaposition by editing the photo into black and white to represent the black and white thinking of this concept. I cropped the photo into a square to reference the box that women are put in by beauty standards when it comes to grooming themselves. The figure is gazing away from the camera to capture the shame that women often feel about having hair under their arms. I chose to have the figure’s face covered by her hair to symbolize the misconception that femininity is hidden behind a woman’s hair. A few subtle creative details I added are the lingerie being unzipped (breaking free from beauty standards through growing underarm hair) and very faint markings on her skin from the lingerie being restrictive (the emotional damage done by conforming to beauty standards for many years.) I was inspired by Lauren Greenfield’s Girl Culture photograph of a pair of uncomfortable heels that had a woman’s feet being painfully forced into.

A Not So "Real" Man

 

From: Natalie

Men are supposed to dress and behave in a particular manner to be a "real man." There are specific colors men and boys are supposed to like and wear, such as blues, reds, greens, and black. They like sports, video games, tools, and cars. Men should not have long hair and are supposed to act tuff, be strong, and not show many emotions. These are all social schemes we have created in society through our education systems, parenting ways, and in the media. In his documentary Tough Guise, Jackson Katz brings all these issues to light: "If men step out of this expectation, they are seen as soft and not real men" (Katz).

In my photo, I have my model, James, sitting on the couch, holding a cat, and reading a novel. My model has his long hair in pigtails, a hairstyle only girls are "allowed" to wear. The hair takes away from his "manhood" because society considers it more of a feminine style. He is also wearing a purple hoodie, not a boy color. James is reading a famous romantic novel. Society would view him as a nerd for reading a book and gay for reading a romantic story because "only girls read romantic novels." Reading a romantic book is not a typical hobby for a "real" or tough man. The most significant symbolism I have put into my photo is the cat sleeping behind him. I added my cat to the picture to show how James would be portrayed in a movie or society as a pussy because of his hair, hobbies, and outfit choice. Jackson Katz sheds light on how in movies, certain characters get called names like gay, fag, and pussy because they are dressed, act, or like to do (Katz). Society views these items as diminishing his manhood because they do not fit into the regular social norms. We have created this idea that men are supposed to be "associated with strength and power" when men should be able to act with "warmth and nurturance" without it ruining how they are viewed (Rudman). In reality, these ideas are unable to reduce him to be less of a man.

Cited Work
Katz, Jackson. Tough Guise 2. 12 Jan. 2013.
Rudman, Laurie A., et al. “The Two Cultures of Childhood,” The Psychology of Gender: How Power and Intimacy Shape Gender Relations. The Gilford Press, 2015, 59-63

Haven't You Heard- Guys Prefer More Natural Beauty

From: Olivia

While growing up, kids tend to be heavily influenced by the world around them, especially from parents, family, friends and media and by modeling their behavior from the examples they see and experience, they learn their own identities within societal roles. The reading “The Two Cultures of Childhood” explains that “...children learn gender schemas from their social environments, but they also willingly adopt and exaggerate differences between the sexes”(Rudman). One of the toys that reflects this is play makeup.

 

Makeup in and of itself is interesting because it isn't explicitly gendered- anyone of any gender can use those products. However, play makeup sends a different message. The products are specifically marketed towards younger audiences, specifically young girls. Think miniature unicorn-themed makeup brushes, brightly colored and sparkly eyeshadows, lipsticks with Disney princesses on the packaging- all things we stereotypically associate with girls. When girls put on this makeup, this behavior is often reinforced by others and puts an emphasis early on about validation from appearance. For young boys, though, it is a completely different story. I can’t tell you how many times I have seen boys reprimanded for using makeup…I’ve seen so many innocent videos of boys just having fun messing around with makeup like girls often do, only for the comments section to be a multitude of hate comments shaming his parents and full of homophobic and transphobic remarks. I think this also says something about how masculinity is constructed, too- by putting masculinity at such a strong opposition to femininity, anything even slightly feminine apparently makes one “not a man.”

 

Either way, the reinforcement of these roles only pushes girls to be conditioned to think that prettiness is equal to worthiness, and societal beauty standards become internalized when it comes to socialization. As the reading said, “Gender schemas become a part of self-identity, influencing children’s preferences, attitudes and behaviors as they strive to act in socially acceptable ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ ways”(Rudman). When having a pleasing appearance becomes so emphasized by peers, media and society, it’s not hard to see how makeup can remain a constant in a girl’s life while growing up. Crazy makeup looks with purple glitter eyeshadow, blue swirly eyeliner and bright pink lipstick suddenly aren’t desirable or acceptable past a certain age. All of a sudden, we start hearing “guys prefer more natural beauty in girls,” but what do you do when you’ve been conditioned to believe your natural face isn’t good enough to receive validation? Simple: you adapt. The illusion of natural beauty, aka the “no makeup makeup look” becomes the new goal; your face but “better.”

 

For my photo, I wanted to represent the result of this gendered socialization, and I did so by laying out some of the makeup products commonly used in everyday looks. I wanted to visualize and show just how much actually goes into these so-called natural beauty looks. It starts out fairly normal, and I used a neat first row/line to demonstrate this. The products seem sparse and in distinct steps, but as your eye jumps to the next row the products quickly become strewn everywhere. It doesn’t appear messy, but it no longer seems chronological or in steps; it’s all sort of happening at once. The straight-on camera angle, the even amount of space taken up and the lack of layering between foreground, middle and background contributes to the feeling of being overwhelmed by the subjects- it looks more like an I-Spy page than a simple product list! There is seemingly one or more products for every part of your face, and most with the intention of correcting/covering “flaws” or altering the shape of a feature. The sheer amount of products is meant to symbolize the ridiculous amount of time, effort and money that goes into appearance, as well as the idea that this many products being used is in any way “natural.” Lastly, the pink tint overlaid onto the entire image is meant to represent that this is a standard for women only.

 

On that note, it is interesting how nowadays there is also gender segregation in how makeup is used in the adult world. After all, it is no secret that the online beauty community is extremely popular and now recognized in pop culture- and some of if not the most prominent creators are men. Their looks mainly feature crazy, experimental and glamorous concepts, much like the one I mentioned earlier that were commonly explored by children. While women also do these styles and are able to experiment with concepts too, men are not the majority of the ones making tutorials for natural or everyday makeup. The reason becomes clear: it’s because those looks aren’t a standard for men. When men wear makeup, our society views it as challenging gender norms, but when women wear makeup it is simply the expectation. When women are “brave enough to bare their natural face” (I cannot believe how frequently I’ve seen that as a headline for celebrity gossip news outlets and candid paparazzi shots), they are resisting gender norms…when all they are actually doing is existing.

 

Lastly, this photo isn’t meant to demonize makeup or the people who wear it. Personally, I really enjoy wearing makeup and being able to express myself artistically in a medium that many use and understand. The problem doesn’t lie in the makeup products themselves- it lies with the beauty  standard that has been created that women and teens and now even young girls are expected to conform to as well as the industry that feeds and profits off the insecurities it creates.

 

 

By looking all the way back to childhood, it becomes clearer how these beauty standards have been perpetuated for so long. From modeling behavior from outside influences, from being conditioned by positive reinforcement, from pressure from media and society, it doesn’t seem like there is any escape from being forced to conform with these gendered ideas of attaining beauty when your natural face is treated as the variant rather than the standard.

 

 

 

Works Cited:

Rudman, Laurie A., et al. "The Two Cultures of Childhood."

The Social Psychology of Gender: How Power and Intimacy Shape Gender Relations

. The Guilford Press, 2015, 59-63.