In today’s society, kids are growing up at younger ages. The children of today are being exposed to more sex, violence, and brutality than the past generation of children. Toys at toy stores, images on TV, and movies they watch are contributing to the children’s prompted maturity. The toy’s children play with is probably the biggest factor of stereotyping gender roles. The reason for this is because when a child is given an action figure or a doll, the only limits a child has on the toy is how much of an imagination the he or she has. In most toy stores there’s a boys section and a girls section.
The boys section consists of fully equipped action figures and costumes with plastic weapons. Dark colors are used on the boxes signifying that it is a male toy. The girls section contains female and male Barbie dolls, pink, frilly dresses and other dolls. A person can tell when they are in the girls section. Loud, bright colors are used for claiming girl’s toys. The TV shows kids watch are shaping what a child’s view of life is.
From ages 5-10, children, mainly boys, are interested in Power Rangers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, X-Men and other shows that are based around fighting. But it’s not only the boys that are being steered in the wrong direction. Girls are growing up with show’s that portray the female character with no flaws and living in perfection. If someone would pay attention to one of those shows, they would notice that the vocabulary the character’s use is more advanced than what the children know or understand. However, what the kids see is the good guys shooting the bad guys, the “perfect girl” getting what she want when she wants it and other than a few monsters a trouble-free world. When in reality, life is complex and full of unexpected complications.
The Term Paper on Doing Gender – How Society Creates Differences Between Girls And Boys
In this essay I discuss that “doing gender means creating differences between girls and boys and women and men….” (West & Zimmerman 2002:13) I am concentrating on the female perspective, how societyputs forth expectations of what is ‘natural’ or biological even though, in some cases, it can be quite demeaning and degrading. I am using some examples from the local ...
Even the movies they watch are dictating the view of what society is for children. Movies like Power Rangers and Spy Kids are shaping how they look at the world. These movies are stereotyping violence as an everyday thing. These movies are telling boys that the male’s gender role is to go out, save the day, and fight anyone who steps in front of you. They are also telling girls that the female’s gender role is to be pretty and popular and an ugly girl can’t make it in life. They are saying that beauty and popularity are the only two factors in a girl’s life.
With the exposure of sex, violence, and brutality, today’s children are growing up faster than they should. Children need to slow down and enjoy life and we as adults need to think about what is being emphasized as society.