We are not talking about this in class right now, but I thought that this Huggies advertisement was interesting. It shows how gender differences are inferred because of anatomical differences. At the beginning of the semester in class we looked at this book that showed the stereotypical differences in gender. It seemed so over the top and crazy. Yet there are still things in our everyday society that generalize that boys have to like blue, trucks, and playing in the dirt while girls have to like pink, baby dolls, and baking.
Also, to jostle the idea of stereotypes, with Valentine's Day just behind us I thought that these stats were interesting.
It says that a good majority of men say that they would like flowers for Valentine's Day. However, only 40% of men have actually received flowers. So 21% of these men have never had the blessing. It is also interesting to see the varying opinions based on age groups.
So what do you think? Do any of you guys wish that you could get flowers for Valentine's Day?
I thought this commercial and the book are interesting, because they link exclusively anatomical differences to behavior. To me that is ridiculous as pinning all tall people as athletic and into sports. Or ugly people as boring, or attractive people as nice. I think it would do people and their children a lot of good if we didn't stress that gender stereotype so much. Who knows the untold stress we lay on our kids from these stereotypes?
ReplyDeleteThe stereotypes of gender roles have been around for a very long time. And it is understandable. Most girls do the things that are "expected" by their sex and guys with theirs. But, just because those norms are the trend, it does not mean that everyone follows those trends. If guys want flowers for Valentines Day, then so be it! More power to him. I feel that people need to stop thinking about how people should be acting according to their gender. They need to be more concerned with embracing people's individuality and embracing what people like to do regardless if it fits in with the norms of being a boy or a girl.
ReplyDeleteWomen have accomplished significant things in the last centuries. Women now can do many things that before were exclusive to men (vote, drive, work, etc). Women cannot be considered “the weak sex” anymore. It seems that men are changing as well. We see with more frequency men pursuing careers that before were considered female-only such as nursing, dancing, elementary teaching, etc. Some may say that men are becoming softer and women are becoming more like men and men more like women.
ReplyDeleteI think that the ideal men do not necessarily have only male attributes (aggressiveness, assertiveness, strength) but true men can also have the so called “female attribute”, Jesus Christ is the perfect example of that.
Women and men are changing, that’s why I don’t find it surprising that 40 percent of men would like flowers for Valentine’s Day.