More handpicked essays just for you.
Consequences of gender stereotypes in mass media
Consequences of gender stereotypes in mass media
Importance of gender equity in the classroom
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Consequences of gender stereotypes in mass media
As children grow and begin to take their first steps towards the American education system, they are taught to follow the wisdoms of three important characters: their parents, their teachers, and Dr. Seuss. While trying to take on the simple, yet thought-provoking concepts of Seuss-ism, children embark on their search for identity. Like Dr. Seuss, we often encourage the little ones in our lives to “be who you are and say what you feel, because those who matter don’t mind and those mind don’t matter” (Dr. Seuss Quotes, n.d.); but, who decides how you should feel and what it means to “be you”? Better yet, what makes it acceptable for a little girl to wear cargo shorts and baggy shirts but wrong for a boy to wear a dress and flower in his hair? These conflicting values of what is accepted or what is rejected when it comes to boys and girls, men and women, is the portrayal of gender in our society. Gender, it seems, has become not a social association of a person towards one sex or another, but yet another playing field for inequality within our society.
There are over seven billion people on the Earth and none of them are the same. However, throughout our society, there are established norms that make females similar to females and males similar to males. Women are to be feminine and men are to be masculine. Moreover, not only are women and men supposed to be only similar to their sex, but a woman that acts like a “man” or a man that acts like a “woman” appears to change the balance of the universe. In his text The Gendered Society, Kimmel explains that “this ‘interplanetary’ theory of complete and universal gender difference” is the equivalent to gender inequality. He goes on to explain that “when we speak about gender we also speak...
... middle of paper ...
...ted society – that will be the moment we can all, children and adults, understand the true meaning behind Seuss-isms. It will be in that moment that we will understand that “sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple”…as simple as “today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you” (Dr. Seuss Quotes, n.d.).
Works Cited
Dr. Seuss Quotes (Author of Green Eggs and Ham). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/61105.Dr_Seuss
Jhally, S., & MacLeod, K (Directors). (2009). The Codes of Gender Identity & Performance in Pop Culture [Motion picture]. MA: Media Education Foundation.
Kimmel, M. S. (2000). The Gendered Society. New York: Oxford University Press.
Pascoe, C. J. (2012). Dude, you're a fag: Masculinity and sexuality in high school. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.