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Female representation in the media
Gendered media: the influence of media on views and gender
Gender differences in society
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Abstract
This paper explores and defines many interrelating connections between social influences on gender through the use of greeting cards. From the various connections made about the relationship between baby boys and baby girls through the media, this paper draws a fine line between the media’s perspective and the social and cultural differences in society. This paper examines the greeting cards sold at Dollarama closely, outlining the major types of images, the colour schemes, written messages and as well as the overall tone of each card selected.
Pink or Blue? - Greeting Card Analysis of Influential Factors Numerous times throughout the years on various occasions people have to buy greeting cards. Regardless of the occasion, a greeting card accompanies any sort of gift or celebration, whether it be for an academic achievement, birthday celebration or a wedding anniversary. Focusing closely on baby showers and newborn baby occasions, there is a wide variety of selection of greeting cards at Dollarama. However, there are contradictions between pink and blue baby greeting cards. With various media perspectives and taking the social and cultural influences into account one can understand the relationships between gender-colour associations. Firstly, looking at the overall selection of the cards,
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The third greeting card is a male gendered greeting card that has an overall blue colour scheme, whereas the fourth greeting card is a female gendered greeting card that has an overall pink and white colour scheme. The male gendered card has cars and baby boy toys while the female gendered card has a teddy bear. The written messages in both of the cards is very similar in terms that is written in a poetic way. The overall tone for the third and fourth greeting card is showcasing a congratulating joyful moment in one’s life with the birth of a
Expecting parents fuss over stocking toy chests with dolls or monster trucks, and filling closets with lacy dresses or corduroy pants months before the arrival of their newborn. They already have predetermined every single aspect of their child, such as interests, self-expression, and actions. These fixed visions are conjured by a simple syllable uttered by the doctor: “Boy” or “Girl”; and each person is expected to fulfill these visions or face opposition. The short stories “Shouldn't I Feel Pretty?” and “The Yellow Wallpaper”, written by Ivan Coyote and Charlotte Perkins Gilman respectively, gives insight as to how these social norms trigger oppression, especially to those who express dissent from them.
The Target store located at Dallas Highway in Marietta, Georgia, was chosen for the fieldwork assignment. This particular store was selected because of recent renovations to the toy area. The new arrangement of the toy department appears slightly different than traditional organizations of toys in the past. The location of the toys is in direct relation and physical flow from the baby equipment, supplies, and apparel. Toys transition from birth in the infant area initially in terms of age demographics, type of activity, and brand of toy to more obvious gender divisions beginning in the preschool toys. In the toy section for school age children, gender separation is clearly established. Gender divisions become more obvious in this age group according to colors, themes, and character depiction. The girl toys feature pink, purple, and pastel colors. The highlighted décor in the store’s displays and packaging for girls involves embellishments such as pictures of girls, flowers, glitter, and jewels. The boy section portrays color schemes that are primarily in blue, red, yellow, gray, and black. Packaging images are of male children. The sections including educational toys, games, sporting equipment, outdoor play, sound and music, building, puzzles, and arts appear to be more gender neutral although some gender specific items can be identified by color or themes such as princess/fairytale or Ninja Turtle. The configuration of the toys clearly states that color, themes, and character representation are irrelevant to infants and toddlers, while parent’s attitudes about color and gender may be important aspects of unintentional socialization in the maturation of children. Marketing strategies appeal to children, but adult’s perception of ...
Adding to her ethos appeals, shire uses facts ,she points out that in Kramra included in her letter that in the “classic costumes sections for toddlers on Party City’s website around 30 percent of the costumes for boys are related to professions while just under 7 percent are in the girls’ sections.These facts are a logically support of her claim that halloween has somehow become a lightning rod for gender politics. The details and the numbers build an appeal to logos and impress upon the reader that this is a problem should be discuss and
Gender roles are targeted towards children through countless advertisements. “The lines, text, colors and images usually lead readers to move their eyes across…”
In the article The gender Marketing of toys: An Analysis of Color and Type of Toy on the Disney Store Website, Auster and Mansbach conducted research to examine the gender marketing of toys on the internet. They looked at what characteristics of “boys and girls” toys share, such as color of toy, type of toy, and witch toys were labeled for girls and boys. The pre - research of this study suggested that children are making gender distinctions of themselves and their group based on the types of toys that are bought for them. Bright and darker colors are meant as a distinction for “boy” toys, while pastel colors are meant for “girl” toys. The previous research also suggested that toys for boys and girls express traditional gender roles and that gender neutral toys are more likely to
Throughout the course of history, toys have played a fundamental role in entertaining and stimulating the minds of children. From inflated pig’s bladders and knucklebones in the ancient times to ‘Nerf guns’ and ‘Barbie’ dolls in the present day, their purpose is to encourage imagination and impart values through play. However, since the 1970’s, the seeds of gender discrimination were planted when toy companies started segregating their products based on social stereotypes. Upon walking into a local Toys ‘R’ Us store, one can distinguish the division of toys meant for boys and toys meant for girls based on the colours blue and pink and their contents. But on September 4 2013, Toys ‘R’ Us stores in the U.K. had announced that they would be neutralizing their gender based marketing. If a major toy retailer such as Toys ‘R’ Us, had publicly announced their effort to gender neutralize their stores, it further supports that this is a real issue as even a multi-billion dollar company supports the notion. However, this issue is still rampant in the world as most toy manufacturing companies are unwilling to produce gender neutral products due to the fear of losing revenue. Chris Bryne, content director for timetoplaymag.com said that the toy industry will perpetually mirror the culture (of society), and reflect it back in their products. (INSERT MLA http://bigstory.ap.org/article/some-parents-struggle-find-gender-neutral-toys) Therefore, the cycle of manufacturing toys that impart stereotypical gender roles will not end, until the general public demands for them. By encouraging the cycle to continue, it’s far reaching effects are allowed to persist – reinforcing stereotypical gender roles through toys fuels the problem of gender opressio...
This is because children tend to be the major audience of Disney films. The author’s main claim is that typical stereotyped gender roles of Disney’s princess films has evolved from 1937 of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves to the most recent film, The Princess and the Frog released in 2009. Princes and the princesses, the main characters of the films in the past were depicted as they were more fit into the stereotyped gender roles: princes tended to be more masculine whereas princesses were emphasized for their femininity. The author provides support through suggesting other academic theoretical views stating how Disney’s princess line affects children’s development of gender roles. The purpose of the study is to show how characteristics of princes and princesses from Disney’s films have changed over the time. The author then introduces the results of the study saying that it is explicit that princes showed masculine characteristics in older films while princesses emphasized their femininity in the past. However, both characteristics have slightly mixed in current films. The warrant that the author uses is that children can be also stereotyped by Disney films due to their susceptibility and flexibility toward such information. Therefore, the huge market of Disney’s merchandises has significant influences on children’s cognitive development of gender perception. This is due to the fact that they are both the most targeted consumers of its market and watchers of the films
The store that the research was conducted at was the Wal-Mart Supercenter located on 151 SW 184th Ave, Pembroke Pines, FL. Date visited was on Thursday, March 19, 2014. It was done at approximately 6:45 pm and ended at 8:12pm; so it was approximately two hours long. The research method used to conduct it was by going down each aisle and counting how many different types of toys that is seen that represents the following: weapons, Baby Dolls, Barbie Cooking Accessories, Buildings for Living or Shopping (Houses/RVs/Bakeries), Cash Registers, Clothing Accessories (Shirts, Shoes, Etc.), Hair accessories, Royalty, Remote Control Vehicles or acing Vehicles, Animals portrayed as “scary, mean, or aggressive”, Military and Animals portrayed as “comforting, pretty, or loving.” Then within these categories, a differentiation between girls and boys was accounted for.
The differences in the toys geared for boys in contrast to the toys geared towards girls are very different and have a strong influence in defining gender roles. Playing is one of the most effective and influential aspects to child development as they enhance both communicative, intellectual and social skills. Unfortunately, many times these toys are gender specific and set a foundation for gender roles and contribute to shaping children’s personality from a very young age. The toys are gender specific in terms of the colors, types, the images on the toys, how the toys are decorated along with what kinds of phrases or messages accompany the toy.
Auster, Carol, and Claire Mansbach. "The Gender Marketing Of Toys: An Analysis Of Color And Type Of Toy On The Disney Store Website." Sex Roles 67.7/8 (2012): 375-388. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.
There are fashionable furniture and decorations in the room, all of them in gender-neutral colors. The family is well-dressed in soft blues and white. Every face in the ad is adorned with a tremendous smile. The caption in the upper-left corner describes “dad” as cool and a best friend, bike fixer, swim coach, tent builder, and hug giver rolled into one. Or two. The family includes a young daughter and son who appear Hispanic, and their two Caucasian fathers, approximately in their thirties. This stylish clothing advertisement not only sells JCPenney’s clothes, but also challenges the conventional roles and ideas that have been imposed on the American
In the late 1980’s McDonald’s introduced a new lineup of toys in their Happy Meal promotions, now offering exclusively Barbie and Hot Wheels as toy options. They were a huge hit, making Happy Meals more popular than ever. “Is this for a boy or girl?” was added to the list of questions you were asked when ordering. This was one of the beginnings of a new form of marketing that specifically gendered toys and stereotyped interests for each gender (Faust N. Pag.). Advertisements and marketing are not the only influences in perpetuating gender stereotypes. There are numerous influences on the youth of America that aid in the stereotyping of personalities and interests for boys and girls.
When thinking about the colors blue and pink, the very first connotation for many people that arises is the sex of a child. The tradition of wrapping a baby boy with a blue towel and wrapping a baby girl with a pink towel has been carried on from generations to generations to the point that society has failed to recognize its arbitrary societal norm. Today’s feminists believe that the term gender and the act of gendering are nurtured from birth until societal norms and expectations are indoctrinated into the brains of individuals. Parents and society categorizing humans based on their sex do not end with colors nor does it end at childhood. The idea of gender being the result of social construction can be portrayed immensely in various forms such as language, media and education as they all provide many evidences to illustrate the overt distinction of the roles of male and female. The concept of masculinity and femininity are taught to children by parents, which ultimately sculpts physical and emotional behaviors of individuals. Modern day feminists have shed light to how humans has been oblivious towards the sexist and stereotypical gendering that is constantly executed by today’s culture and have taken extensive measure to make amends. Whether it is explicit or heedlessly, gendered society cannot be avoided due to constant exposure from the cultural customs. It is naïve to ignore the consequences of social construction in gender roles, as it is society that dictates the ideal concept of what it means to be a certain gender.
Before a child is even born, they have already been assigned gender roles, or sets of behavioral norms assumed to accompany one’s status as a male or female (Conley 287). For example, at a gender reveal party the soon-to-be mother might open a box and pink confetti may shoot out. What is her baby’s gender solely based on the color of the confetti? Blue wasn’t always identified as a boy color and pink wasn’t always considered feminine. In 1927, Time magazine printed a chart highlighting gender-appropriate colors for girls and boys according to leading U.S. retailers. Filene’s (in Boston), Best & Co. (in New York City), Halle’s (in Cleveland), and Marshall Field (in Chicago) all advised parents to dress boys in pink and girls in blue (Boulton). Obviously things have changed somewhere in between 1927 and today, but gender expectations have remained relevant through those years and are still relevant to this day. Even though media can positively influence the world by putting a spotlight on confident, smart, and empowered women, most media shown today pictures unrealistic expectations for females.
In this case traditional maternal attitudes and heterosexuality is greatly emphasized in the Japanese culture. Although, as previously stated the immediate research suggests that these social scripts are blown out of proportion by the Japanese media. One of the more popular misconceptions is that Japanese women, “love to be subservient”. On the contrary since the 1990’s Japan has seen an increase in feminist movements like never before. It should also be noted that, Japanese women are also some of the most educated women (Vivien, 1991). This could be a result of female making up 40% of the overall work force in Japan. Which in in-turn, lead to the prompting of the Japanese feminist movement; when the women begin to fight for more rights in the workplace. This workplace feminist can also be seen another form of outdated media, the comic. There has been a recent development of several corporate feminist comic making fun of their stuffy corporate male counterparts (Vivien,