My Gender Role Model

However, there was also a lot of resentment kept behind closed doors such as her resentment to her breasts, and her father's affairs with other men. As a child, Alison was somewhat aware of the gender roles that occurred between her and her father. She hated it. On page 96, she says, "where he fell short [with masculine things], [she] stepped in." Although she didn't realize it fully until she was in college, Alison and her father have spent their lives dealing with the realization of their sexuality.

Society ingrains in everyone what the standard of beauty is so much that we don’t even know why we believe it. As Allison talks with her sister, she discovers what it meant for her to be attractive growing up. She was constantly harassed by boys and goaded by mothers and sister who didn’t want her near their sons and brothers. People assumed that she thought she was better than them, without her having to say a word. So while Allison wanted to be just like her, she dealt with “...the hatred that trailed over her skin like honey melting on warm bread”(78).

If he wanted to cry he would, it was alright for him to show and express his emotions. As he grew older and learned from his friends it was not okay to show emotions he had to restrict his emotions. He still hasn’t been able to completely overcome that hegemony for males but has been more emotionally open with his girlfriend. Friend: My friends said her brother was taught to respect females at all times. As he got older he notice his friends would make fun of him because he was nice to the girls when you weren’t suppose to be.

Estella also gets married to a man that loves her, Bently Drummle, but does not return his love, and chooses to marry for profits only. Love plays a large part in this story, binding some of the characters together, and ruining other’s relationships. When Pip was very young, he was confused at what love should really be. It is no surprise that Pip has a very odd point of view about women at this point in the story. He’s met so many harsh women, he must think at his young age, that most women are like that.

Since the launch of advertisements, women have always been presented in the most ideal way possible, the perfect women. There has always been issues with the presentation of women in advertising due to the fact that women are constantly objectified and over sexualized. This created the unrealistic beauty standards that men expect to see in women and that women strive to meet through whatever means possible. The advancement of technology is now only aiding in the increase of manipulating such advertisements. This alone is leading to the rise in self-destruction of women who try to fit such unrealistic images.

Before getting in the shower, I stood staring at myself in the mirror because I started to feel doubtful about all of this. I was on the chubby side, so I started to think about this wannabe “fly” my sister claims she was going to put together. She was half my size! Also, why does he want to go out with me? Girls at school call me names, so why is interested?

When mothers exercise obsessively, diet constantly, or make derogatory comments about their own appearance it influences the daughter because mothers are the most influential role model for most girls. Fathers also need to be more cautious of how they respond to the media images of sexy, thin women. There have been campaigns started by companies about real beauty that try to teach girls that they should appreciate who they are. The campaigns try to reject the ideal body image and explain that some beauty in the media is not attainable. The company Dove has created a great campaign about Real Beauty.

“Despite higher global self-esteem, women do not feel good about their appearance. This disconnect can be attributed, at least in part, to concerns about body image.” (@PsychToday, paragraph 4) Our society and social media is so caught up on how every woman should look that our own judgment has been clouded and we always believe we need to look and act that way. “The truth is that women’s insecurity about their appearance is driven by competition with other women.”(@PsychToday, paragraph 16) All we do nowadays is compare ourselves to others and that’s not how it should be. You are considered to be a “whore” such as Eve if you sleep around, so women are afraid to do it. You are considered to be “weak” if you stay at home and can’t support yourself, such as Lori.

Men are led to believe that the sexual image of women is what is important and what makes them "attractive". With this sexualized image that is being portrayed in the media, it becomes hard for women to be accepting of their own beauty and constantly compare themselves to images in the media which are... ... middle of paper ... ...and where women can be strong and sexy without negative repercussions.” Popular film and television actresses are becoming younger, taller and thinner. Some have even been known to faint on the set from lack of food. Women’s magazines are full of articles urging that if they can just lose those last twenty pounds, they’ll have it all - the perfect marriage, loving children, great sex, and a rewarding career. In conclusion the explicit use of unrealistic looking women to sell products is putting pressure on young girls to try to achieve these impossible looks so they will be more attractive to their male counterparts.

It would be entirely wrong for me to describe my childhood as alone, unwanted, vulnerable, and hurt. I am privileged; I grew up with both my parents giving me more love and attention than I could hold. Most times I grew to hate all the constant affection and attention. To me, it seemed like my overprotective parents didn’t want me to have fun and live. I didn’t understand why they cared so much about where I was going or why I couldn’t go hang out with my friends.