Young Male Stereotypes

Perceptions of Young Men and the World
In America, how a woman is perceived varies vastly from how people see males. People are taught that it is socially acceptable to view a woman as an object, or less than a male. This often leads to objectification of women and sexual harassment of women in all age categories. Objectification is seen more openly in teenage boys and this is why there is a stereotype that follows them out of their adolescent years. Because nineteen-year-old males create a bad perception surrounding around young women, they in turn create a bad perception of themselves by coming off as heartless. Teenage men often exhibit sexist objectification of women, and this type of sexism illustrates a naïve and offensive perspective

A few nineteen-year-old males do not objectify women but are still labeled by this stereotype because it is commonly seen. Maybe teens are not as good as hiding it as adults are or they could grow out of it as time passes on and priorities change. Nonetheless, it is a vicious cycle; young men do not respect females, and in turn they are dehumanized in a way where they are seen to have little emotions. Sammy's thoughts represent how a young man might think of women, and thoughts like these are what create the stereotype that surrounds young men. Descriptively analyzing girl's bodies, Sammy thinks to himself "She was a chunky kid, with a good tan and a sweet broad soft-looking can with those two crescents of white just under it, where the sun never seems to hit, at the top of the backs of her legs" (Updike 1). Sammy is very observant when it comes to girl's bodies, just like many other young men are. People assume young men his age think in this manner today, even though the story was written in the sixties. When people hear young men talk like how Sammy thinks, the stereotype is justified more. Now in 2018, some young men talk openly about women's bodies, letting whatever comes into their head fall out of their mouth. But one has to keep in mind that this problem could stem from the fact that there is more of a negative force on young adults to disrespect others than there is a force to show

Men will not respect females if females do not respect themselves. Women respecting themselves does not necessarily mean they should only wear church appropriate clothes every day, but it does mean that females should place more love aside for themselves and each other. Some young women have jealously towards other women and freely talk about each other in demeaning ways. When young men hear this, they are being told that it is okay to objectify if girls are doing that to themselves, which is what Sammy does when he dehumanizes girls by thinking, "You never know for sure how girl's minds work (do you really think it's a mind in there or just a little buzz like a bee in a glass jar)" (Updike 1). Sammy wonders to himself if girls can actually think for themselves or if they are not capable of being intellectual, because he has probably heard many women talk about other females in a degrading way. His thoughts show what some nineteen-year-old males may wonder, and girls are partially responsible for this problem. Thoughts like these are possible through the influence of other girls, because girls often belittle other girls and talk about others as if the others had no mind of their own. Behavior like this is commonly seen in schools and sometimes at workplaces. Girls allowing young men to objectify women is just one reason out of a few as to why this is a problem in the first