During our early childhood we are exposed to different stimulations and the nature of those stimuli depends on our sex. Girls are usually playing with dolls, so parents and other family members buy them dolls, on the other hand usual presents that boys get are guns and other aggressive toys. This plays a great role in the process of socialization. As we grew up, we learned that women should manifest certain behavioral patterns that differ from behavior of men. Our society expects from girls and women to always look excellent, to be submissive, to be emotional and to express emotions easily. Mariah Burton Nelson explained in her article that girls can play sports, but in this case society encourages only sports in which girls look pretty, gracious and unaggressive. On the other hand we expect from men to be fighters, providers and dominant. If they want to be desirable, surrounded by pretty girls and respected they have to be strong and aggressive. This is something that we learn only by watching commercials on TV. In commercials played on sports programs (that are usually watched by boys) aggression is very much awarded. In study called “Boys to Men” in which they analyzed sport programs and commercials in these programs, 57% of children claimed that violence can often be seen in sports programs.
First, our parents teach us how to behave according to our sex role, since they are also a part of society and were not isolated from gender stereotypes. I remember that my mother was always saying to my brother when he was crying- boys don’t cry, only girls cry and you are a strong boy, you shouldn’t cry. Even though she just wanted to calm him down, she was sending him a particular message and encouraged him to repress his feelings. Later, our peers, teachers and media shaped this image on what behavior should be expected from men and what from women. Now days, media are the most powerful weapon when it comes to creating certain attitudes. Besides commercials where women are mostly showed as sexual objects, another annoying fact is that women are not present in media as much as men. Men are also more interfered in politics than women and we owe this to our media that teach girls not to be dominant, and career oriented. Instead, they present desirable, sensual girls without any clothes on them. In a commercial for Keystone Light Beer a guy that drinks this beer is suddenly surrounded by two beautiful young women and he says “I hope my wife is not watching”. This and similar commercials are actually sending us a message that the best guy will get beautiful girls as a reward, who are not demanding and controlling as his wife. With these kinds of media our children can hardly learn to appreciate the right values in life.
