Our society values competition and individuals being successful on their own, but these values differ from the gender roles established for women. Women today are ensnared by today’s idea of what ideal physical attractiveness is and by our culture’s idea of gender roles.
American culture stresses a certain mold for women’s roles in society. Women are expected by our culture to be giving, emotional, unstable, weak, and talkative about their problems. Women are seen as dependent on and inferior to men; as ignorant about cars, money-matters, and politics. They are also seen as neurotic, emotional, irrational, and weak characters needing protection. They are considered unfeminine or even bad if they are ambitious, demanding, and tough. Women are expected to follow their man and give their lives to their children. Our culture still teaches women that they need to attract a man to depend on. And although the women-are-inferior attitude is muted and concealed, the old-fashioned sex role expectations are still subtly there.
Nevertheless, our culture continues to pressure us to conform to these gender roles and do what we are "supposed to do”; the cultural, family, and friends' expectations become internalized as our own self-expectations; guilt may result if we don't follow the prescribed roles. Notice how people react to a man who decides to stay home and take care of the kids. What is often over-looked by the majority is that these group differences can be overcome by individual efforts. For example, a woman can become very strong through exercise, very proficient in advanced math through classes, a superb combat soldier and marksman though training, and so on. Just like a man can learn to be a great mom, a wonderful conversationalist, an empathic listener, and a caring cooperator rather than a strong-willed competitor.Like the "Lose Weight Now!" plans printed in each issue of Glamour, or other fashion and beauty-tip magazines, our culture is teaching our women today to buy into a fantasy of standards of physical attractiveness. Meanwhile these standards are, in reality, impossible to achieve. Look at the cover of any magazine targeted towards the female market.—You’ll find Angelina Jolie, Goldie Hahn, Faith Hill, Cindy Crawford. They all send the same message to you: “Look like me!” They have, from what you can tell, perfect skin, perfectly slim figures, and perfect hair. However, the reality is that they are not perfect, and the closest they ever get to perfection is achieved only through heavy make-up, professional hair-dressing, heavy product use, and air-brushing their photographs to show no flaws.
From my experience, after months of working out 4 hours a day, 7 days a week, and achieving a toned figure, I found that you will still find cellulite and stretch-marks on a woman’s body. But America sells this image to women of all ages that they can achieve these figures seen on the front covers of magazines, and that theirs is the image of beauty. On a recent showing of Oprah, young girls were asked which they would rather be: attractive or intelligent? An amazing percentage said attractive. What counts in this culture is how attractive you are, especially if you are a woman. What makes a woman a "great catch"? What makes women sexy?—The American culture would say: A pretty face and a great body! Women are viewed as sexual objects for men; as trophies for them to own. Women’s roles are as wives and mothers; and in order to get a husband, they must be attractive. This is why women tend to compete on the basis of their looks. The problem with this view of women is that they are valued for their looks or charm or smallness, but not for their strength or brains. Women today have career ambitions, dreams of their own financial successes too, and have a great deal more to contribute to society besides just their pretty looks.
I'm tired of trying to look like or be like the way the rest of our society thinks I should. I'm proud of my accomplishments, and I'm proud of the woman I'm becoming. I think we as a culture need to back off a little and value people's individualism more and focus less on a certain mold.--And I'm not just saying that for women, because I know that men these days are just as pressured about physical attractiveness as women.
No comments:
Post a Comment