Gender Roles

                How big of a role does the media play in how you perceive yourself? Are you someone who can watch an advertisement and not compare yourself to it, or are you someone who runs to your nearest Ulta store immediately after the commercial ends just to buy the newest “miracle” product? Can you easily count the number of times you have judged yourself? Have you ever watched a commercial and thought that you should buy the product, only to realize it is being advertised at a different gender? The role of the media in the way we view gender roles has influenced us to very easily distinguish the difference between men and women.

                For instance, I’m sure you’ve all heard the stereotype: women belong in the kitchen. In today’s society, this isn’t necessarily true. My mom, for example, is a stay at home mom who still likes cooking dinner for her family every night. At the same time though, my dad loves making breakfast for us on the weekends; it’s not just my mom that works in the kitchen. There are arguments out there in the world that the general public has altered the way we view gender roles, and that women no longer are confined in the kitchen. I personally don’t believe this. Over Christmas break, my family drove to Illinois to be with the rest of our family. While we were there, some of my older relatives were asking me about what I wanted to go to college to become, and I answered that I was considering becoming a Physician’s Assistant in Pediatric Cardiology. The younger relatives thought this was a really good thing, and seemed proud that I had an idea of what I wanted to become. My older relatives however, were shocked that a girl would want to start a medical career; and then I realized that they had grown up in a time when women stayed at home and raised children and kept her family in order. Never had they expected a girl two generations later to take on a job that was once dominated by men.

                And that’s just one personal example. My example included real life experiences, and was not influenced by the media at all- it was influenced by time. Times have changed, and those who haven’t woken up and realized it need to. Women aren’t the toys of men. Women weren’t created to live stereotypical lives. Women are people, not Stepford Wives. Let women do what they want to do- no one has more power over them, and they do not have more power over anyone else. Men and Women are equal, and should be treated as so.

 

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