Stereotype With Women Essay Example for Free

Stereotype With Women Essay ?The popular saying, â€Å"Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus,† is a simple way of explaining that men and women are completely different. Is this difference due to biology – the genetic difference with which that we are born? Or is it due to the cultural difference that society influences’ – the orthodox disadvantages that discriminates women in the workplace, at home, and in society as a whole. The stereotypical role that women, especially mothers, are made to sustain in their everyday lives shows such unrealistic expectations – just due to their womanhood. â€Å"Stereotype: A widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing: sexual and racial stereotypesi. Stereotypes are judgments created by our society that are based on perceived actions of an individual. It is a picture in society’s mind, though it is not an accurate illustration of the real world. The ongoing pressure of women having to follow these false assumptions of ‘right’ kind of mother to be, or the ‘right’ way to dress is not making our world a better place to be in any sense. The female stereotype first comes into play in that many women are generally seen as frail individuals and men are supposed to fill the role of the protector or, as Valenti would refer to it, â€Å"He can be a beast, She must be a beauty†(Valenti, 42). It’s the parents that tend to be children’s first stereotypical influences in their lives, such as the colour they provide their rooms, as well as the toys they bring home and the sports and hobbies in which they enroll them. A family hit television show, â€Å"Toddlers and Tiaras,† where girls as young as five years of age partake in beauty pageants after being subjected to false fingernails, wigs, eyelashes, fake tans, hair extensions, and somewhat â€Å"over the top† makeup. Its a trap in which many women are caught: women feel pressured to look like the social norm to fit in and somehow society makes it all seem right, causing more people join that assembly and creating more pressure on others to also do this. In previous decades, the stereotypes of women had clear expectations: they would get married, have children, raise the children and keep the house in order, and unfortunately their lives were restricted to these limitations. Consequently, some of these traditions still exist today leaving mothers with the role of playing â€Å"housewife. † They are supposed to clean the house, cook dinner, do the laundry, have the children, and take care of their children. â€Å"Mothers are responsible for and are naturally better at children and family and Fathers are responsible for and are naturally better at employment and earning money. As a result, women and men incorporate the roles of mother and father into their identities in different ways and at different paces†ii While women take control of these responsibilities, the dominant male goes out and earns a wage for the household. Since the male subject is never home, he can sometimes not know what goes on or how to react in different situations with the children. For example, if the father wants to go out for dinner without the children, the mother may be reluctant to get a baby-sitter. As the mother, she feels bad about leaving the children. As her partner, he doesn’t quite understand; he wants to spend time with his wife and he doesn’t see anything wrong because he is used to not being around his children nor raising them as much as the mother. We live in a society that has long penalized women for growing old. Western society is one in which the media have relentlessly portrayed the middle-aged woman as old-fashioned, boring, someone who is losing her looks, not to mention sexual appeal, etc. Valenti writes in her book: â€Å"When they get older- women who are pretty much done for. We’re deemed unfuckable and unlovable and, subsequently, useless. † (Valenti, 70) As many women struggle their entire lives trying to fit into the societal expectations of being â€Å"beautiful† and in that definition creates such an unrealistic belief that sets women up for failure with poor self confidence believing that they will never be good enough. As I am writing this essay in Tim Horton’s, I’m watching 3 construction workers gawk their revolting site on two helpless girls scrummaging in their backpacks for enough change to buy a donut to split. Even though these type of things occur all the time, and as I’ve grown up especially; being called names by truck drivers hollering out their windows†¦ I flaunted it, I felt good about myself when it happened, and when It didn’t I was concerned, wondering if I wasn’t wearing to right outfit, or had my hair to right way to catch the eyes of creepy men. At some point in my mind when I was a child, I got in my head that this was okay. Jessica Valenti introduces how stereotypical Double standards are present but are nothing new and women have to deal with them every day. I related with her book in many different ways, and some of the things I read I just had to laugh and turn to my girlfriend and we would totally agree on her statements. The book looks, at title glance, like a list of fifty depressing facts, but it isnt. She doesnt only tell us about how bad women have it. She talks about how this stuff hurts everybody, including heterosexuals’ cismales. She gives kudos and praise to heterosexual cismales who are clearly part of the solution or who are trying or who are progressive. Every person who is not affected by a cause but is an ally to it deserves to be recognized. This is often forgotten. Most importantly of all does Jessica stop at listing the bad things? Hell no! At the end of every section is a page titled What you can do about it where she offers advice on how a person can undo the sort of hurtful thinking. In some sections she admits there isnt much she can think of, even then she offers something. She tries. Jessica keeps it light and happy where she can. The topics in this book are downers, so Jessica reminds us to keep our heads up. Shes constructive, helpful, and dedicated to the cause, which is equality for everyone. And unlike lot of people who fight against sexism, she does it without resorting to using hate speech and man-hating slurs. This is why Jessica is a published author and successful person- she combines righteous anger with fierce love for those who are helping. She tells everyone that they dont have to just lay there and take that nonsense, and she doesnt either; I idol her in every which way, and will continue to improve my insight on feminism as does she. Works Cited: