Comments on: Where Gender Stereotypes Come From

By: shanty

shanty — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 08:24:13 +0000

gender stereotype is only a myth,not actually persist.gender stereotype is about only your daily functioning like man do the job and woman do the domestic work.but i think its wrong because every kind of work, women can do and man also.gender stereotype is mental set of people.and it can be change with the passage of time.

By: PERKINSKim21

PERKINSKim21 — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 16:04:42 +0000

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By: What day is it again? « Uplift Magazine

What day is it again? « Uplift Magazine — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 09:00:33 +0000

[...] so freakin’ hilarious is that; Ha! As if PRs expect women to be duped by such a patronising, gender stereotyped campaign!? Ha! I mean, as if car care is only relevant to women when relayed as an excuse to [...]

By: wil

wil — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:37:02 +0000

I think it’s extremely problematic to refer to women as ‘more emotional.’ This makes it sound like women either just have more emotions, or control them less. I’m not convinced that women talk more, either. The stereotype that when women speak it is all frivolous and endless drivel is a long-standing one, and seems to be a deeply ingrained part of US culture at this point. I believe it’s likely that people notice it more, and are sort of ‘watching the clock’ more when women speak than when men speak. When men speak, even if it’s solely about their personal lives or relationships, I see people respond to it as though the topics were somehow elevated to something more philosophical by the speaker’s gender.

By: CY

CY — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 14:28:18 +0000

Sadly I know too many women who fit this stereotype. Sadly because I, personally, find it unfulfilling to sit around talking about food, shoes, lunching, shopping, hair, etc. Sad because it isn’t easy finding women who want to discuss more relevant, intellectual topics. I do however find myself thinking and wanting to talk about relationships more than I think is healthy for my goals of self improvement.

By: George

George — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 04:40:16 +0000

If I hadn’t read the post above the video, I would have said that they are trying to appeal to women w/ Sex and the City, meaning that they thought we were all like the girls in Sex and the City…or they used that show for research.

Which is obvious, but wanted to point that out.

By: AJ

AJ — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 15:34:16 +0000

Most of the time when advertisers have four women and want to show “diversity” they have three white women (with different hair colors) and one black woman. This ‘Woman’s World’ has two white women, a black woman, and AN AMBIGUOUSLY BROWN PERSON!!! Yay! Even though these women are all two-dimensional caricatures of “women,” I still liked the brown-inclusion. If only I could buy brown dolls at any store…

By: Chris L

Chris L — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 05:38:00 +0000

Thanks for this post! That last chunk (after the video) got me thinking about a lot of things that have been off my radar for a little while. I guess, since I’ve finally learned to filter out most advertising (it took many years) since it just makes me angry, I’ve also stopped thinking about it a little bit. Its role in perpetuating culture (the ugly and beneficial aspects alike) really can’t be ignored.

By: Jane Sanders

Jane Sanders — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 02:25:04 +0000

The conflict to students’ answers vs cultural norms comes from expecting the students to respond honestly and objectively. No one wants to admit they fit stereotypes because, sadly and inaccurately, the word in itself conjures negativity. For example, generally speaking, women do talk more and are more emotional. Generally speaking, men are more aggressive and competitive. Generally, more women enjoy shopping and feel guilty about what they eat. Talking, emoting, and shopping more are not bad, just different. But because women have been trying to blend into the man’s world of business, all these generalities, or stereotypes in this case, are seen as weak or negative. So few people will freely admit they fit stereotypes. The vast majority of parents with both male and female children will tell you they are very different from each other, and often following gender “stereotypes.” Of course there are exceptions to the rule, and for all the generalities I have mentioned here. That’s why they are called generalities, not 100% certainties. It’s the way society views these differences, not the differences themselves, that is the problem.

By: thewhatifgirl

thewhatifgirl — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 01:10:22 +0000

It seems really simple to me. An individual human being is only able to feel, think, taste, etc. what s/he feels, thinks, tastes, etc. We require constant feedback from our environment to keep us in touch with what is really going on. If you think, for example, about how isolation from all other human beings can make ANYONE susceptible to brainwashing, or simply go insane (or “lose touch with reality”), it becomes obvious that our senses tell us what “reality” is. Add on top of that the concept of culture itself (which is really just us telling ourselves and each other in a larger-than-individual way what reality is, especially on the modern media level) and you can see how the cultural narrative comes out on top in the contradictions between it and individual experience.

By: chuk

chuk — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 19:48:04 +0000

I wanted to add that I actually think people do on average act the way vendors tells us we do. These people are smart, they survey, and run focus groups like mad. They use a lot of the same methods we do, even if they put their use towards evil ends ;)

The kids in your class don’t want to admit that most of them and their friends are painfully normal, especially in a hip sociology of gender class (they might also not be very representative).

I think the problem with these Frito adds isn’t so much their inaccuracy as it is their role in *maintaining* a tremendously damaging gender system. There is no vision here, nothing constructive–it’s good for no one, but since we are all exposed to it, it becomes our common denominator: our shared culture. It reaffirms our worst qualities and clouds out alternative ways of being–but they are not trying to build us, they just want to sell to us.

In my opinion, the problem is by who, why and how we create culture. Why don’t we as forward looking creative and rational individuals create a culture that’s good for us and our children? The students should also be required to take Capitalism and the State 101.

By: Dubi

Dubi — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 03:11:01 +0000

Also, following anonymous there, a majority of people will define themselves as “above average” for practically any subjective quality you can think of, and even some objective ones (e.g., income level). Obviously, that can’t be right, but people are silly like that.

By: Dubi

Dubi — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 03:05:22 +0000

Answer to your question: because we realize our personal experience is merely anecdotal, and assume cultural messages are based on a bigger and better sample?

(OK, OK, that’s not it. But wouldn’t it be totally cool if people were truly rational like that?)

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 00:35:17 +0000

Perhaps we like to feel special and different and better than those ‘typical’ women and men?

By: abby

abby — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 23:15:58 +0000

I was just discussing this issue with my daughters (10, 10, and 5). We saw the ad for the new One-A-Day Teen Advantage vitamins (Healthy skin for her! Muscle strength for him!). We were discussing the fact that the media really does constantly tell us what we are/do, and some kids feel bad about themselves if they don’t fit the mold. And, in a way, these stereotypes give people the feeling that it’s ok to pick on the kids who don’t fit the mold. It’s so important to point out the stereotypes and give kids the attitude of “There’s nothing wrong with me; there’s something wrong with that commercial.”