Psychology of Childhood and Adolescence in an Urban Context

“Sex sells” is what the media, today, portrays as what is right when advertising an ad or commercial. We see this in the Kilbourne videos. I think that she a lot of valid points and that she spoke the truth, although she sometimes joked about a few points. A difference in gender is portrayed all throughout the media, and the way women and men are viewed upon as a society is taken out of perspective, since women in particular are being way to exposed to get a point across for a company. In class, we were discussing the way people view gender and how certain people view girls and how they view boys. In American society, there is a standard in which we live by as to tell us how a girl or boy should act. If that standard isn’t met, then a person may be looked as “gay.”  Girls are suppose to act the ways that society says are feminine, such as playing with dolls, having to do the “duties” when getting married, such as cleaning the house. Boys are supposed to act more macho and have a tough attitude. When young boys play with dolls, society doesn’t see this as a “normal” thing for them to do. They are supposed to learn how to play “tough” sports like football, in order to become more macho.  Children adapt to the ways of society fairly quickly, and this is why we are in a sense, brainwashed into thinking the way we do about gender identity. Here is a you tube video of a study made on children, as they tell the surveyor what they feel are the duties of a girl and a boy. Children tend to learn these perceptions from the media. Movies, television shows, commercials, among other things start children off with the mentality of the roles that each gender should take. Once they are in school, they are even more influenced and tend to copy what they see.

Kilbourne’s argument about women being sexually exposed to catch the audience’s attention is right. I feel that women are exposed, in a derogatory way for nothing. There is no need for a woman to be so exposed in that way for an ad. Also the message being brought to young girls isn’t good as well. The pressure to be skinny is made known in these ads, and girls go through whatever means possible to make themselves look like the models portrayed. I feel that there needs to be a change in how society portrays gender roles, so that people may not feel the need to feel or act a certain way. They can feel free to act however they want, and not be viewed by society as weird or strange.