Psychology of Childhood and Adolescence in an Urban Context

Kilbourne makes many valid points in her argument which I agree on. Women are scrutinized for their physical appearance on a regular basis. We are bombarded daily with thousands of images of what we should look like but none of these images are realistic. It is interesting that she mentioned how adolescent girls’ self-esteem plummets during their teenage years while boys’ self-esteem remains the same. When I was a freshman in high school I was very self conscious about how I looked, I have never been “fat” but I began eating less and less until I was diagnosed with anorexia. Thank God I was able to get past it and realized that being rail thin was not the way to go, sometimes i still find myself counting calories and skipping a meal here and there but now I am definitely much healthier mentally and physically. It is very difficult not to get caught up into this fantasy world of what women should look like because from birth this is what our society teaches one to believe as being “normal”. Women who are overweight or are not as well groomed and up to date with the latest fashion trends are perceived as less feminine and can at times be shunned by certain social groups and even employers.

The ideas presented in the videos relate to the ideas/concepts about gender and gender identity in that women are clearly depicted as only being sexual objects characterized by a sense of vulnerability, innocence, and passiveness. Men on the other hand are depicted as strong, aggressive, and dominant. In all the ads that were shown dating back to 1979 until present time the role of each gender has remained constant. Although time has passed and women have been able to gain more freedom they are still seen as the weaker sex. They are expected to be both sensual and virginal simultaneously. This idea of women being weak and having to look up at men is introduced from the time we are born, even the ads with children supported this argument. In all the ads women were typecast into a specific mold just like the men, the difference however, is that the role men are being typecast into isn’t demeaning to their persona while that of women is. Women are nothing more than a piece of meat. The most absurd ads find ways to correlate their product with women and make a sexual insinuation, as was the case of the fishing line. From birth we are told that in order to identify yourself as a woman you must be attractive, well kept, passive, submissive, women are basically thought of as decoration. We are not expected to voice our thoughts. Men on the other hand are to be the entire opposite. Issues rise when a man rather than being boisterous and macho is more passive and low key and vice-verso when a woman is the more aggressive opinionated individual, people begin to define the man as being more “girly” and the woman as being more of a “man”. When this occurs gender identities misattributed, different individuals have differing personalities therefore we shouldn’t attribute specific characteristics to only one sex. This only causes for people to feel shame and inhibit their true personalities in order to live up to what a man or woman should be according to society.

Children, especially, are bombarded regularly with commercials and ads about sex. Majority of models are teenagers themselves making kids more prone to experiment with sex at an age which they are not ready to do so. Kilbourne states that the US has the highest teen pregnancy rate out of the developed nations, clearly demonstrating that children’s advertisements are loaded with explicit sexual content. The media portrays sex as being the “it” thing to do so of course children are going to want to experiment. Shows like MTV’s Sixteen and Pregnant glorify teen pregnancy, these girls are making thousands of dollars for being sixteen and pregnant. No matter how much parents try to shelter their children from the sex ads, the unrealistic body images, and the gender typecast unless society doesn’t reformulate the advertisement and media industry it will find a way into your child’s life and impact their development.