Acceptance
May 18, 2011 by Tamara Tahlov
After watching Kilbourne’s video I agree with her arguments. Throughout our lives we are tough that girls and guys have to act, look and respond in certain ways. In the past women have been seen as fragile and always taking care of the husband and kids and not getting anywhere in life because men were supposed to prosper and women had to know their place. Being gentle, loving, emotional, and always in the background is known as the girly way. While being tough, careless/indifferent, angry/violent and always on top has been known as the man way. As times change we are still taught the same way but in a much more subtle way. Yet as times change we are never told until we are much older that those things change.
As we walk down the street, go to school, watch TV or even read books we are exposed to media that tells both men and women (boys and girls) what the correct or acceptable way to act and be is. As we mentioned in class it is seen as normal for a girl to play house but for a boy after a certain age it is frowned upon because it is a feminine game. Something like football would be more of a man’s/boy’s sport and if a girl played it she is seen to be manly and thus it is also frowned upon. People and the media try to instill in children at a young age to do what’s right and act and be a certain way which creates many issues.
As mentioned in the video pretty women or ones that men prefer are the ones that are skinny, big breasted, fragile, with no opinion or thoughts of their own. At a young age this would be true even in this day and age. Many young girls are with guys because “they can’t do better or find better” or think “who would love/like someone like me” thus leading to abuse from their significant other and even themselves. Young girls try to keep up with these women they show on TV or in magazines (the skinny big breasted women who are very sexual) by throwing up or not eating and even working-out until there is nothing left of them. They also start dressing in very provocative ways for girls their age. For example I went to my sister’s public school and witnessed how 7-9 graders dress, looked and acted. I was shocked. You can tell who was in the cool or in crowed and who were the “losers” or outcasts. All you can see were mini skits, more makeup then I would ever ware (like clowns), light shirts, cleavage being seen and those are the more covered up ones. As this is instilled in children at a young age they carry it with them into adulthood and it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks.
What I mean by the statement above is that as people grow older they realize or at least notice that life is different then what they have been living. Heavy people are also seen as attractive and have love lives, women do have high positions in businesses where their opinion matters and women can do many things that do. As we get older and as the times change all these restriction set up have been letting up. For example schools such as Penn State offer football as a sport for girls, women hold high CEO position and many high powered position over men, and also women who are curvy are being accepted as normal as well (not just skinny people) such as actress Raven-Symoné Christina Pearman.
Other than looks people have also set up a norm on how people should act in relationships as well as within themselves. What I mean by this is people have set up rules and guidelines to be followed for sexuality and gender. Many have suffered throughout the years being mocked and ridiculed because they are not part of the norm. Transgender people as well as homosexuals and everyone in between has suffered because people have it drilled into their minds that if you are born one way you have to stick with it and if you are a girl you must be attracted to boys and boys must like girls. Yet times have changed and hopefully as time moves on more people feel be open-minded and accepting to change and we might have a new norm.
As we saw in the video in class about the transgender kid, it was sown how she/he suffered and how she dealt with things. Nowadays we have clubs, organizations, and people who are willing to listen and change, which helps many who are trying to deal with this. Unfortunately we still have a long way to go. Even though we have states that allow same sex marriages, parades, groups and many more we need to grow out of the routine that boys are one way and girls are another. We must realizes as times change people change as well that girls can do many things that boys can and boys can be just as emotional as girls, people should be allowed to like whoever they want without having to hide for the world and live in fear. It should be allowed for people to make their own choices as they grow up, to avoid abuse, ridicule, torture, and hate.
