In December, Time magazine published an article regarding the decision of Scandinavian toy retailer Top-Toy to release gender-neutral toys. This new approach to marketing toys to children has sparked debate among both social scientists and parents across the country and has led people to question the way that the way children are raised in a society that has clear-cut gender roles.
Children, who are fairly impressionable, often find themselves playing with toys marketed at their gender: Barbies and pink playhouses for girls and G.I. Joe action figures for boys. Without changing this divide at an early age, both women and men will continue this biased notion that evolves into sexism.
People, usually males, casually joke about women making sandwiches, and when people tell others to act tough, they say to “be a man” instead of “be a woman” because men are seen as stronger individuals.
However, are men to be entirely blamed for sexism and the inferiority women face? Women too can cultivate this gender divide. Some insist on chivalry and teach their children that males are the heads of the family. Others take advantage of their gender, flirting with male cops to get out of tickets.
If we change the way children are raised, first starting with the mindsets of mothers and fathers, only then can sexism be eradicated. Parents need to take a stand and make sure children are raised with the understanding that they do not have to model their lives to adhere to their gender stereotype. The media should create and champion more women who break the traditional mold of the “female” place in society in order to help expose children to a different view.
It is obvious that we live in a patriarchal society when the word “feminist” has a negative connotation. A feminist is typically not seen as someone who champions equal treatment of women, but as somebody “butch” — having masculine characteristics and lacking feminine ones.
Although it is more socially acceptable nowadays for females to wear jeans, cut their hair short and wear boots, society frowns upon males who dress like girls because because people think being a girl is degrading.
Family upbringing has a huge impact on the way that women dress and view their body image. When mothers raise their daughters, they tend to reinforce that girls need to dress modestly in order to show the world that they respect themselves.
For example, Little Red Riding Hood wasn’t written simply to entertain. The moral of the story is that if girls go out alone, they can be preyed upon by cunning and vicious “wolves” or in this case, men.
Red, the color of lust, alludes to another underlying message present in the book — if Little Red Riding Hood hadn’t worn clothing that attracted the attention of the wolf, she may have never found herself in her predicament.
Because of this mindset that is drilled in from birth, women are more inclined to blame themselves for being attacked or raped simply because society preaches that the clothing that women wear represents the way that a woman feels about herself. If a woman is wearing a short, tight skirt, as a society we automatically assume that the woman is cheap and has little respect for herself. According to some, this essentially justifies rape.
For example, a few months ago the New York Times published an article about an 11-year old girl who was gang-raped by 18 men in Cleveland, Texas. Rather than spend most of the article denouncing the actions of the men, the Times pointed out that the pre-pubescent girl tended to act older than she was, and was wearing clothing suitable for girls much older than her during the rape.
This shows that no matter the circumstances, the public and the media too often find a way to justify a situation as horrific as gang rape.
To solve the problem, society needs to break the constant cycle in which girls are raised to view themselves negatively.
So think before you let a sexist act or joke slip: Will it better our society and its ideals of equality? Probably not, but who are we to preach? We’re just women.
