I feel like after this project I have become a raging feminist. Throughout the whole semester I was constantly on the lookout for differences between the genders, and since I am a woman, I usually ended up looking for how women were perceived or were being marginalized or empowered. Most of my artifacts and accompanying analysis were how men and women were being marginalized.
A great deal of my artifacts came from the media. Men and woman are constantly portrayed differently within television shows, movies, advertisements, characters, etc. Many of my media artifacts had underlying gender concepts that led to viewers thinking they needed to act, dress, or talk in a certain way. Stereotypes for men and woman are all over the media.
Men learn that they need to be very masculine. They must dress a certain way, talk a certain way, and act a certain way. Otherwise, if they act a bit too feminine, they are automatically perceived as homosexual. According to the media, if a man is straight, it is the ultimate humiliation to be considered homosexual, so men go out of their way to act as manly as possible.
Women learn that they need to be very feminine. They must wear certain colors, especially bright colors. They must not say certain things, must always be presentable, and must maintain a certain body image. Women get very skewed ideas of what is considered attractive from the media. While men also see that in order to be attractive they must look a certain way, women feel the pressure to be skinny and beautiful much more than men.
There are occupations that are considered jobs for men and there are occupations that are considered jobs for women. Jobs that revolved around children, such as, nannies, babysitters, and elementary school teachers are left for women, while jobs that involve being strong, such as, firefighters, police officers, and the military are considered more manly jobs.
Many men and women feel that they need to act out their typical stereotypes. The majority of both genders embrace the stereotypes that they are supposed to play instead of rejecting them. They act the ways that they view through the media and hear through their peers. Many men and women want to live up to the ideas that surround being either a man or a woman.
All across the gender spectrum there are certain things that are supposed to be for women and there are certain things that are supposed to be for men. Gender communication is difficult because there are so many differences between the feminine and masculine spectrums. Everything from occupations, nonverbal cues, family roles, listening styles to friendships, romantic relationships, and learning styles are perceived differently between men and woman.
Throughout this portfolio are many different artifacts demonstrating all the stereotypes that surround men and women. Stereotypes are everywhere. Even through something like finding an occupation, men and women must consider whether they are right for the job, genderwise. These artifacts depict how men and women perceive themselves and each other in many different aspects of life.