Gender Roles A Social Norm For Women - 1633 Words

I never really thought about gender roles growing up. I wanted to shave my legs by the time I was eight, I wanted to wear makeup before I even hit sixth grade, and I used to cry when my mom told me I had to wear pants to school instead of a dress when it was cold outside. I was your stereotypical feminine female. But as I have grown up, I have begun to realize that many people are not like me. I have also begun to realize what many more people expect from me. Wearing makeup has become a social norm for women. Little girls put on costume makeup to play dress up because they see the â€Å"beautiful† women on TV and in the media wearing it. Those â€Å"beautiful† women become the young girls’ idols and they start to admire their looks and replicate†¦show more content†¦So again, we return to the question of these young girls wouldn’t wear makeup if all of their idols are. We are taught as young women (either by our parents, the media, or our friends) that it is the correct thing to do, so we do it. But men are not taught this same thing; your typical male role models do not wear makeup. Sure, if an actor is going on camera or playing a particular character they will wear some type of stage makeup, but that is an exception. Men, for the most part, do not feel the pressures of society to look perfect and hide their flaws because the role models they see everyday are out living their life without a drop of tinted moisturizer. I cannot even count the number of times I have seen photos of a male and female celebrity both in sweatpants with the males caption as â€Å"so and so goes grocery shopping in relaxed pants† and the females saying â€Å"so and so is so heartbroken over her break up that she could not even get dressed today.† That example is a major reason as to why I am focusing on wearing makeup in this paper. I am a woman who is sick and tired of being expected to hide my flaws and look hot while the man next to me can wear sweatpants with bedhead and not get a second look from anyone. Every morning when I wake up, I get dressed, I put on my contacts, and then I do my make up. It’s like clockwork. FirstShow MoreRelatedDoes Gender Role Norms Affect Behavior?1698 Words   |  7 Pagesfor men and women (Blackmore, 2003; Mahalik et al., 2005). These ideas, called â€Å"gender role norms,† affect the way people believe they are supposed to act, think, and even feel depending on their sex (Mahalik et al., 2005). These norms can be learned through simple observation, such as how children of different sexes act in television commercials and what behaviors are reinforced by parents depending on their child’s biological sex. 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