Throughout time, women have been abused, oppressed, and thought of as a lesser being. Even today, women are mistreated around the world. From getting the right to vote to Hilary Clinton being the first female presidential candidate, women have been making huge leaps and bounds towards equality. Although these achievements are great, women still have a long road to equality. We are all so different, but experience many of the same struggles. I feel as though these interviews showcase the differences as well as the similarities between generations of women. My first interview is “Penny”. Penny is 19 years old, single, and has no children. She is currently attending college and has lived in Ohio for the majority of her life. When she was younger, …show more content…
Gender socialization begins at birth, when we are stamped as either a boy or a girl. We are classified into these categories and it makes people uncomfortable when someone cannot be identified as either male or female. Babies are dressed in a way that one can tell what their gender is without having to ask and are then treated in their respective ways (Lorber). Girls are often talked to in a softer tone of voice, protected, and encouraged to be polite and kind. Boys are taught to be loud, adventurous, and brave. This not only effects the way they act, but how they feel about themselves. Girls feel as though they cannot do some of the things boys can do, but that’s just how it is. This allows young boys to feel more empowered than young girls and can affect future behavior and career …show more content…
Now a days the media is everywhere influencing all of us both consciously and subconsciously. We are constantly surrounded by images of the ideal “beautiful” and these images set standards and expectations for young girls (Shaw, pg 188). This part of socialization is where I feel the generation gap is most obvious between the 3 interviewees. The oldest, Julia, was not affected by the mass media and even said her mother and grandmother made most of her clothes. This was before social media was an integral part of society and therefore she did not feel the effects of it. She wore whatever her mother made for her and did not think anything of it. The two younger interviewees, Penny and Molly, both said their body image and style was affected by the mass media. Both trying to attain the beauty captured in magazines and on TV. The Jean Kilbourne TED Talk addressed this notion of the beauty myth and how the mass media gives women an unrealistic expectation of how their bodies should look, when in reality the models on the magazine cover don’t even look like that due to