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Women's Study

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Submitted By nyc8166
Words 639
Pages 3
Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Women’s Studies 2010

Professor Sinnott

Paper 1

Ideals of beauty and aesthetics have for a long time been a controversial issue throughout the world, usually focused more on what constitutes true beauty in women more than in men. This leaves many people to question, often, more times woman than men, why women are constantly judged on the physical characteristics of their bodies? One possible explanation for this is the daily process of sex segregation, which subconsciously can help to form the ideas that society attributes to men and women. This daily process of sex segregation happens very early in life, at an age when most are so young they are not even aware of what is actually taking place.

For instance, if one were to observed how children form into groups when it is time for recess or to each lunch, it would be very noticeable to see how the two groups, girls and boys, segregate from one another, forming “two worlds” (Thorne 2009). At recess, girls form smaller circles, usually based on age, and play nicely or talk with one another whereas boys form larger groups, where age is not a determining factor and rough house with one another through the act of playing sports that are much more physical and aggressive takes place. The underlying question then becomes, “In a given situation, how is gender made more or less salient or infused with particular meanings” (Thorne 2009)? An explanation for this is due to the gender roles that sex segregation influences. When the thought of a female comes to mind, many of the descriptions of her actions and characteristics, dependent on the age of the female being described, include femininity, bright colors like hot pink, baking, conversations of “girl-talk” with other females and an interest in make-up, fashion, and overall beauty. In comparison descriptions of actions and

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