“The human body has always been central to sociology because sociology is about the organization of collections of human bodies into forms of social life” (ReferenceAnswer.com). When studying the boundary between the biological and social aspects in the formation of human identity, we run across the controversy that scientists identify as a nature/nurture debate. While browsing through the generalized tabs, I came across three very interesting articles that all related to the broad topic of gender coding. All three articles were indeed different, but touch on the ideas of gender socialization. Without the public realizing concepts like these, patters demonstrate discrimination which we currently have in our society. Only when we pay close attention can we see that many magazine articles, television commercials, and billboards depict this concept. Individuals accept these stereotypes of men and women and in turn, convey and continue to broadcast them back into society.
The first article I came across that made me think that gender coding would be an interesting topic was an ad for various online degree programs. This was a basic ad that would normally pop up in the annoying side windows when you visit websites such as Facebook or Myspace. While viewing the advertisement, which is supposed to persuade someone to begin a degree, you can see that the advertisement is a gendered depiction of certain occupations. One can assume from this ad that all caring and nurturing professions are for women and all other business-like occupations are coded for men; implying that females have qualities of a care taker and males represent potency.
The second example I found that related closely to the “gendering of online degree programs” was a short video clip from a local news channel in the state of Texas. This was explaining how a young boy was going to be suspended from school because of his long hair. The news coverage states that the school’s dress code is clear: boy’s hair must be above the earlobes and above the collar. The school’s dress code is designed to keep the classroom free from distractions. This becomes more of an issue when the parents refuse to cut their child’s hair because they believe that their son’s hair is not distracting or standing in the way of his or any other student’s learning abilities. The fathers says, “It’s not like his hair is dyed bright green,” implying that his son is normal and has done nothing wrong. The school district is now allowing the child to attend but he will remain segregated from other children until he cuts his hair. This controversy is not about enforcing a rule, it is a gendered code. Girls are not required to have hair above the collar, because longer hair is not considered distracting. Long hair on girls is considered ‘normal,’ so why would it not be appropriate for a boy to have his desired hairstyle?
The third article I found that had an evident example of gender coding was a simple advertisement hanging inside of a mall. The ad read; “Stream sports while your wife buys you slacks.” Two distinct assumptions can be drawn about this ad: gendering marital roles and the allegation that the wife is doing all the shopping (chores) while the husband sits back, relaxes, and watches his sports channel. This ad is implying that the wife does the household necessities while the man is not responsible for what he considers a ‘female duty’.
Gender differences often are shown in public advertisements simply because a female portrays a motherly figure such as nurturing babies, undergoing childbirth, and processing biological changes that are most of the time unseen in men. These images can be seen sociologically but that does not make them morally right. People create these advertisements based on their individual perceptions and understanding between the different stereotypical roles of men and women.
Personally, in society I have seen examples that resemble sociological images such as gender coding. Discriminating between men and women may not be that evident, but it is actually very active within our society, as shown in earlier examples. Additional examples seen in society was a set of gendered job-related toys, which were found in a local Toys-R-Us aisle. The individual medical sets include toys that resemble tools used by doctors and nurses. Both kits contain basically the same tools; however, the electric doctor set includes a large photo of a boy on the front of the box, and the electric nurse set contains a large photo of a girl. Seeing that the “girl’s” nurse set includes pink and purple toys implies that the boy would not play with toys of these “girly, pink” colors. This doctor set includes toys of dark blues, reds and yellows. Understanding that the doctor set is ideally made for boys and the nurse set is designed for girls show that jobs such as these are gendered. These toys show that the boy has a greater power as the doctor and the girl is the subordinate. Doctors obviously have a higher rank in a hospital and nurses have a lower status.
Another example I ran across was a local commercial for the acne medication, Proactiv. I saw the commercial and decided to log onto the website. I found it interesting that the Proactiv homepage showed no trace of any male figures. The page shows “Before and after” results of a woman, women who sell the product and even a woman celebrity spotlight who uses the product. It is not until you click on other celebrity spotlights that a male comes into play, and even then, five out of seven highlighted celebrities are women. The same thing occurred when I browsed on through the site. I clicked on the tab, “Real Success Stories” and it was no shocker that only three out of the total 66 ‘Real Stories’ were men; only three! When seeing advertisements like Proactiv, it is easy to overlook something as simple as gender. This product is addressing that women care more about their physical appearance than men do. Also, women are more likely to purchase this item because of the advertising techniques.
Lastly, a sociological image that I find more on the humorous side is the “Slim-N-Lift” girdle. This was on an infomercial that was advertising a quick weight loss fix and a slimmer profile. This ever-so-promising product says it is possible to quickly drop one, two, or three sizes instantly! Generally, women wear girdles, yes; however, nothing on the advertisement says it is for women. If I am not mistaken, men, too, have larger figures that are not always as appealing to look at either! I found this article to be specifically pointing to women because they do not even list any sizes that would fit a man’s figure. This product is implying that many women are overweight and are frantically finding new ways to get a ‘quick slim-down.’ Women supposedly portray beauty and this is just another product to help the stereotype right along!
To this day, advertisements project stereotypical identities: girls are more domestic and interested in appearance while boys are more violent and active. The media presents many overwhelming messages to the public that stereotype the roles of men and women. Men, women, and children watch television, walk through the malls, and read papers with sociological images that go ingrained subconsciously into our minds!
Mike Hepworth,(2009). Referencing answers. Retrieved from http://www.answers.com/topic/sociology
Sociological images. (2010). Retrieved from http://contexts.org/socimages/
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