Children 's Development And Self Image Essay

In today’s society, men and women are confronted with gender stereotypes daily. In the texts Ten Things I Hate about You, The Big Bang Theory, I’m Glad I’m a Boy! I’m Glad I’m a Girl! By Whitney Darrow and ‘Stupid Girls’ by Pink, the roles of men and women are perceived in different ways. Some characters in each text challenge the typical stereotype whilst others accept it.

Gender stereotypes are common in the United States today, even though many men and women have been working hard to defeat it. The task is made difficult however, when society in general implants the idea of gender roles into the mind of a child. Two authors, Judy Mann of The Difference and Bernard Lefkowitz of Our Guys face the issue of gender roles and stereotypes, and how they affect our lives today.

Although many are unaware, a rigid and relentless culture of outdated, and misguidedly created gender roles, act as an unofficial supreme law of land, and dictate how our society functions, and who it functions for. The strict structure of gender roles mandates how we behave, how we appear to ourselves and to others, and how we linguistically communicate, all of which play an immensely important role in our society. Even at the young age of four, children have acquired the social competence to declare whether a specific toy is marketed towards boys, or marketed towards girls, just by the outwards appearance alone; and while theses characteristics are not necessarily harmful or hurtful to the child at four years old, they can potentially turn adverse and inimical, causing harm to others in both physical, and emotional fashions. The wide spread concept and belief in gender roles has continuously through time been protested and thought of as a broken mold, and with a close analysis of the book Lord of the Flies, author William Golding, subtly, yet progressively, proves this notion through his intricate and convoluted method of storytelling.

Gender stereotypes are everywhere. Even before we can understand what this means, people are constantly exposed to them through advertisements, toys, clothes, and the media including television shows and movies. To evaluate the prevalence of gender stereotypes in television programs targeted towards young children, I chose to watch four different shows called Phineas and Ferb, Little Einsteins, Horrid Henry, and Sofia the First. When picking what shows to watch, I intentionally selected at least one that looked targeted towards boys, another that appeared to be targeted towards girls, and finally one that seemed gender neutral. I also made sure to watch at least two episodes of each program to determine whether the themes I observed were

Gender roles in children’s literature are linked to gender stereotypes. Gender stereotypes have always been a part of society and are seen in almost every aspect

Our intended audience was for younger kids and teenagers because these are the ages when most of your ideas and prejudices are formed. We wanted to show that if children are exposed to positive ideas about gender differences

Educators need to be aware of the gender stereotypes that their students are exposed to. The articles and book chapters that were assigned, give the reader an insight to how the media shapes the views of gender and how they can influence children as young as six.

The subjects of racism and prejudices can be very difficult to talk about in general but especially when trying to explain those themes to children. The subjects are uncomfortable and can viewed in many different ways. These themes have been the subject of debate for many years in regards to how to define racism and how to talk about it in a constructive manner. One reason these subjects are so difficult to talk about is the fear of offending someone or sounding prejudice to some degree. Thankfully J.K. Rowling created a world where these themes can be explored safely and without fear of offending any groups. The following research will explore the Harry Potter series and how these themes are presented in the story.

Little bear, little bear, what do you see? I see a feminist children’s book opened up for me. Often some words from children’s books get stuck in our head. We all have our favorites that our mom used to read us when we were younger. Most of the books have a princess getting saved by the prince or monsters hiding in the main character’s closet trying to scare him or her once she falls asleep. All of our childhood books hold a special place in our hearts but as a child, we would have never thought there would be any gender stereotypes or inequality between men and women. Most of the books we read seemed normal to us but as we are studying feminism, one would be surprised by all of the gender stereotypes found in children’s books. Although Little Bear may not be popular to many, Diane Namn portrays gender stereotypes though illustrations, characters, and the plot.

From a young age, boys and girls are told to act a certain way based on their gender. The norms they are told often contradict each other, with boys being told to be confident and girls compliant. As a UNICEF report from 2008 describes, “Children start facing norms that define ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ from an early age. Boys are told not to cry, not to fear, not to be forgiving and instead to be assertive, and strong. Girls on the other hand are asked not to be demanding, to be forgiving and accommodating and ‘ladylike’.

When I was younger and learning about life is when I probably watched the most television. I fell in love with watching animated television shows and movies; in fact the first movie I had ever seen in theatres was Aladdin in 1992, a well-known Disney classic. Disney movies became my all-time favorite. Now watching them I have come to the realization of how they could affect how any child’s views on different gender roles. As Michael Kimmel explains “We now know that gender is one of the central organizing principle around which social life revolves. (Kimmel, 2)”

From the moment they are born, children are exposed to myriad of rigid gender stereotypes. Even as newborns, children are carried out of the hospital in a pink blanket if they are female or a blue blanket if they are male. As children grow older, gender roles are reinforced by family members, the media, and other children and adults in the child’s life. As toddlers, girls often are given dolls and books about princess and boys are often given trucks and books about heroes. If a girl tracks mud across the floor she would probably get scolded by a parent, but if her brother did the same thing he would probably get a laugh or a “boys will be boys.”

Children books are a great way to promote diversity and provide information other than depending on teachers, parents, and television. Children books are invaluble to our children and society as they mold our society's education and written language. They resonate the temperament in our society about diversity and various social identities, such as race, ethnicity, gender, economic class, sexual orientation, and disabilities. Information young children retrieve from books, primary sources, and the media heavily influence their mental image of themseleves and others. Quality books have the ability to reinforce or undermine children’s acknowledgement of their characteristics, teach distinct/deludeding information about people of various identities,

Children and adolescents with low self-esteem are more likely to have problems with peers (Hymal et al., 1990). Furthermore, they are more prone to psychological

How important is good self-esteem in the development of children: extremely important!! Having good self-esteem is a key component in the healthy development of children and adolescents (Nuttall, 1991). A person with high self-esteem feels like they can accomplish anything they set their minds to, whereas a person with low self-esteem feels that they are unimportant and nothing they do will make a difference (Nuttall, 1991). How a person feels about themselves affects how they will act, this is true in adults and adolescents as well as small children (Nuttall, 1991) There are a myriad of influences that can make a difference in the self-esteem of children today: parents, teachers, friends, and society in general all have an effect on a