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Gender Impacts Needs, Wants and Consumption Habits

Decent Essays

Girls play with Barbie dolls and boys play with trucks. This idea is simple, but it leads to very complex outcomes when considering consumption habits. Gender training begins as a child is born. Parents often reward and discipline children based on how boys should behave one way and girls should behave another way. Parents also make consumption decisions for their children based on gender. For example, consider when a parent walks into a toy store and they are buying a toy for their child. Often the first step is to determine what products are for a boy and what products are for a girl. Consider the process of a parent purchasing for a little girl. Immediately, this would mean to avoid many products like the big trucks and superhero figures. The parent may be attracted to products that are colored pink, purple, or yellow. These colors are often considered more feminine colors. This simple example helps demonstrate how gender becomes a major influence on purchasing decisions. These purchasing decisions extend to all categories from food to clothes. Gender impacts consumption habits through a lifecycle, from birth to grave. Gender impact consumption habits and in return these habits impact the definition and expectations of each gender in society. It is important to first consider why gender definition is so important. Why does it matter if something is masculine or feminine? Sut Jhally in the film Codes of Gender states “Our ability to recognize someone as either

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