Gender Roles : The New Man Of Disney / Pixar `` And Dude, You 're A Fag

The role of gender roles/stereotypes in our society has greatly diminished. Only those who cling to the past and who benefit from the oppression of one group believe it is still an important factor in our society. These stereotypes are harmful and create a rift between two groups of people from an early age. Children should grow up without the label a gender chosen for them and away from the toxicity of gender stereotypes and conformities in toys and activities. When kids are treated differently from a young age they grow up under the impression that they are drastically unalike and that one group shouldn’t be like the other.

Questioning the masculinity within male characters of Disney/Pixar, by watching their son's perspective on the film "Cars," in "Post-Princess Models of Gender: The New Man in Disney/Pixar," Ken Gillam and Shannon R. Wooden examine multiple movies and point out that the leading male characters in "Cars," "Toy Story," and "The Incredibles," are victims of emasculation. Prior to Disney/Pixar releasing nine movies, Disney conveyed all its main male characters to be "alpha male" (472). However, Pixar opened new types of characters, those that led to having the characters' masculinity stripped by another supporting character in the film. The authors draw attention from the strong male model to the "New Man" (476) role. Gillam and Wooden focus on the main male characters in each of the movies who all start with a high machismo personality, which rapidly transitions into an effeminate identity.

People receive thousands of cultural messages everyday about gender roles from advertisements, movies, TV, music, magazines, family, school… etc. People perceive these messages and realize expectations for their gender and for their children as well, and how they should operate within society. While many individuals and organizations challenge these traditional gender roles, the evident impact of mainstream culture persists.

This essay will identify and discuss heteronormativity and how it exists in our society. By making reference to relevant sources such as Steyn & van Zyl, the ideals of a heteronormative society will be explored and how they have been shaped by our social and cultural context. A recently produced Walt Disney film will be identified which portrays these standards of heteronormative gender structures. By analysing the film and making reference to an independent source, the background and history of this example will also be explored to determine if and why Disney films continually perpetuate heteronormative discourses of gender using the media. Steyn and van Zyl (2009:3) define heteronormativity as the institutionalisation of heterosexuality and

It all starts from the moment a child is born. The doctor happily shouts “It’s a boy!” or “It’s a girl!”, a pink or blue hat is slapped on the kid, and a celebration of the new life begins. It is not only the beginning of a new life, but the beginning a childhood of the pressure to conform to gender norms. The general understanding of what it means to be male or female is very cut and dry, and to challenge the norm is often met with ridicule. Growing up with the pressure to conform and restrain yourself from being who you truly are is an unnecessary struggle that children do not need. The effects of societal gender roles enforces negative stereotypes and does more harm than good to children.

The gender equality issue within our society stems from what children are being taught from the day they are born. Whether it is conscious or sub-conscious children are being taught at an early age the stereotypes of what it is to be a girl or a boy. “Choices about what they will play with or wear are made for younger children and, by the time they come to make their own, they have already learnt what is expected of them and will often behave accordingly.” (National Union of Teachers, 2013, p.3). Educators calling on girls to do chores around the classroom or not allowing boys to play in the family corner they are only help in print these stereotypes into the minds of the children. It has been said that children soak up their social environment like sponges, so by sending out new social messages educators are able to create a

The idea of gender roles has been prominent throughout not only American History, but world history as well. Everyone understands that men are the ones who provide for their family while women are responsible for household work such as taking care of the children, cleaning, and cooking. The United States has come a long way in demolishing these gender constructs from presenting women the right to vote to recent strives in pop culture such as Benny’s gender crushing single and music video, Little Game, but the nation is still not quite to the point of completely shattering the often harmful gender roles that are set upon children and adults in society. As a means to prevent damage to future generations, parents should not assign gender roles to their children at birth.

As children grow up, gender roles try to put girls in their place from the beginning. Right off the bat girls are presented with baby dolls and toy kitchens that teach them that their place is to be the

Throughout the history of society, women and men both have faced the constricting roles forced upon them, from a young age; each gender is given specific social and cultural roles to play out throughout their lives. Little girls are given dolls and kitchen toys, little boys are given dinosaurs and power tool toys, if one was to step out of this specified role, social conflict would ensue. Contrast to popular belief, sex is a biological construct, and gender is a social construct specifying the roles men and women are to follow to be accepted into society as “normal”. The effects of gender roles have had on women have proved harmful over the decades. Although the woman’s involvement in society has improved throughout the decades,

Researchers have discovered that “ongoing exposure to certain ideas can shape and distort our perceptions on reality.” (Mintz 2007) Because young girls are subjected to a constant display of beautiful people in the media, they have developed a negative body image of themselves. Those who have a negative body image perceive their body as being unattractive or even hideous compared to others, while those with a positive body image will see themselves as attractive, or will at least accept themselves and be comfortable in their own skin. During adolescence, negative body image is especially harmful because of the quick changes both physically and mentally occurring during puberty. Also, young girls are becoming more and more exposed to the media and the media keeps getting more and more provocative. Young girls are looking to women with unrealistic body shapes as role models. It’s hard to find, in today’s media, a “normal” looking

Furthermore, media surrounds teenage girls in today’s culture. It is impossible to escape the sight of media. The media’s constant idealistic beauty is ever present to a vast amount of self-conscious girls. This image of beauty causes girls to have low self-esteem (Clay, Vignoles, and Dittmar). Media defining this perfect body image causes many adolescent girls to feel dissatisfied with their bodies and become depressed. “Viewing ultra-thin or average-size models led to decreases in both body satisfaction and self-esteem in adolescent girls aged eleven to sixteen, with changes in self-esteem fully mediated by changes in body satisfaction” (Clay, Vignoles, and Dittmar).

Gender roles are set in place during childhood. Little boys are discouraged from playing with baby dolls and keeping house. Meanwhile little girls are given these toys as soon as possible. The notion that men are the breadwinners of the family is taught at a very young age.

Teenage girls are at an impressionable time in their lives. Mass Media is a key idea in one of the factors of socialization that become important to teenagers. Teenagers look to the media for a sense of entertainment. Whether it is movies, magazines, or even some aspects of social media, teenagers get a lot of influence from the media’s message. The problem with this is the media has a specific way of doing things and can be negative to a susceptible teenage girl. Media’s way of portraying a woman can be skewed and unrealistic way from what reality is. Teenage girls then have a desire for this look or way. In this essay the three ways I will describe as to why the media can negatively affect a teenage girls body image is by showing

The barrage of sexulized women in media is trashing teen girls mental health. Research by the American Psychology Association shows that, “through the constant exposure to sexulized images of women and girls, females learn that their primary value comes from their physical appearance.” This is just not healthy. Teenage

Young males are the biggest victims of gender roles in the current world. Parents pressure their children, especially boys, into fitting a certain stereotype so that they won’t be made fun of, because society thinks being feminine is a bad thing (Heinsz 1). A study was done where people were asked to rate the aggression of made up people. The made up people were identified as male or female, and then identified as feminine or masculine. Results found that most people rated the masculine subject as more aggressive. Gender roles determined aggressiveness over gender. In the same study, a male being aggressive was seen as less acceptable than a woman being aggressive. (Bohart, Terrell 441). Straight men tend to be aggressive to gay men. Straight men feel the need to be aggressive towards gay men, because they want to prove to