Blog Post #4: Are Stereotypes Shaming?

There’s always that one advertisement on TV that doesn’t make any sense…at all. A lot of advertisements on television these days are directed towards particular audiences. And I’m not necessarily talking about different age groups, I am talking about different genders. Barbie doll commercials are targeted towards little girls, and Hot Wheels are pointed towards boys. But why is it like this? Since when was there a gender divide between toys for children? There shouldn’t be a gender gap for a lot of things.

The Chevrolet truck advertisement features a picture of a man in front of the Chevy Colorado and the same man in front of a regular car. Groups of people in the ad collectively agreed that the man in front of the truck was a lot cooler, more rugged, and more handsome. The advertisement should include why the model of the truck is better than other models, not why men look better with trucks and not cars. Also, back to the gender stereotypes, this ad should also not be directed towards men in particular. Even though men are seen to use large vehicles more than women, women use vehicles like this too. Deciding that someone looks better because of the things they use is offensive towards the people who don't use them. If a person has no use for a truck, they don’t need to be persuaded to buy it because of some stereotypical comments.

Away from the truck commercial, many other gender stereotypes are shown in the media. People everywhere are judged by how they look. Jaden Smith wearing a skirt caused an outburst in the media. Wearing skirts and dresses are viewed to be feminine, but never was it said that men could not wear such clothes. There are perfume commercials that advertise women's perfume, where 80% of the time, it is shown that the scent appeals to men. Why does perfume have to appeal to men for women to be convinced to buy it? Old Spice commercials that feature cologne for men (why does it need to be for a certain gender?) show that women are attracted to men who smell like Old Spice. The media often show women as objects that need men.

Around Christmas time, we all know about the abundance of advertisements for toys. In magazines, there's always that one page labelled "Toys for Girls" and the next page is dedicated solely to "Toys for Boys". There should be a page collectively labelled "Toys" with no regard to who is going to purchase the toys. So what if adding gender labels to products help them sell? Kids should not grow up thinking that they can't behave differently than what is expected of them. Girls can play with action figures, and boys can play with tea sets. It's the 21st century, and it's time to get rid of gender roles and gender stereotypes.

Blog Post #3: Is Shaming on Social Media Shameful or Shameless?

All kids make mistakes. They misbehave and disagree with their parents. Their parents can choose to punish their children or to let them off with a basic warning. Sometimes irritated parents go to the extreme, and feel the need to punish their kids by shaming them on social media.

It is arguable that this works, publicly shaming your children to get them to stop doing something wrong. The children would become so embarrassed and this would ideally make them stop misbehaving. But is it the proper thing to do as a parent? Children can sometimes be an annoying handful of misfits, but they're just children. They have a childhood to enjoy, and negative experiences aren't going to help with that.

Publicly punishing your children will probably have negative effects. It could cause the child to be bullied at school, and be made fun of by their peers. This could also harm the child's self-esteem. If this is essentially what the parents are aiming for, isn't this just mean? It's just plain wrong when parents want their children to be made fun of simply to improve their behavior. It's one thing to ground them, and another entirely to tell the world that they have bad kids.

There are also parents in Atlanta who are giving their kids "old man" haircuts (the "Benjamin Button"), where the entire crown of the child is shaved clean like that of a senior. As if social media shaming wasn't bad enough, these kids have to go through teasing at school because of their comical haircuts.

                           

There is no denying that the majority of the time, this method works. It may seem harsh and just outright mean, but the kids do respond better afterwards. They are embarrassed and want to try and be better to avoid having to face this kind of humiliation again.

Is it the parents' fault for being unable to cope with the behavioral issues of their children?