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Women's Studies

The Toys R Us at the local mall is a perfect example of how gender roles are typically assigned or taught to small children through the socialization process. The store is cleverly designed to promote specific products to specific genders, while many items for small children are placed on shelves where little children can easily spot and access them. For example, one entire section of shelves is fully devoted to dolls. The shelves in this section are painted pink with tiny flowers decorating them. Dolls that are meant for younger children (typically bigger ones without lots of small parts) are located on the bottom shelves. Here also are doll clothes and doll accessories that appeal to small children. On the higher shelves the Barbie dolls and other kinds of dolls for somewhat older children are located. In this aisle there are also strawberries that decorate the aisle. This shows that girls are often taught that pink is a feminine color, strawberries are feminine, and that certain toys are for certain age groups of girls.

In another aisle we see how boys are typically taught that they should be aggressive and macho. Two entire aisles are filled with soldier dolls like G.I. Joe and others. These aisles also contain a large number of handguns, rifles, and other types of weapons from swords to bows and arrows. Both of these aisles have a camouflage design that is jungle-esque. Both of them have huge cardboard cut-outs of different action figures from Mr. T and Hulk Hogan to other fantasy figures associated with aggression and violence – Darth Vader, Rambo, etc. While the types of weaponry sold on the bottom shelves are those designed to most appeal to smaller boys who can easily view and access them, it was shocking to see the level of design and promotion going into teaching children aggression and machismo behavior. This might be one reason why so few girls are found guilty when it comes to s

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Women's Studies. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 01:36, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1686589.html