NAKED MEN... in advertisements harm body image

Tell me, what is strange about these images?

 

 They are all images that appear in advertisements for the clothing line Abercrombie and Fitch. Notice something illogical with this scenario?  For advertisements for a clothing brand these men are wearing surprisingly little clothing.

So how does this advertise clothing? Well, they are not exactly selling clothing so much as selling a brand and an image that goes with it.The main people are are buying into this image are adolescents, both boys and girls. 

There is significant discourse about girls and body image.  Concerned adults tread carefully, trying to emphasize the unreality of super-thin female models but little attention is given to how portrayals of men in popular media may relate to boy's body image.

Boys are expected not to be effected by images such as these in a harmful way while girls are expected to be deeply damaged by skeleton thin models.  I would suggest that boys are actually more susceptible to harmful body images due to advertisements like Abercrombie's, mainly because girls are educated about the dangers anorexia and bulimia as well as taught the realities of photo airbrushing.  With fewer boys advocacy groups than girls' they do not receive the same kind of education, leaving them more vulnerable to body image issues.

Perhaps this is because images of defined six packs create the illusion of health.  The assumption is that these individuals exercise and eat right to achieve their chiseled musculature but having no fat to cover these muscles is not exactly healthy. By under emphasizing these problems boys are taught that for them boy image is a non-issue.Moreover, the nature of this medium in particular, advertising, communicates something different than the photo on its own.  The fact that they use these pictures in an advertisements for a clothing company shows that to them a trim body and a six pack is more more important than anything, even than their clothes.  This seems to take on added meaning from someone who is, in fact, trying to sell clothing which covers up the body. For example, a Renaissance sculpture with similar subject matter would not communicate the same message because there is no agenda to sell the very thing in opposition to what the is image is glorifying. So, since Michaelangelo was not trying to sell t-shirt, his portrayal of a naked man says something different than Abercrombie and Fitch's.

Really, it is less about the image and more about the value messages behind the image.  Boys need education about body image just as much as girls do.  In the quest to identify gender biases and to protect historically marginalized girls we should not forget that boys face the very same problems.

http://www.commonsensemedia.org/advice-for-parents/boys-and-body-image-tips

Servant to Savior: The Evolution of Disney Princesses

Disney's princess movies have captivated children since their first hit, Snow White (1937). Since 1970s feminists have criticized Disney princesses for their docile and subservient images of women.  In response Disney has tried to change their Princess characters over the years, making them into more positive role models for girls.  Today we compare and contrast to see whether or not our new Princesses send better messages.

1. The Archetype: Snow White (1937)
Snow White kicked off Disney's princess franchise during the Great Depression.  She is extremely passive, gentle, quiet, and domestically astute.  As student of history and avid Disney blogger, Kaitlyn Albonem put it, "When we first encounter her as a character she is looking for a prince to come and find her, she is not particularly active in her quest for love". In fact, all she really ever does is sing about her problems.  She laments that "some day [her] prince will come" while in the mean time she does little to correct her state of forced servitude to the evil queen. 
Even when she does run away to the forest she only does so with the help of the queens defected assassin, a man.  When she finally is in the forest she is completely dependent on the kindness of the seven dwarves for food and shelter.  In exchange she is a domestic diva.  She sings her way through her daily housework, perfectly content to clean up after a houseful of coal mining men.
She waits quietly, eventually being captured and seemingly killed by the evil queen until she is ultimately rescued by the prince charming she'd been pining for her entire life.
Snow White is the epitome of the subservient woman.  She does almost nothing on her own except housework.  She happily conforms to established gender hierarchy, taking her place at the bottom where she waits for men to fix her troubles.

2. The Second Wave: Ariel (1989)
After thirty years with no new princess movies Disney resurrected the idea with The Little Mermaid (1989).
Ariel, as the title implies, very slight in figure.  She is a super slender girl of 16, scantily dressed in a seashell bikini.  Perhaps her clothing can be overlooked, given the fact that much of the movie does take place under the sea, so swimwear might be appropriate.
While her wardrobe is questionable her personal character Ariel represents a huge change in Disney's princess mentality.  She is the first to have a mind of her own.  Though she is naive about the consequences of her actions she has much more agency than Snow White and Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) ever did.  She defies the male authority in her life (her father, the king) and instead seeks out a woman, the Ursula, the Sea Witch, to get what she wants.
While this is a positive step forward the problem with Ariel is that all her most of the decisions she makes without men as a guide end in disaster.
While earnest, Ariel is a bit ditzy to say the least.  She uses not intelligence but beauty to get what she wants (much like Snow White) and it just so happens that all she wants is a man.  Her entire happiness rests on a man, her prince.  Though true love is a classic story, Ariel not only loves Eric but apparently needs him, despite the fact that she has never met him. Not only is being with a man her goal for the entire film, but it is a man, her father King Trident, who finally delivers this life to her.  In sum, Ariel is a free thinker, but still dependent.

3. The Feminist: Jasmine (1992)
Ariel's outfit rivals Jasmine's in skimpiness but Jasmine's intellect exceeds Ariel's by leaps and bounds.  Jasmine still lives in a world where all the men have the power but she is not resigned to accept it as Ariel does.  Princess Jasmine expresses almost feminine ideals with her defiant attitudes towards men.  She has a hot temper and refuses to accept and arrange marriage by her father.  She ardently seeks to educate the Sultan (her father), Jafar (the royal adviser), and the title character (Aladdin) about how they should treat her, asserting that she is "not a prize to be won".
Bravo, Jasmine! She is the first Disney princess to acknowledge issues of patriarchy. This represents a huge step forward; a princess who does not see herself as a commodity, and, more importantly, one who is not desperate for a prince.
The criticism I have of this situation is that, despite her apparent intelligence and forward thinking ideas, Jasmine's power still ultimately lies in her body.  Her beauty is what attracts Aladdin and distracts Jafar, and her status as the daughter of the Sultan is ultimately what gives her authority. So her intellect and ideals are almost secondary to her beauty and the power she gets by her relationships with men.

4. The Gender Bender: Mulan (1998)
Mulan is the first princess (technically she is not a princess, but she fills the same niche) whose appeal is stocked not in her appearance but on her cleverness, skill as a warrior, and sense of family loyalty.  Mulan is the first princess whose love interest did not fall in love with her for her looks (aka "love at first sight") but rather overcomes his early distaste to admire her for her skill and personality.
If Jasmine laid the groundwork then Mulan captured the embodiment of Jasmine's talk.  Mulan is the first who is not sexualized in the same way the other modern princesses, Jasmine and Ariel were.  She trades in their revealing belly shirts for a suit of armor. 
Mulan overtly challenges the gender expectations her culture and family have for her.  Despite the fact that she was raised to be a domesticated woman she proves her worth by becoming the most skilled soldier in her regiment.  She saves her commanding officer, and ultimately China, despite the gender prejudices she is up against.  Despite her captain's choruses of "I'll make a man out of you" she is able to use her unique status as a female to save the Emperor and demonstrate to her male comrades that being a skilled warrior is not synonymous with being a man.

5. The Entrepreneur: Tiana (2009)
Tiana's claim to fame is being the first African-American Princess but she is a lot more than that.  She is the first working class Princess and the first princess with dreams about something other than marriage.  Yes, Mulan was a warrior, but she turns to this only after failing in her domestic duties.  Tiana dreams of being an entrepreneur, using her skills to open her own restaurant.  Furthermore, while Mulan wants to bring honor to her family, Tiana's ultimate goal is to be self sufficient.  Unimpressed, she resists the advances of her Frog Prince suitor.
Interestingly enough, Tiana is almost a complete reversal of Snow White, a difference symbolized not just by their character but also their appearance.  Snow White's namesake and claim to fame is in her pale white skin.  Tiana's race serves as a symbol of her complete opposition to Snow White.  Snow White was cured by the kiss of her prince.  In contrast, the kiss of Tiana's prince turns her into a frog, endangering the dreams of her future. A man saved Snow White, Ariel, and Jasmine.  Mulan worked in partnership with men to be saved, and Tiana finally is the one who saves the prince. 
In short, Tiana is the first princess to find a prince who needs her, instead of the other way around.

Changing Gender Roles
So perhaps, these changing roles of Disney princesses can help mitigate parental concern over "princess syndrome".  The obsession with appearance and desperate dependance on prince charming inspired by the early princess movies has long caused parents to worry about how the effects these mentalities have on girls later in life.  But perhaps the ever evolving persona of Disney's princesses will lead the way to more agentic imitations of on screen behavior.

So have Disney princesses really changed over the years or are they essentially the same? Post your thoughts below.



http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/princess-recovery/201204/combating-princess-syndrome

Girl + Truck = Okay, Boy + Doll = Homosexual?

So often we talk about wanting little girls to have the same opportunities as little boys, but perhaps in some cases boys are lacking the opportunity that girls have.  This, in my observation, is occurring mainly in play. 
Some parents are especially progressive in trying to protect their children from the ill effects of gender stereotyping, for example the parents of Sasha Laxton, whom as we have discussed in previous blogs, is being raised completely "gender neutral".  Where is the line though?

It seems we draw a very distinct line.  In the "gendered play" department girls seem to have an edge over boys. It is relatively commonplace and accepted for girls to play with trucks, participate in sports, or just generally get dirty, traditionally past times for boys. The girl is labeled a "tomboy" and not a second thought is given.
Unfortunately boys are not afforded the same flexibility.  Boys are confined to traditionally masculine activities.  Any foray into more feminine activities, such as having tea parties or playing dress up is met with resistance and often fear by adults. 
So what is it about boys being "girly" that is more upsetting than girls being "boy-y"?

Strangely enough I suspect the answer lies in a patriarchal past.  Historically, the male experience has been understood as the human experience.  For example, early psychological studies were done almost exclusively on men, then assumed to apply to all people. So the idea of boy's toys being toys for all children is not that much of a stretch for the mine. So, girls can play with trucks and no one bats an eye, but boys cannot play with dolls because dolls are feminine. Within this way of thinking, boys who are feminine are not what they ought to be, they are weak, or weird, or homosexual, but one things if for sure, they are not normal and this makes us uncomfortable.
Or perhaps what causes discomfort is that we don't know what they are.  We have the word "tomboy", but there is no word for a boy who likes to do "girly things" that isn't derogatory.  Boys who like more traditionally feminine activities are subject to names like "pansy" or assumed to be homosexual earning any number of slurs. Perhaps we are limited by our language in this way.  Since we have no way to describe these behaviors in a positive way we assume they are bad and must be curtailed.
But what do you think? How is being a "tomboy" different from a "pansy"? Share your comments below.

The Birds, the Bees, and the Internet

It's a classic tale; Boy meets girl. Boy and girl flirt. Boys asks girl... to be friends on Facebook?

Adults are increasingly perplexed by communication via the internet, and with good reason.  Technology and online social networking has changed so quickly from it's onset it is hard for even computer literate adults to keep up with the changing paradigms.  The general consensus is usually that kids do it wrong.  Don't they know it is better to get to know people in real life? Why can't they do things the right way, like we did before Facebook and Twitter and email?
But, the reality of the situation is that internet social media are not going away.  Every day they are becoming a bigger part of children's and adolescent's relational developement.  In light of that perhaps we should examine internet social media as a different, not subservient, means of socializing.
A 2010 study shows that online interactions may provide an important role in young people's development of cross-gender relationships. Despite common fears of parents most adolescents in the study did not seek to have offline interactions with those they meet in chat rooms.  Moreover, the on social networking sites the participants frequently expressed that they did not accept friend requests from those they did not know offline, thus eliminating much of the worries over "Dateline: To Catch a Predator" type incidents.

Still it is the relationship that youth have with social media that is troubling to many parents.  It may sound strange, even alarming to hear that young people have "relationships" with media but "relationship" is perhaps a better way to describe the nature of the nature of social media use than "consumption".
Young people's use of social media is a relationship in that they contribute to the medium (Facebook, chat room, etc.), the medium is influenced by their contribution and gives them something in return.  One of the possible thing that young people receive in return is the means to achieve their social goals, goals that would otherwise be unattainable, or more difficult to attain without the use of social media.
Girls for instance, were found in the study to use internet social media as an opportunity to experiment with different behavior. This is not to say that they took on another identity, in fact quite the opposite.  They explored facets of their own identities they may have been more difficult in their offline lives because of cultural norms or family expectations.

In the 2010 study's look at cross gender conversations on internet chat rooms found that girls took advantage of the fact that they could not be judged based on their physical appearance, an all too common concern for young girls.  They were able to express themselves with more self confidence and assertiveness than they were normally able to in offline life.This was, in fact, noticed by boys in chat rooms who were often confused by the ways girls talked to them online, sometimes thinking the girls didn't like them. 
This is a minor social discomfort, which has the potential for cultural impact.  Since young people are often still developing their expectations for the opposite gender, challenging these expectations early may provide more open mindedness for offline gender related cultural changes (ex.: fights against gender discrimination).  Such interactions are not likely to occur offline where  there are more concrete disadvantages to going against cultural norms. 
Additionally, adolescent cross-gender conversations online help on personal levels, giving boys and girls more dynamic views of the opposite gender, which will help them as they continue on into higher education, the working world, and adult family life. 
Yes, it is wise to educate children and adolescents about the dangers online, and the importance of things like fresh air, exercise, and physical human interaction, but social media are beneficial in their own way.  As it turns out, they might not be the unproductive time suck we thought they were.

Waechter, N., Subrahmanyam, K., Reich, S. M., & Espinoza, G. (2010). Youth Connecting Online: From Chat Rooms to Social. At the Interface / Probing the Boundaries, 151-178.

Is Gender Bad?

There are a wealth of legitimate concerns about the gender stereotypes presented in media.  Many have suggested that the social constructed nature of gender (as opposed to biological sex) sets up gender distinctions to be inherently unequal (Berkowitz 2010).  So what is to be done about it?  A growing trend that is getting a lot of media coverage is parents raising their children as "gender neutral".  By now most people have heard about Beck Laxton and Kieran Cooper, a British couple who decided to raise their child, Sasha, as gender neutral.  The couple was finally forced to reveal the sex of their child this January when he started attending primary school.  The general public seems to reject Laxton and Cooper's approach to protecting their child, but why? Let us explore.

 What is right with it?
Agency
A significant positive aspect of the Laxton-Cooper approach is that little Sasha has a lot more agency than most children have.  He is permitted a great deal more choices when it comes to clothing, toys, and general self expression.  It is hard to think of a way in which this could be a bad thing.  Because Sasha's parents hoped to shield him from gender stereotypes they were hyper conscious of the choices they offered him, being sure to provide diverse options.
Free from Stereotypes
 Previous blogs have discussed how adults often unconsciously sexualize children.  Sasha may have less of this to deal with since his sex has been somewhat dissociated from his gender.  Media images of sexualized females or hyper sexual males might have a lesser effect on him because of his limited gender identification.


What is wrong with it?
Identity
While it is true that gender stereotypes are often harmful or oppressive, being part of a gender group can have positive effects.  The problem here is not so much that Sasha does not have a gender but that the rest of the people in his world do.  For better or worse, children (and humans in general for that matter) separate themselves based on shared aspects of identity.  They then develop friendships and bonds, often over shared struggles that surround the social and physical aspects of being male or female.  Though it is entirely possible for a people to bond over things other than gender my worry would be that Sasha (or other such "gender neurtral" children) would be at a social disadvantage, with no preexisting model of how they might (or might not) fit into society.  This might end up having the reverse effect his parents intended.  Instead of being limited by gender he would be limited by lack of gender. Is that any better?


Does it even matter?
In the end, I praise Laxton and Cooper's motives but question their approach.  Their child will still be exposed to gender stereotypes no matter how much they try to shield him.  Do they really think that Sasha will not be influenced by images such as these?

  Ignoring a problem has never fixed it and ignoring gender, or the societal implicaitons of it, won't make gender stereotyping go away.  Media outlets will continue to produce stereotypical images that even children, like Sasha, will be exposed to.

  I would suggest that education about gender stereotypes starting from a young age would be ultimately more effective.  This is also an approach that if Laxton and Cooper were so inclined they could have promoted in their child's school and in their community... unfortunately the community now views them as the looney parents who don't know their child's gender.
How would you/ do you try to protect your own children from gender stereotyping?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2089474/Beck-Laxton-Kieran-Cooper-reveal-sex-gender-neutral-child-Sasha.html

"Hey kid, Stop Acting so Childish!"

What does sexy mean to a tween? Lots of parents are worried about just that.  Popular discourse often worries about kids being exposed to adult media.  A kid should not watch a rated R movie or a crime drama but what about when it is the kids' media that is too adult?
There is constant worry about media images effect on young people, young girls in particular. One parent and blogger, Sara Sarasohn, expressed worry about just that problem.  Sarasohn mused about how she was not allowed to play with Barbie as a child because of her mother's fear of the effects on body image the doll would have and how this pales in comparison to the suggestive clothing being marketed to children today.
Perhaps, however, the problem is not the media but rather adults.

Since adults are usually the creators of media for children they are the ones who fuse their adult sense of what is appealing into children's media, and for that matter in everyday products, like clothing, that are not typically looked at as "media".  For example, young girls are often criticized for dressing too sexy.  Adults blame the influence of popular music, television, and other media examples that sexualize women.  But these sexualized identities are present from an early age because of the media images and products they are exposed to daily.  Many of these images may fail to make significant distinction between girls and women which means that styles and attitudes that appeal to adult women are subsumed by girls as part of their adoption of gender.  The question is one of timing: Are girls adopting a woman's identity too soon?
One  might say that children's preferences for sexualized media reflect their sexual development.  While it is true enough that children are capable of making a lot of decisions independently, adults have the power to limit the range of a child's perspective, resulting in a limited scope for the child's decisions.
Sarasohn points to the difficulty she has in finding clothing that does not sexualize her young daughter.  By virtue of the wardrobe that is available to them girls are integrated into a sexual identity from and early age. As an extreme example of this look at the TLC show, Toddlers & Tiaras.  These parents are some of the worst offenders of prematurely woman-ifying their daughters.  The claim is that the children enjoy dressing up and participating in pageants.  Adults claim the child has agency in decisions about whether they should participate in pageants, but we must question whether this is true functionally or realistically. When everything about childhood is condemned by adults children have little direction to go but to pursue adulthood through whatever means are available to them.  One that seems readily available to young girls is clothing choice, and what is more adult than sexually suggestive clothing?

It is, of course, easy to get in a tizzy about about what the big bad clothing companies are doing to our daughters and the "horrible mothers" on Toddlers & Tiaras but the fact remains that children find these products appealing, likely because of their "adultness".
In our culture being "childish" is an insult.  So what is a child to do but try to shed the part of their image that is condemned by adults.  Craig Balsam, creator of "Kidz Bop", a CD series that does covers of popular music for kids, noted that "It's hard to have a brand for kids that has absolutely no edge, I really think they would be completely disinterested."
So is it possible to have "edge" without being "adult"? Perhaps the answer lies in getting children more involved with the production of their own "edgy" products. What do you think that would look like? How can children be interested in stimulated without being subject to adult sexualization?

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/parents-teens/

It Starts with Media Literacy

We are always influencing and being influence by media. So, in that influence cycle there is the potential both to advance positive social change and to drown in our own social issues.  Media literacy, is the first step towards the former.
What does this have to do with gender?
Studies estimate that we see 16,000 advertisements everyday (Bullen, 2009, p. 149).  Young people who are still developing and understanding of gender roles see and are influenced by these images.  
Adults like to believe that we can shield impressionable youth from damaging images but because we too are exposed to so many of the same images some of the meanings inherent within many of them go unnoticed.  Of course, no responsible adult would allow a young child to look hyper sexual images of women in Playboy magazine, but what of images in family television which show women as passive and defined by their outward appearance? Make no mistake, images that reinforce negative gender stereotypes are everywhere.  We cannot reasonably expect that children will not see them.  Educating children on how to find and express meanings in media is essential to stop the cycle that perpetuates negative stereotypes.
Boys and Girls, Men and Women
Boys and girls both are influence by media images, and therefore both men and women are "victims" of the negative and limiting stereotypes presented. We should  look at these images without assigning blame, only meaning.
Demeaning images of women are often the subject of criticism but negative images of women sell men short as well. When girls see sexualized women presented as ideals it effects the development of their personal body image.  This can often lead to a lack of confidence, self worth, or even eating disorders as they struggle to match themselves to the gender ideals presented (Bullen, 2009, p.150).  But men and boys too are limited in the experiences they can have with the women in their lives, having such a narrow concept of what a woman should be.
An admirable project in Media Literacy for youth is Reel Grrl's annual "Wall of Shame" Project in which girls post media images of women along with their critiques, and their own interpretations (Bullen, 2009, p.151).

This in itself is not enough though.  It is important that boys be exposed to the girl's analysis of media.  Seeing their female peer's perspectives is the first step towards creating an inter-gender understanding of media, which is essential to challenging the gender boundaries asserted in the media.
A More Real Ideal
Because of the cyclical nature of media our perceptions do have the power to reverse the gender templates put forth.  The goal of media literacy is to stop young people from perpetuating the same stereotypes that limit them, in a sense preventing history from repeating itself. Only then can we advance positive change.

References
 Bullen, R. R. (2009). The Power and Impact of Gender Specific Media Literacy. Youth Media Reporter , 149 -152.