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Synthesis Essay Barbie Doll

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Gender is all around us. Like water surrounding creatures in the sea, we are often unaware of its ever-present nature. Gender is actually taught to us from the moment we are born. Gender expectations and messages bombard us constantly. Upbringing, culture, peers, schools, community, media, and religion are some of the many influences that shape our understanding of this core aspect of self. How you learned and interacted with gender as a young child directly influences how you view the world today. Gendered interactions between parent and child begin as soon as the sex of the baby is known. In short, many aspects of gender are socially constructed, particularly with regard to gender expression.

Like other social constructs, gender is closely …show more content…

They vary among different societies and cultures, classes, ages and during different periods in history. Gender-specific roles and responsibilities are often conditioned by household structure, access to resources, specific impacts of the global economy, and other locally relevant factors such as ecological conditions.

In the poem Barbie Doll, the author says “She was advised to play coy, exhorted to come on hearty, exercise, diet, smile and wheedle” (Marge Piercy, 1982). The author is saying that the girls should just make sure that they exercise, diet and smile to look beautiful-to find a husband to marry. Later in the same story, the author said “So she cut off her nose and her legs and offered them up” (Marge Piercy, 1982). This quote is saying they women should just give up everything and make their husband or family happy, at the cost of …show more content…

Gender equality is based on the premise that women and men should be treated in the same way. This fails to recognize that equal treatment will not produce equitable results, because women and men have different life experiences. Gender equity takes into consideration the differences in women's and men's lives and recognizes that different approaches may be needed to produce outcomes that are equitable. Gender analysis provides a basis for robust analysis of the differences between women's and men's lives, and this removes the possibility of analysis being based on incorrect assumptions and

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