The Concept of Purity and its Influence on Gender Expectations
Which gender is more prevalent in this field Dancer & Choreographer Female 70.4% Teacher Female 77.9% Doctors, Physicians & Surgeons Male 63.2% Nurse Female 89.5% Scientist Female 53.6% Mechanic Male 98.6% Lawyers & Judges Male 61.1% Mechanical Engineer Male 93.1% Computer programer Male 77.5%
Definition of Purity Mary Douglas' "idea of purity" refers to the systematic structures, classifications and evaluations which shape social groups "There is a place for everything and everything in its place"-a saying applicable to people, places, times, things, etc. What is "in place" is pure, what is not is a pollution.
How are gender roles formed off purity?
How religion founded the definition of purity Mary Douglas' "idea of purity" refers to the systematic structures, classifications and evaluations which shape social groups "There is a place for everything and everything in its place"-a saying applicable to people, places, times, things, etc. What is "in place" is pure, what is not is a pollution. https://www3.nd.edu/~jneyrey1/Purity-Mark.html (need additional sourcing from within text)
Influence of the industrial revolution Just some ideas to go off-https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-affect-did-industrial- revolution-have-gender-429241 In britain- https://muse.jhu.edu/article/416423/pdf
Women in the war effort Government marketing for women to fill men’s jobs while they were at war In the war efforts, women still remained within their prior job sectioning as nurses while men took the more “risky” jobs
Multicultural implications
Perceptions of culture in a class system
Marketing of toys and gender bias Barbie was based on a weird german sex doll Girl vs boy toys from 1920s to 1950s pushed standard roles “little homemaker” and “young man of industry” https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/01/gender-toys-departments-piece/
Marketing of toys and gender bias continued... From the early 80s to present, some toys have a strong gender bias Some retailers have been trying to eliminate boy vs girl toy labeling, I.E Target stopped labelling boys vs girl toy aisles in its stores https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/08/13/target-will-stop-selling-toys-for- boys-or-for-girls-good/?utm_term=.fa413a6e9292 Products themselves often are still in boxes or packaging meant to show what toys are for what gender (color of packaging) etc.
Gender typing Gender typing is the process by which a child becomes aware of their gender and thus behaves accordingly by adopting values and attributes of members of the sex that they identify as their own.
Primary reason for this: Sales, companies realized they could market towards girls to earn more money, by making girl-targeted toys, they could make more sales.
LEGO: Girl vs boy toys Example: LEGO Paradisa, produced 1992-1997 Paradisa sets were designed with many rare pink bricks and focused on free time and vacations, sets included items like fun fairs, pony stables, mansions with pools etc. boxes featured bright colors such as pink, designed to be attractive to girls
LEGO and Playmobil Girl vs boy toys Example: LEGO Friends, introduced in 2012. Similar to Paradisa, featured “mini-dolls” that are larger than typical LEGO minifigures. LEGO Friends boxes are purple, a color that is more girly Playmobil took the other approach. Most of both their boy and girl toys are in standard Playmobil blue boxes, With some having a mix of purple/pink and blue boxes
Why do we care about how toys are marketed? The gender bias in these products can further gender bias as a whole by reinforcing biases about what girls and boys should be, and can possibly reinforce a patriarchy that is currently being fought against by some women
How the ideas of gender roles and purity crop up in persuasion
Pervasiveness and longevity of societal expectations
Sources