Gender Stereotypes

Human infants recognize themselves in mirrors at approximately two years old, and female humans begin to dislike what they see a few years later (Fox). Appearance is the state, condition, manner, or style in which a person appears (“Appearance”). We live in a society today that is a little too conscious about appearance. Our culture's obsession with image is holding us all back. The way you look should exclusively be one part of your identity. In one TED Talk, Meaghan Ramsey brings her thoughts out on the table on how we should start judging people more by what they do rather than what they look like. Moreover, coming together as a team. On the other hand, a model named Cameron Russell explains how image is powerful but also superficial. Ultimately, …show more content…
In this way, we tend to train our kids on spending more time on their appearance rather than time on their true self (Ramsey). She mentions three ways that we can all come together as a whole, whether it’s throughout the businesses, communities, or groups to terminate these social influences aimed towards these young teenage women. One of the three ways that we can work together is to educate body confidence. We need to help teenagers develop strategies to overcome image-related pressures and build their self-esteem (Ramsey). Ramsey believes that there are programs out there in the world that will help with building self-esteem and overcoming pressures, but not many of them work the way they are presented to the teens. However, there are programs that strive through six key areas. Firstly, the influence of family, friends and relationships. Second, the media and celebrity culture. Next, how to handle teasing and bullying. Also, competing and comparing with one another based on looks. Finally, the foundations of respecting and looking after yourself …show more content…
Believe me, I’m a model”, Russell explains how a person’s image is powerful yet superficial. Superficial, appearing to be true or real only until examined more closely (“Superficial”). Russell walks out onto the stage in the beginning of her speech presenting herself in a very skimpy way, wearing a black dress with stilettos on. Throwing her audience off, she tells them that she brought another outfit. This new outfit consisted of a longer skirt that tied around the waist, changed from high heels to flats, following placing a long sweater over her arms. This look gave her an extreme difference in her appearance right away. Being a model, she mentions how in one competition there were 600 contestants and only 27 made it (Russell). Imagine having model dreams and desires, then finding out that you did not make the cut. These are problems that young teens are facing on a daily basis, aspiring to look like a certain role model, and simply not looking good enough. One statistic from the state of Maine in 2011, states that 53 percent of United States girls who are thirteen years old are unhappy with their bodies and that number increased to 78 percent by the time they were 17 (Russell). Russell shows the audience a various amount of photos that have been taken of her, during times when she was on a soccer team to spending time with her friends to hours later being half naked in a photoshoot. Overall, Russell feels that the

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