Introduction
Gender stereotypes are a widely debated topic in the contemporary world. The About Face project aims to oppose a culture that promotes the belief that women are weak, incapable, and have a particular set of duties and responsibilities that should be obeyed. About Face conducts classes, workshops, and summer camps, and posts articles that inspire girls aged 13 to 18 to think and act beyond the existing stereotypes. The current paper examines how the project assesses women’s portrayal and provides the author’s opinion on these assessments.
Main body
The Gallery of Offenders presents an overview of stereotypes that women face daily. According to Snyder (n.d.), the image of women is usually overly sexualized, especially during sports competitions. The project suggests watching at the powerfulness, strength, talent of female athletes, instead of their appearance, body, or marital status (Synder, n.d.). I share this attitude because any person’s skills should be estimated regardless of gender because these two factors are not interdependent.
At the same time, Synder (n.d.) worries that women are excessively sexualized in advertisements and fashion shows. It is impossible to disagree with this fact; however, I do not regard it as a problem. The goal of an ad is to persuade a stranger to buy a product, and this goal could be achieved by demonstrating attractive women and men. Besides, men are also depicted in commercials as wealthy, handsome, and desirable since this is how every man wants to look. Consequently, not only females are the victims of gender stereotypes, but males are as well. Undoubtedly, when ordinary women compare their bodies with models ones, they could become upset if they do not fit in the podium standards. However, if an average woman compares herself with a female scientist or a female president, she could think that she is not smart or successful enough.
Conclusion
To sum up, I suppose that sometimes women’s potential to be strong and talented is underestimated and males on TV and radio often comment on females appearance instead of skills. However, these are exceptions, not the rules. Obviously, one could find a person that believes in gender stereotypes, but it is not a common practice. The real problem takes place in the countries where the rights of women are restrained, not in the American society where women are free to make careers, drive cars, and study in universities.
Reference
Snyder, E. A. (n.d.). About Face. Web.