Post 1: Toddlers and Tiaras

This is my first post in our semester-long class project for Sociology of Gender. I'm excited about the project, since I'm a journalism major and obviously enjoy writing, but also because class material we've covered thus far is interesting and relevant to everyday life- something I can't necessarily say about some classes.

We've been talking a lot about gender stereotypes and how our society is very binary and rigidly structured when it comes to gender. The ideas of masculinity and femininity are very clearly defined and predetermined in our minds from a very early age, in part due to environmental stimuli- the way we are raised, what toys we are given to play with, what we learn in school, etc.

A popular TV show right now that clearly illustrates this is Toddlers and Tiaras, a reality show about the world of child pageants for teens all the way down to infants. Flipping through the channels today, I stopped and watched the show for a few minutes. In the limited amount of time I spent on the channel, there were dozens of examples of ways the parents portrayed in the show were forcing hyper-femininity onto their young girls. Girls wear frilly pink dresses that are often revealing. In one episode, a four year old girl even wears fake stuffed boobs and butt enhancements to look like Dolly Parton- the same outfit her mother wore in pageants years earlier and was now putting on her own daughter.

The mothers on the show dress up their daughters in fake hair, makeup, fake eyelashes, even fake teeth, giving them the impression that they aren't good enough as they are and are better as this perfect, hyper-feminine and often hyper-sexualized doll.

With parents forcing these gender rolls on their children at such a young age, how will the gender stereotypes that have long permeated society be disproved? More importantly, how will kids learn to find their own gender and choose their own path?