t to become moremasculine.GENDERANDTHEMEDIA Another aspect of everyday life that is highlyinfluential in gender socialization is the media. What we see on television or at the movies,what we read in the newsp aper or in magazines, what we see on billboards or hear on theradio are all very significant on how we form a opinion on gender identity. Mediapublishers have very successfully learned to play to an audience and are extremelysuccessful in communicat ing with the audience they wish to reach. Advertisers are thebiggest example of this concept. Society is very apt in recognizing images seen incommercials and printed ads and viewing them as socially acceptable behavior. Forexample, beer companies w ill target the twenty to thirty year old male audience andinclude scantily clad women enjoying their favorite beers. Ironically, popular womensmagazines also use beautiful women to promote cosmetics and beauty products (funnythat both my examples sho w the exploitation of female images in society...more on thatlater). How often do you think people question the activities they see portrayed inadvertising and question them as to there validity? Probably not very often. It is mucheasier for society to just accept the images and not bother to take the time to analyze theirbias and untrue nature. It is this societal ignorance that clouds the mind and allows theimages to continue to influence what we believe to be socially acceptable. And when society is presented with something or someone out of the ordinary which doesnt followwhat we deem to be correct, we rebel and try to modify it to our socially acceptablestandards.THEANDROGYNOUSSCENARIO Imagine a baby born with no visible sexorgans. N ow imagine after some tests that there are no internal or external sex organswhatsoever. No ovaries, no testes, no uterus, no vagina, no penis, no glands that produceestrogen or testosterone, no semen, no eggs, no anything. Is this possible? Surprisi nglyyes. I...
