Cultures Recipe for women today

As shown in our reading, our culture provides certain expectations for women. Everywhere from magazines to game boards to television, there is a constant reminder of what women should look like and what a women should be. In other words, these are ingredients of what a women is. These ingredients consist of catering men’s every needs and having great looks. Just like every other girl growing up I had Barbie’s, pink clothes, ruffled dresses, and had a prescription to either Seventeen Magazine or Teen People. Being young and naïve, I did not notice that these were all in some way transforming me and telling me what I need to be and do to be considered a “girl.” Prescribing to these magazines it seemed as a good way to inform myself on cute new trends for the season, what is flattering on a certain body type and so on. In almost every article written in those magazines were some how geared towards how boys would perceive you for example surveys to show how much a guy was into you, what clothes attract a guy, what make-up gives or a flirtacious vibe, and so on. Just like the game boards described in “Boys-R-Us: Board games and the Socialization of young Adolescent Girls,” Scanlon writes “by playing these board games, girls learn a central rule: they need boys to complete their self definition.” Just like these board games, these magazines are showing young girls that you need to look at your self as through a guys perception not your own. They are constantly directly and indirectly drilling into a young girls mind the importance of a boy/man opinion. It shows young women that their opinion and their self-worth is irrelevant compared to what a man perceives of you and tells you that your self worth is measured to what a man’s says and wants. Also in the article, “When I Was Growing Up,” Wong constantly talks about how she always wanted to achieve a certain look that she thought was more desirable than her own. On magazine covers and all around us there is a certain look that you need to light skinned and need to be thin in order for men to be attracted you. No matter where you look there is constant reminder of who women should look and what ingredients are desirable in women more than others.