How Western Culture Makes Women More Competitive

1173 words - 5 pages

1Montour Competition amongst women is evident today, more so than competition amongst men, especially in western culture. Women learn and expand their competitive tendencies in their early development as a cause of observational learning, from their exposure to clever advertising ploys and other media as well as through the use of social media, which becomes a platform for the competition to grow even more.Girls are exposed to the competitive nature of other girls and women from a young age. They will watch their mothers go through a ritual of choosing clothing and jewelry, doing their hair, and enhancing their features with makeup before leaving the house. This ritual is seen and taught from infancy. Conversely, men will also make themselves presentable before leaving the house, however, they do not hold the same extensive routine as a woman. A mother will not only prepare her best self before leaving the house, she will also make sure her daughter is presentable by dressing her up in frilly outfits. This doesn't particularly seem as if it is contributing to a more competitive way of life just yet, but "By age 4, children [have] achieved 50% of their adult intelligence" (Prince). When a mother goes out into the world with her child, she is bound to run into people she knows. Whether she encounters an old friend, a colleague, or just an acquaintance, they will socialize. At this point in a child's development they are learning much more than most realize about the world and it's mechanics (Prince). "Learning is socially constructed. We learn from our interactions with peers and other more knowledgeable guides. These interactions create deeper understandings through the social construction of learning" (Cobb). For this reason, small interactions like this are very important. Children will pick up and learn social cues just by listening to their parents interact with other adults (McAllister). Within this brief conversation, a child will pick up small things such as complements towards clothing and other visuals and how it makes the other person feel by seeing different facial cues. This newfound knowledge will continue to be developed further, especially by advertising and marketing ploys and the media.Advertising and marketing are very influential and play at the competitive side of women. As you peer onto the pages of a magazine "A white woman gazes out from the pages of a 1983 advertisement for a Chevy S-10 Blazer in Cosmopolitan magazine. Wearing a floral-patterned blouse and heavy cosmetics, she dominates the two-page layout, her image larger than that of the vehicle being sold" (Howard). This image makes an impact on the reader, even if it's not realized (Ciochetto). When we look in a magazine, we see many pretty and stunning pictures of both women and men. It's known that a person has to be especially beautiful and successful to make a debut on the pages of a magazine, especially Cosmopolitan magazine, having the reputation for being the go...

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