Gender Roles In Popular Culture

Gender roles in America are constantly changing over the past years. Television shows, music, movies and books are perfect examples to show how popular culture influenced gender roles. At one point in time, gender roles were necessary for society to be able to function in a healthy matter. Now, both men and women are both capable of doing anything; however for men giving birth is an exception. Popular culture allows us to see how people reached up to the point that their roles can be switched. Gender roles affected our social values by allowing society to think that a certain gender is defined to do a specific job, although that is not the case anymore. Throughout the 1950s, 1960s and in today society the roles of male and female had changed dramatically. In the 1950s, the roles of men and women were beginning

Social life in the 1950s was considered to be strict (Class). Young boys and girls were taught to behave according to their gender (Boudless). The enviroment that these young children grow up in affects their beliefs, values and their behavior (Boudless). For example, in the show Leave it to Beaver, Beaver had this generalization that all women weren’t smart because all they have to do is to get married and be in charge of the house chores (Class). He is so used to seeing his father doing the work outside of the house, which makes him believe that men are smarter. Children realized that different genders have different roles, which can lead to affecting their social life and their self-esteem later on in life. Fashion in the 1950s was also a huge part of the popular culture in reality and in television. The average man would be normally wearing the business suit to work (Axinto). The average women would be in work clothes such as a simple dress with an apron over it which symbolizes the work she does as a