Psychology of Gender

WOW! This is going to be a tough class to get through. As people try to take apart stereotypes, they create more stereotypes. People try to justify conformity by making statements as, "I HAVE to put on make up and curl my hair before going to work." When people try to say that conforming is wrong but justify their actions because someone "makes" them, then they're still a part of the problem. One debate went like this:
Girl 1: My job makes me wear make up and high heels to work everyday.
Girl 2: Then get a different job.
Girl 1: I'm in college, I don't have much of a choice.
Girl 2: By claiming you have no choice, you're giving in to the conformity and accepting it, giving it more strength.
This class is already frustrating and it was only the third day. Perhaps this is a good class for me to have because it is full of people with so many different perspectives. My Women's and Gender Studies classes would talk about the same issues but we'd all be in agreement with one another (for the most part) and people just seemed more educated, more aware of the problems of the world.
YES, society does put a lot of pressures on women to look good but that does not mean that we have to fall under these pressures. Perhaps some women do feel they can't get ahead if they don't look good but by putting on make up just because society tells them to doesn't mean they're making a difference, they're only justifying this stereotype.
Recently, I've been watching different commercials online and am totally appalled by how sexist commercials have become! Perhaps the women's movement has made some great victories but when it comes to television and the commercials - oh man! - they are awful! There was a Jack in the Box commercial that had two "sophisticated" women talking about two different sandwiches and why one is better than the other. Jack looks at the camera and says, "this is the worst commercial I've ever been in" and one of the women says, "we can kiss." WOW! First of all, we all know that Jack is full of awful commercials and this is the first one that is dominated by women. Second of all, this is stating that, if women can't get a man to agree with her or keep his attention, she might as well make out with another woman. Basically saying, "as long as we're willing to make out with another chick, we can be stupid and still be noticed."
It's just hard for me to think that, someday I'll be raising a child in this world that is so sexist, so full of stereotypes. Censorship can only go so far and I want my child to be more open minded than I was when I was younger... is that possible in such a gender stereotypical society?
And that's what really grinds my gears.