Telling Women's Lives

Implicit Bias-Helen Cardamone

Three quotes stood out to me in The Effects of Gender Roles, Implicit Bias, and Stereotype Threat on the Lives of Women and Girls.

1. “Our brains automatically organize the stimuli we encounter, drawing on stereotypes when we lack full information or we need to make quick decisions”

2. “Popular culture plays an important part in reinforcing these gendered associations”

3. “Definitions of beauty have significant impacts upon women in many realms. Women who do not conform to beauty norms often experience a cascade of negative consequences, in large part due to strong cultural associations of beauty with capability and positive personality traits”

Implicit bias was brought up during the movie we watched at Dr. Rubino’s house and is brought up frequently in my art history courses. What we choose to show in all forms of media becomes a somewhat pictorial normality. In order to understand the reasoning behind a producer of imagery, you must research their upbringing, medical records, relationships with family and friends, etc. All the while, this information may help the viewer understand more about the producer, which is always important, but audiences will never fully understand what was going on through the mind of the artist/producer.

Courses like WGS and papers like “The Effects of Gender Roles, Implicit Bias, and Stereotype Threat on the Lives of Women and Girls” are important. In controversial essays about feminism, gender issues, racism…if no one will speak on behalf of how imagery is bias then our society will never curb our media’s lens. In my opinion, there is always room for open discussion and improvement.

Our society must take the time to acknowledge imagery and take a personal stand on how to present oneself and how others present themselves. If research shows that their is a positive correlation between what is internationality beautiful and what is societally ‘normal’… then slandering and supporting should always be appropriate, in good humor or with good taste. It should always be okay to disagree with someone; that goes without saying.

Media provides information for our entertainment, politics, etc. If our brains automatically organize stimuli we encounter’ then shouldn’t our snap decisions of beauty be called into question during times like now. In this WGS class. During dinner conversations.