Gender Codes in SELF Magazine Essay -- Sex Gender American Culture

An Ideal SELF Woman?Americans live in culture full of numerous gender codes. Gender codes are imaginary rules of how males and females should live and are created within America by the media such as TV shows, movies, billboards, magazines, and advertisements. In Gender Codes in the American Culture, Jack Solomon and Sonia Maasik swear that Gender codes are socially, not naturally, constructed, and usually reflect cultural determine rather than natural facts (476). This supports that the media creates gender codes because it is the main method in which cultural values are presented. They present what is accepted to be masculine and feminine in America at the time, and society follows these generalizations of what it means to be a man and a char, thus creating gender codes.A lifestyle magazine is an example of a one type of media that creates gender codes. It is easy for lifestyle magazines create gender roles because they idealize a certain type of man or woman because they addre ss the aspects of anyday life in their articles, advertisements, and features. They show their readers how the ideal man or woman lives their life. SELF is one lifestyle magazine that does just that. SELF is a lifestyle magazine for women between the ages of 20 to 50 years of age and it focuses on giving their readers information and pointers of how to live a supposedly well-rounded life. SELF creates the feminine ideal that a woman be competent in every aspect of her life.According to SELF, being competent in every aspects of a woman s life includes being health conscious, eating right, having scheduled hebdomadary workouts whether at home or in the gym, keeping yourself well groomed, dressing fashionably, being independent, having healthy r... ...er life, and if she isnt, then she should be working to fix that in identify to achieve this ideal status. This ideal woman creates a gender code for SELF readers.Works CitedBlum, Deborah. The Gender Blur Where Does Biology End and So ciety target Over? Signs Of Life in the USA Readings on Popular Culture for Writers. 4th edition. Ed. Sonia Maasik, and Jack Solomon. Boston Bedford/ St. Martins, 2003.495- 501.Maasik, Sonia, and Jack Solomon. Weve Come a Long Way, peradventure Gender Codes in American Culture. Signs Of Life in the USA Readings on Popular Culture for Writers. 4th edition. Ed. Sonia Maasik, and Jack Solomon. Boston Bedford/ St. Martins, 2003.475-483.Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth. Signs Of Life in the USA Readings on Popular Culture for Writers. 4th edition. Ed. Sonia Maasik, and Jack Solomon. Boston Bedford/ St. Martins, 2003.515-524.