“Frontiers”

Have you ever heard any of these sentences “You can’t like pink! That’s for girls! Omg is he a girl?!” Or how about, “Hey! Girls don’t play with trucks here, you should play with this doll instead.” Or maybe you heard someone say, “Are you seriously crying? Man up!” Maybe you even heard something along the lines of, “Women can’t lead! They should stay in the kitchen where they belong!” All this is not new. Gender stereotypes have been around ever since mankind has been around. My project aims to address and recognize these stereotypes and how they have negatively impacted our lives from early on. I wanted to focus on the younger generations before they get influenced by the gender stereotypes often shown in children’s movies and shows.

My idea is to create a website that allows users to learn and share ideas about gender stereotypes seen in entertainment. Users will be able to publish their own clips and ideas that can be used in children's movies. I came up with this idea because I think it will be easier to change the mindset of younger children rather than older adults. We can change how children view things before they are exposed to them. One of the main factors that influence children’s mindsets is movies and shows. If we create movies and shows that break gender stereotypes, we can open so many youthful minds that won’t be driven by what society expects of them.