Gendered Messages in Personal Care Products

When many people shop, the products and the types of products that are available to consumers can feel overwhelming. Just in the last few years, the beauty and personal care industries have created many new products to market and sell to American consumers. For this assignment, you will analyze how these products are gendered, in that they create or reinforce societal ideas regarding what is appropriate for men and women. You will need to physically go to a store that sells personal care products for both men and women (i.e. shampoo, deodorant, shaving stuff, soap, toothbrushes, etc.). This can include Target, Walmart, CVs, Walgreens, or another store that you think is appropriate. When you arrive at the store, go to the personal care section and carefully look at the store. Here is what I would like for you to observe: Notice the way the store is organized. Look at the different beauty and personal care products. What do you notice? Are there products marketed to women only and men only or products that seem gender neutral. Are the same types of products available to men and women? Are these products the same or different? Pay attention to the packaging and to the packages themselves. What messages do these packages give about what it means to be a woman or a man in today’s society? Are there products that challenge gender stereotypes? Are there products that are gendered, but really don’t need to be? Take notes on what you observe from the statements above. For this Assignment, please submit the following: 1. Write a summary of what you noticed when you went to the store. Make sure to provide details. (Use the points above as a guide/reference). 2. Write an analysis of your findings based on the notes you took from your time in the field and from the questions above. Please make sure to include details of the products, images, or messages that you observed. 3. Your paper should be about 1 1/2 to 2 pages long. 4. Make sure to include at least three of the following terms in your analysis. When including these terms, make sure that you look up the definition of the term so that they are used correctly. Please write them in bold: gender sex gender roles gender socialization double standard gender identity heterosexism heteronormativity doing gender socialization biological determinism functionalism conflict theory symbolic interactionism