The Achilles Effect: What Popular Culture is Teaching Young Boys about Masculinity
When most people think about gender stereotypes and children, they envision princesses, dolls, and pink clothing. Few consider the warriors, muscle-bound action figures, and T-shirts covered in graffiti and skulls that are assumed to signify masculinity.
The pop culture environment that surrounds boys introduces them to a world where traditionally masculine traits—like toughness, aggression, and stoicism—are highly esteemed and where female influence is all but absent.
The Achilles Effect explores gender bias in the entertainment aimed at primary school boys, focusing on the dominant themes in children’s TV shows, toy advertising, movies, and books: gender stereotypes of both sexes, male dominance, negative portrayals of fathers, breaking of the mother/son bond, and the devaluing of femininity. It examines the gender messages sent by pop culture, provides strategies for countering these messages, and encourages discussion of a vitally important issue that is rarely talked about—boys and their often skewed understanding of gender.
The Achilles Effect is a guide for parents, educators, and students who want to learn more about male and female stereotypes, their continued strong presence in kids’ pop culture, and their effect on young boys.
Related Books
MoreLearning to Breathe Fire: The Rise of CrossFit and the Primal Future of Fitness
Health, Mind & Body
Religion & Spirituality
Sports & Recreation
80 views
Breaking Through the Spiral Ceiling: An American Woman Becomes a DNA Scientist
Biographies & Memoirs
Science & Technology
Parenting & Families
77 views
What To Do When You Become The Boss
Education & Textbooks
Entertainment & Style
Business, Money & Investing
78 views
On Being a REAL Princess, Secrets of the Happy Heart Princess
Children's Books
Education & Textbooks
Family & Relationships
55 views
Twitter Revolution: How Social Media and Mobile Marketing is Changing the Way We Do Business & Market Online
Computers & Internet
Science & Technology
Entertainment & Style
94 views
Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams, Insider Secrets to Skyrocket Your Success
Education & Textbooks
Entertainment & Style
Self-Help and Personal Development
63 views
Listen Today So You Can Live Tomorrow
Parenting & Families
Self-Help and Personal Development
49 views
Dancing in the Eye of Transformation, Ten Keys to Creative Consciousness
Entertainment & Style
General Fiction
Health, Mind & Body
67 views
Is There a Problem, Officer? A Cop's Inside Scoop on Avoiding Traffic Tickets. (Globe-Pequot Press)
Humor
Entertainment & Style
Self-Help and Personal Development
102 views
Harmonious Environment: Beautify, Detoxify & Energize Your Life, Your Home & Your Planet
Cooking, Food & Wine
Entertainment & Style
Entertainment & Style
88 views
Respect for the Ancestors: American Indian Cultural Affiliation in the American West
Entertainment & Style
61 views