This post is about how gender norms play a role in our every day life. I thought it would be interesting to compare the difference in self-care products used before bed every night. Items such as shampoo, conditioner, face wash, razors, and body wash, are worked into our life from the time we are a child. Scents and colors matching the gender we identify with. Not only is the packaging different for me and women, women are also pushed more items through marketing telling them to look a certain way and buy more products to make them beautiful. I decided to focus on the items my boyfriend has in his travel bag compared to mine. This is not the case for all women, some may not buy as many self-care products as me and that does not make them less feminine just as a male having more products does not make him less masculine. But, from my point of view as a woman, I have felt the pressure to use more body and face products in comparison to my boyfriend. Therefore, I decided to focus on the difference between the number of our products, the packaging, and the purpose. Enjoy!
Bath Bags
This first photo is of our bath bags. By just looking at them you can tell which one is mine compared to his. As women we are told to like items with sequins and cute designs. As you can see, this bag just screams feminine. When I picked this bath bag out, I didn’t choose it because I wanted to get a bag that showed that I was a women. Influences throughout my whole life have pushed towards choosing a bag like this. The bag on the left is a dark green and has a more basic look to it. Things like textures and dark colors are known to be more masculine in our society. Men are taught to stay away sequins and pretty designs because it will make them look “weak” and “girly”. Why does the design of a bath bag have to influence how people perceive you?
Bath Items
This next photo is of all the items inside of our bath bags. At first glance you can tell which items are mine. My bath items are all either pink or white besides my makeup wipes and facial cleanser. All of my items besides the facial cleanser are marketed towards women just by color and design. Look at his shampoo and body wash, it even says “Men + Care” on it. In our society we are told that because something has a pretty design on it and it a pink or purple color then it is feminine
Facial Cleasers
For this picture I decided to touch on skin care. I asked my boyfriend to show me what he uses to clean his face and avoid acne compared to myself. I see this as doing gender because as women, we have a pressure to appear flawless and have no acne on our faces. Because of this, I fall into buying more and more skin care items trying to get rid of pimples and facial flaws. This is not the case for all women, I just know from my experience the pressure to have clear skin is very stressful for me and I wanted to represent that with this picture.
Toothbrushes
We bought these toothbrushes together. My boyfriend bought the blue one and I bought the pink one so we could tell them apart. Blue and pink, the two most prominent colors when telling the difference between male and female. If a stranger would come into our apartment and see our toothbrushes they would know exactly which one belongs to each of us. How crazy is it that by just looking at these two toothbrushes it is that apparent which gender it belongs to.
Deodorant
When I first decided to make my photo blog post over self-care items I immediately thought of deodorant. There is a huge difference in male and female deodorant, the packaging, the scents, the names. The one on the left is my deodorant, it is light blue, Hawaii citrus, and the same of the brand is “Secret”. The packaging is very feminine, it is very light and almost looks airy with the light blue and it has flowers and fruits all over it. The male’s deodorant is almost the exact opposite of that. It is bright red and boxy, has a metallic sticker on the front, the scent is extra fresh, and this brand is “Old Spice”. These two items have the exact same goal, stop sweating and make under arms smell good. Why do we feel the need to change so much about a product just to make it for females and males when it has the exact same goal?
4 thoughts on ““Doing Gender” Nightime Routine.”
Loving every bit of this post because so relatable! Why are these products that do essentially the same thing so drastically different?? I think it is something we as women are aware of but never really say much because we are just so used to having so many products(most of us at least) I know I do! In the media we are sold on this idea that to look like this, smell like this, be like this we have to have all of these certain products to do so.
I like the way you elaborate on how women are marketed so often by this idea of an ideal image. The differences between his night routine and yours is huge. The deodorant image really stands out to me, especially because the opposing fragrances. Beyond the expectation of appearance we have an expectation of what feminine and masculine should smell like.
Bless lol I am so glad this is a post. I have a whole routine as well with a bunch of “make me flawless” products. I see posts floating around about women trying to get their men on skin care routines but they are so oppositional because it’s seen as “unmanly” but really it’s healthy and sometimes relaxing!
Loving every bit of this post because so relatable! Why are these products that do essentially the same thing so drastically different?? I think it is something we as women are aware of but never really say much because we are just so used to having so many products(most of us at least) I know I do! In the media we are sold on this idea that to look like this, smell like this, be like this we have to have all of these certain products to do so.
I like the way you elaborate on how women are marketed so often by this idea of an ideal image. The differences between his night routine and yours is huge. The deodorant image really stands out to me, especially because the opposing fragrances. Beyond the expectation of appearance we have an expectation of what feminine and masculine should smell like.
Bless lol I am so glad this is a post. I have a whole routine as well with a bunch of “make me flawless” products. I see posts floating around about women trying to get their men on skin care routines but they are so oppositional because it’s seen as “unmanly” but really it’s healthy and sometimes relaxing!
Very interesting to see such gendered items for items that essentially do the same thing.