Article posted Thursday, July 8, 2010 4:24pm

“Why Is It…?” was designed by Dr. Steiner to address readers’ questions about human behavior from a social psychological perspective in order to inform and stimulate dialogue about the ways in which our thoughts, feelings and behaviors are influenced by the presence of other people. Dr. Steiner holds a Ph.D. in Applied Social Psychology. In addition to working as a university educator over the last 17 years, she conducts individual and group consultations in matters of social relationships and behavior. Readers are invited to submit their questions anonymously in one paragraph or less to Dr. Steiner at [email protected].

Q: Why is it that “Why Is It…?” is taking a two week hiatus and how does this brief interruption relate to social injustice toward women?

A: For the last two years, I’ve had the honor of contributing to the Peninsula Pulse by addressing topics of social importance in my columns. However, over the next two weeks, I must deviate from my usual weekly submissions.

Those who follow my columns may have noticed that several of the questions I address relate to issues involving social injustice – including many devoted to female equality – or the lack there of. Well, over the next two weeks, I’ll be embarking on another leg of my journey to stimulate critical thinking and dialog about women and social injustice.

By the time you read this column, I’ll be on my way to Oxford University – where I’ve been invited to present a lecture at their Round Table Symposium on Women and Social Justice. I’m deeply honored to have been selected to participate in this “by invitation only” event, as only 40 individuals – worldwide – are extended this rare and valuable opportunity.

When asked to submit my chosen presentation topic, I had to think long and hard about which of the many social barriers to female equality I wanted to discuss (heaven knows there are plenty to choose from). But after much thought and reflection, I decided to highlight and address the ways in which mass corporate media establish, perpetuate and reinforce the inequitable status of females in American society.

Titled, “The Mass Marketing of Inequality: Perpetuating Female Subservience One Consumer at a Time,” my presentation will identify and demonstrate some of the strategic methods employed by marketing campaigns to keep women “in their place.” And while a complete description is far beyond the parameters of this column, I would like to share some of the basics.

In order to appreciate the depth and scope of the impact marketing campaigns exert over our lives, we must first have an understanding of how our psychologies relate to the development of our self-concepts and social expectations. We aren’t born into the world with a knowledge and understanding of where we fall into the overall social scheme of things (in this case, what it means to be male or female). It’s only through social experience, that we learn our “rightful” place and the roles we are “expected” to play.

One of the most powerful teachers of social roles and expectations is mass media – with corporate marketing and advertising campaigns representing a primary source of modeling (no pun intended).

Through consistent and repeated exposure to diminutive imagery, color schemes, product placement and wording usage, females internalize self-concepts of inferiority, acceptance of male entitlement/dominance and learn to adopt and aspire to the limiting roles of sexual and domestic servitude.

From infancy through aging, females are bombarded with a lifetime’s worth of messages that mass-market gender inequality. Here are just a few comparative examples.

• Infancy: Baby boy cribs are often outfitted with images of trains, planes and fast cars – communicating messages of out-going power and exploration of the world. In contrast, baby girl cribs frequently include images of butterflies, flowers and kittens – all descriptive of traits that are weak, fragile and delicate.

• Clothing: Further reinforcing these messages, boys clothing typically includes bold/primary colors with images of dinosaurs, trucks, sports and superheroes – with girl’s outfits portraying hearts, rainbows, cuddly baby animals and princesses – contrasting expectations of achievement with ineffectuality.

• Wording: In one representative example, a male toddler’s T-shirt read, “Big Man in Training” – whereas tees for female toddlers read “Mini Me” or “Daddy’s Little Princess” – emphasizing diminutive status and male ownership.

• Greeting Cards: One of the more profound examples was in the form of two American Greetings birthday cards. The one marketed to males reads, “Some sons are athletes, some are scholars, some work night and day to earn lots of dollars, some are artistic and some scientific, and some like you, son, are simply terrific!” Now contrast this with the card marketed to girls. “What has 2 legs, 2 arms and a great, big smile? You do, birthday girl!” Did you notice the word “what” instead of “who”?

Sadly, these brief examples only skim the surface of the egregious marketing campaigns designed to maintain female inequality. But hopefully, as we gather from around the world to address these issues of grave importance – solutions may arise from the Round Table Symposium – bringing the equality of women full circle.