Gender
...nting. Looking at the painting more closely, in the background is a vague picture of a fully grown man wearing the traditional coat-and-tie outfit usually worn by fathers to work. This artwork, in a nutshell, conveys how society has already dictated his future roles in society – most basically, he is brought up to be the employed worker who is the breadwinner of the family. His being naked symbolizes his innocence and his unsullied character, stripped off from influences and pressures from society. What is tragic is the fact that at a very young age, the boy has already predestined roles in society, that is, to become the wage earner of the family. He has no choice but to follow the dictates of his parents and eventually, society. He could deviate if he wanted to but he will face extreme consequences: he can be labeled (as “gay”), he will lose the support of his family, or society would be critical in evaluating him that even his character as a unique individual and person is injured. The female counterpart of Marionettes is the painting Blancher Pink also by Ronald Ventura. In this painting, an image of a girl is portrayed as the central figure of the artwork. She is shown wearing a gown and underneath is deliberately shown the petticoat, the undergarment usually used by ladies to make their hips fuller and to make the gown more attractive. By the title itself, gender labeling is already shown: blue is to boys as pink is to girls. The girl is presumably forced to wear the petticoat (it is uncomfortable to wear a petticoat) because it is the tradition and girls, more than boys, is expected to be always poised, neat, and charming. Women are somewhat dictated to become physically attractive to the point that it sometimes tells her own worth as a person. It is true that society is more accepting of males to be physically unsightly than females to be physically unattractive. Because of this, women believe that there is the need to be always beautiful. No wonder, cosmetics and cosmetic surgery is dominated by the female population. It can be also in the genes of women to have a preference for cosmetics but in the context of sociology, women regard beauty as a need because, as mentioned earlier, it is what society dictates on the...