More than 20 years ago Anne Beuf (1974) questioned 3- and 4-year olds about their aspirations. She asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up. The intention of this and subsequent studies was to dem onstrate the differences in sex-typed goals and aspirations. Such research also demonstrated the child’s view of their adult options. In her investi gation, Beuf found that both girls and boys responded with stereotypic occupations. For girls these included teacher, dancer, nurse, and mother. Beuf noted that no boys included father as a career goal, but it was common and accepted for girls to cite mother as an adult ambition. Although recent research demonstrates that today girls perceive more options available to them (Bobo, Hildreth, & Durodoye, 1998), most school-age girls still have gender Stereotypic choices (e. g., teacher, nurse, and motherhood).
Indeed, it is no stretch of the imagination to interpret early girlhood experiences as painstaking preparation for gender-typed roles. Even the toys designated as appropriate for girls may be construed as preparing them for their dual roles as caregivers and as sexual ornaments, more than for careers. From baby dolls to Barbie dolls, little girls are encouraged to incorporate gender roles and sexuality into their play. Whereas baby dolls come with bottles, diapers, and strollers, Barbie and her friends bring glamorous clothes, lacy underwear, and the tools of seduction—a sports car, a town house, and a pool. In addition to reinforcing specific role expectations for girls, it has been suggested that the blond, blue-eyed, slender-hipped Barbie further reinforced the image of a standard form of beauty for American girls, an image that does not include women of color. Although a variety of Barbies are on the market including a career Barbie and a dark-skinned Barbie, the original blond remains the standard. Various print, film, and television media images also project a standard of femininity and feminine behavior. From fairy tales to The Brady Bunch to advertisement slogans, it is made clear to children in the United States that the epitome of female beauty is a blond woman who needs male approval and support.
Until recently few researchers examined the effects of such cultural assumptions and icons on girls. Although women of color seem to have resisted to some degree the limitations of the female role expectations with respect to career development, research (Bond & Cash, 1992) as well as personal narratives and fiction of women of color (Angelou, 1971; Bell — Scott, 1994; Washington, 1975) demonstrate the deleterious result of the White standard of beauty. Many African American women, for example, elaborate dreams of “turning white” or suddenly coming to terms with their hair and color. For girls who are outside the standards set by the majority, perceptions of attractiveness and femininity have been shaped by the often competing forces of the American culture and the culture of their ethnic or social class group.