My point is that the stimulus precedes the appetite, that society is built to have people as they find their place in it pick up expected behaviors from their peers and stimulus conditioning like advertisements. We don't get what we're looking for, what we're looking for gets us.
You don't think it gets steered towards this agenda or that?
I do think that, but that even those using them are exposed to the tools.
That the desires of the few aren't imprinted on the many?
It tends to be big money guiding the hands of specialists.
It also contradicts the gender claim of the OP while otherwise agreeing that we're just parrot-monkeys.
I don't disagree that we're parrot monkeys, or that both genders are subject to it, but I do think this problem is more prevalent in women.
Based on what?
I think there's more pressure on them to conform. Men have slightly more open expectations.
Both genders are expected to conform, strongly, but what they conform over is different criteria. It's a world of subscriptions that we're destined to pick and choose between, and men fall into these traps pretty readily, but over a different societal set of expectations. Men even are stuck with far, far less aesthetic choices, and the trends for hair, facial hair and clothes they follow are extremely limited compared to the vast spectrum that is otherwise available to women.
Just because it's geared in a Patriarchal direction doesn't mean that men are somehow above it. Men's "slightly more open expectations" are just as much a part of The Beauty Standard as women's participation in it, and conversely the expectation on men to get buff and wear the right clothes and scents isn't that different from female expectations. Memes like "Do you even lift?" more than demonstrate that both genders are stuck within pre-set models (and is leading to men who feel inadequate buying T-boosters and shit), and even within a society where Gay Marriage is now legal it's still considered shameful for a man to display that about themselves compared to women. Even being seen as "not wearing the pants" is considerably more shameful for a typical man to face than a typical woman, showing how "The Patriarchy" can bite back if Men can't keep up with it's expectations.
The biggest divide demonstrated in Patriarchal structure is over the perception of power, but both are expected to conform to a rigid set of standards in the name of "Society" in order to upkeep this construct. Men also tend to have less of a focus on exchanging one's feelings, so they in turn end up overall less practiced in seeing a variety of views, typically favoring a forward moving ego that focuses on itself above others ('will to power' kind of junk). The upkeep Men undergo has been shown to reduce their life expectancy (typically from bottling), and it tends to be men that more strongly enforce conformity as a form of streamlining instead of 'overcomplicating' it (whee testosterone).
What makes nowadays different however is over how one's subscriptions have become Decentralized. No longer is it a big deal if you missed this or that from your Cable package or don't all shop in the same stores, but that advantage has spread more so towards women than men. Men are still expected to be "MEN", they aren't supposed to show weakness of any kind, while women can practically be anything from being 'the desired sex'. Check on the Incel mindset, their conceptual lashing out at 'women' is over how they feel that they don't measure up to the image of "Manhood".
Being in what's perceived to be the disadvantaged position tends to lead to people questioning the status quo more. From this, I'd argue from those I've met that Women have been the ones with the patience required for more open expectations while it's the Men that are all like "So this is how it's gonna be".