Society And Gender Roles Essay

931 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Social construct of gender

Society and Gender
Society’s outlook on people in general changes constantly. Gender does not exist naturally but involves socialization and learned ideals and behaviors. Each individual becomes accustomed to their gender roles based upon expectations of society regarding what is and is not acceptable or proper behavior for men or women. Those within our social circle, family, friends, teachers, religious organizations, location, and even the media, all contribute to the social process of accepting one's gender role within society. Especially in today's society, both men and women are restricted in terms of their gender and how they can act physically, mentally, and emotionally without being judged or ridiculed. So, to me, that raises the question, …show more content…

Men are taught that they must be strong and show no fear or sadness. Therefore, when a man happens to be sensitive and they show this emotion by crying, they are immediately judged and are presumed to be gay or weak. However, when it comes to a woman who cries all the time about everything, it is considered (anywhere from..normal to overemotional) because women are supposed to be sensitive and nurturing (hormonal) I believe that in terms of the manner in which men are restricted, it affects them more at an early age than women. Boys are given certain guidelines to follow in regards to what toys to play with and the manner in which to play with those toys. For example, it is acceptable for boys to pretend that ultimately any object is a weapon, but it is not acceptable for a boy to want to play with dolls or dress in pink without being stereotyped as a weirdo, a cultural outcast, or some people even go to the harshest extreme to call or label a guy as a homosexual. However, society sees Girls that are able to dress in blue or pink and are not harshly judged if they want to play with a G.I. Joe or a pretend gun. These girls are not judged, criticized nor looked down upon. In fact in some parts of socialization, ladies are cheered on when doing “manly” things, such as sports,weightlifting, bull riding.... …show more content…

However, girls who pile on makeup, go to clubs, and shop all the time are considered preps or city girls, even promiscuous. This label takes away from a woman's femininity or makes them feel stuck up and as a result makes many women feel uncomfortable participating in such activities. In this sense, women are much more restricted. Even women who accept being called tomboys do not have the opportunity to play in sports such as, professional football for example, because the sport is considered too rough and women supposedly cannot handle it. Also, there are not enough resources to get a sport like this started for women. Even if there were enough resources, unless a woman is half naked wearing lingerie that shows her body, it is not “exciting enough to bring a crowd. It is hard to get the immediate community such as high school and college to get these sports teams together for women, let alone on higher levels such as the NFL, in fact, I have never even heard of a college or NFL football team for women alone or better yet, one that allowed women to participate.
However, it is fact that in 2010 Sgt. Camille Kleparek was rated The Best Warrior in the United States Army and girls are still considered weak or fragile. Guys are also affected by this too. If a guy wants to do something such as modeling, nursing,

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Gender As A Social Structure

    1412 Words  | 3 Pages

    In “Gender as a Social Structure: Theory Wrestling with Activism”, the author Barbara Risman explains her theory to readers about how gender should be thought of as a social structure. Thinking of it as such would allow people to examine how gender is ingrained in almost every part of society, thus putting gender on an equal level of importance with economics and politics. In society, gender dictates many of the opportunities and limitations that an individual may face in his or her lifetime. Barbara Risman points out the three aspects of the gender structure that happen at an individual, interactional, and institutional level (Risman, pg. 446). First, gender contributes to how a person will develop themselves in life. This is the “individual level”. At an interactional level, men and women face different expectations that are set by society. The individual and interactional level are linked because sometimes, changes to one level can affect the other. The third level, the institutional level, notes that gender is affected by laws, rules, and organizational practices that dictate what

    Read More

  • Gender Roles Of Gender And Gender In Walmart

    705 Words  | 2 Pages

    That is, boys will customarily receive blue clothing or toys while pink clothing or toys will be for girls. “Children‘s toys and games are also differentiated on the basis of sex” (Diekman and Murnen 2004; Seccombe p.99). Through these toys or playing with these toys, boys and girls would eventually distinguish the differences between male and female; also, may strengthen, and perpetuate the traditional gender stereotypes. For instance, boys or men are expected to act and behave in ways that have been considered masculine or associated with masculinity (Seccombe p.104); “men are often assumed to be more aggressive, sexual, unemotional, rational, and task oriented than women” (Seccombe p.93); and thus, action figures, such as Superman, WWE wrestling toys, and Hulk are made for boys to play with. While girls or women’s roles are associated with femininity (Seccombe p.104); “women are assumed to be more nurturing, passive, and dependent” (Seccombe p.93); and so, cooking and baking set and baby dolls with bottle feeding and diapering set are made for girls, so, they could apply their nurturing and culinary skills when they get older and mainly do household chores. Personally, I believe these toys have both negative and positive influence on children’s socialization. For instance, playing with toy guns or military toy set with a knife may lead to early exposure to violence and aggression. However, some toys, such as Lego building set and blocks, arts and crafts have a powerful and influential influence on children’s thinking and

    Read More

  • Gender Roles in Society

    2016 Words  | 5 Pages

    “Boys will be boys, and girls will be girls”: few of our cultural mythologies seem as natural as this one. But in this exploration of the gender signals that traditionally tell what a “boy” or “girl” is supposed to look and act like, Aaron Devor shows how these signals are not “natural” at all but instead are cultural constructs. While the classic cues of masculinity—aggressive posture, self-confidence, a tough appearance—and the traditional signs of femininity—gentleness, passivity, strong nurturing instincts—are often considered “normal,” Devor explains that they are by no means biological or psychological necessities. Indeed, he suggests, they can be richly mixed and varied, or to paraphrase the old Kinks song “Lola,” “Boys can be girls and girls can be boys.” Devor is dean of social sciences at the University of Victoria and author of Gender Blending: Confronting the Limits of Duality (1989), from which this selection is excerpted, and FTM: Female-to-Male Transsexuals in Society (1997).

    Read More

  • Gender Socialization Of Toys R Us

    809 Words  | 2 Pages

    First off, I will describe the role the toys are playing when it comes to the socialization process for boys and girls. The masculine wrestling action figures and construction vehicles are showing boy 's their gender roles. In the book, “You May Ask Yourself”, defines social roles as “the concept of gender roles, set of behavioral norms assumed to accompany one’s status as male or female” (Conley, pg 130). In the store it is fairly easy for parents to find which part of the store will fit their kids gender roles. For parents with young boys, all they have to do is look for the blue in the store. When looking for the girl toys, parents just need to find the pink. Parents are actively doing gender in their child

    Read More

  • What Is Gender Identity Essay

    1405 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are many different factors that display the “social norm” for genders. Religion plays a role along with social media. Females are to wear pink and play with dolls. As females grow from girls into women. They are supposed to clean, cook, do laundry, and anything their husbands ask them to do. They have the ‘okay’ to show emotions on how they feel about something and not get picked on it. As where boys, they are not allowed to wear pink or play with dolls. They are to wear blue and play with monster trucks or play in the dirt. They are not typically allowed to show emotions. When little boys grow up to be men, they are supposed to go to work, pay the bills, and they typically want their supper on a plate ready when they get home. Katz proclaims in his article, “More than anything else, boys are supposed to learn how to handle themselves.” (59.) Meaning, they are not allowed to show emotions to other kids not even to their own parents. They are just supposed to ‘handle’ themselves. How does a little kid just handle themselves and not show emotions? Pollitt states, “Women’s looks matter terribly in this society, and so Barbie, however ambivalently, must be passed along.” (74.) I must strongly agree with this remark. They do everything you watch on a TV. The TV Ads advertise women with makeup and being tall and skinny. Gardner claims, “By helping children understand the similarities of different

    Read More

  • Masculine Myth

    1979 Words  | 4 Pages

    Sometimes young males are pressured way more than they should be, or at least that’s what I think. If a girl cries, she is greeted with kindness and condolences. On the other hand, if a boy cries, he is looked down on and called weak. This is where the man box come in, as a “man,” young boy or grown man, you cannot show emotion unless it is aggressiveness. You have to look fearful and immune to the weakness. The reactions to a boy crying can be accidental, “Out of my own frustration of my role and responsibility of building him up as a man to fit into the guidelines, defining man box,” Tony Porter said this in his video called “A call to men.” This is a good example of what I said earlier in this paragraph about how if a boy cries, the response he might get. Instead of listening to the reason a male might hurt or feeling “weak,” they are pressed to get rid of that emotion and man up. It probably takes more to make a male cry or weak, so why do we automatically get angry with them about something that is probably causing them to stress and wanting to hurt themselves? We hurt them more than help them when we do this. The fact that we are so hard on males, makes them not respect our females as much either. The ideal is, “Women are of less value, property of men and sexual object to men” said Tony Porter in the video, “A call to men.” The main problem here is that women deserve way more respect

    Read More

  • Gender Roles and Stereotypes

    1756 Words  | 4 Pages

    Girls are supposed to play with dolls, wear pink, and grow up to become princesses. Boys are suppose to play with cars, wear blue, and become firefighters and policemen. These are just some of the common gender stereotypes that children grow up to hear. Interactions with toys are one of the entryway to different aspects of cognitive development and socialism in early childhood. As children move through development they begin to develop different gender roles and gender stereotypes that are influenced by their peers and caregivers.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Gender In Society

    1020 Words  | 3 Pages

    In our present world, people understand and view gender in different perspectives, or “lenses.” The idea of gender that we see specifically in our present society today is very extensive compared to what it was years ago. We see a variety of different kinds of gender, whereas only years ago it was two: male and female. Personally, I have seen this in our society because I have met people that identify as many different genders that aren’t specifically just male or female. The word “gender” holds an important place in our language, specifically in today’s society, because it has determined who we are, how we identify ourselves, and ultimately our roles in society.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles in Society

    379 Words  | 1 Pages

    Society places ideas concerning proper behaviors regarding gender roles. Over the years, I noticed that society's rules and expectations for men and women are very different. Men have standards and specific career goals that we must live up to according to how others judge.

    Read More

  • The Impact Of Gender And Gender Equality In Society

    1213 Words  | 3 Pages

    No country in the world can yet say they have achieved gender equality (Eitzen, Zinn, and Smith 2012). Every society treats women and men differently. Research shows that sex and gender are entirely separate concepts, yet, society lumps them together and the terms oftentimes are used interchangeably. We can distinguish that sex indicates biological differences between males and females, and gender assigns cultural and social behavior based on sex. However, everything in society is needlessly gendered; advertising, occupations, institutions. Society makes gender a huge factor that determines what roles children and adults alike fulfill. This fosters a culture where roles are pre-fabricated for us, somewhat eliminating free choice, and limiting

    Read More

  • Social Construction of Gender

    1142 Words  | 3 Pages

    Social Construction of Gender Today’s society plays a very important role in the construction of gender. Gender is a type of issue that has raised many questions over the years in defining and debating if both male and female are equal. Today, gender is constructed in four different ways. The The first way gender is defined is by the family in which a child is raised.

    Read More

  • The Social Construction Of Gender

    3360 Words  | 7 Pages

    Gender is such a ubiquitous notion that humans assume gender is biological. However, gender is a notion that is made up in order to organize human life. It is created and recreated giving power to the dominant gender, creating an inferior gender and producing gender roles. There are many questionable perspectives such as how two genders are learned, how humans learn their own gender and others genders, how they learn to appropriately perform their gender and how gender roles are produced. In order to understand these perspectives, we must view gender as a social institution. Society bases gender on sex and applies a sex category to people in daily life by recognizing gender markers. Sex is the foundation to which gender is created. We must understand the difference between anatomical sex and gender in order to grasp the development of gender. First, I will be assessing existing perspectives on the social construction of gender. Next, I will analyze three case studies and explain how gender construction is applied in order to provide a clearer understanding of gender construction. Lastly, I will develop my own case study by analyzing the movie Mrs. Doubtfire and apply gender construction.

    Read More

  • Influences on Emotional Expression

    1214 Words  | 3 Pages

    The primary explanation for the differences in how people express their emotions rests on biology. First of all, our biological sex is the best predictor of the ability to detect and interpret emotional expressions (Swenson & Casmir, 1998). Our gender can shape how receptive we are of other people’s feelings, whether that person is of the same or different sex as us. Usually, people are generally better at recognizing the emotions of the member of the same sex (Adler, Rosenfeld, Proctor, 2007). The definition of being a man or a woman is also influenced by the culture one grows up in. Typically, most boys are taught to be tough even at a young age and are even encouraged by most fathers to play roughly with other boys their age. Crying is one emotion that is greatly discouraged because it is seen as a sign of weakness. On the contrary, it is acceptable for girls since society teaches them to be gentle and nurturing. This probably explains why males are usually more aggressive and competitive than females. These also go hand in hand with the social roles of men and women in society. Our occupations can also get in the way of expressing our emotions, as we are expected to act pleasant even though we don’t really feel that way. For example, ...

    Read More

  • Femininity And Masculinity Essay

    1535 Words  | 4 Pages

    One doctor of sociological sciences defines masculinity and femininity as a “set of attitudes, roles, norms of behavior, [and] hierarchy of values typical of the male and female sex in each specific society.”(Il’inykh,S.A.(2012)) This suggests that “masculinity” and “femininity” are equivalent to gender identities but are influenced by each individual society. From a young age, even before being born, individuals are already upheld to expectations by society based on what their biological sex is. For example, when parents are informed that they are having a male, they usually decorate everything in blue with a theme of cars, dinosaurs, superheroes, or anything that is considered to be tough, and are gifted with toys that include trucks, dinosaurs, action figures, video games etc.(Brewer) Conversely, when parents find out they are having a female, they go for a more girly theme when decorating which includes the color pink, soft decor, flowers, butterflies or ballerinas, and most toys girls receive are tea sets, dolls, items to play house with, etc.(Brewer). With these early exposures, boys and girls are already presented with their masculine or feminine expectations formed by society which convey the idea that men must be strong and dominant while the

    Read More

  • Gender and Society

    2171 Words  | 5 Pages

    The differences between women and men are not solely biological. Our society’s culture has established a set of unwritten cultural laws of how each gender should act, or in other words society has ascribed a stereotype. Men’s gender identity has been one of masculinity, and masculinity is defined as referring to a man or things described as manly. What does manly mean though? Is a male manly if he is “Mr. Fix-it”, or the jock, or if he sits on the couch on Sunday watching football? This latter statement is a stereotype of men, that has been around for decades, and is current as well, but starting with the 1960’s a man’s role started to change, despite the stereotype not changing to accommodate it. For the past 40 years one can see how men have taken on roles stereotypically ascribed to women, such roles including being the “stay-at-home mom”, which we can find an excellent example of in the 1980’s film “Mr.

    Read More

More about Society And Gender Roles Essay

Open Document