Atypical Gender Development

Robert Brannon states that there are four elements in the masculine roles (Lips 242). The first one is “the avoidance of femininity” wherein men must not do things which have a feminine touch. Most men are short-haired because long hair is usually associated with women. The others are “the need to be superior to others” and “the need to be more powerful than others.” Men have acquired the idea that they are better than women. Because of their physical attributes, men are considered to be stronger than women.

There are also perceptions relating to the behavior of people that distinguish what are expected and what is not expected from people of a given gender. For example sensitivity, dependence and expression of emotions are considered feminine in nature. The men on the other hand are expected to exhibit traits such are bravery, independence, assertiveness and none of those traits that are associated with the women. However these cultures that build perceptions continue to fade with each passing day. As a result, there are many incidences of deviation from gender roles prescribed by society.

In my opinion, process of raising child and effects of culture are determinant in sharing the roles other than biological factors which are not able to directly influence the gender development in human-beings. Even before the birth, both females and males have a strong connection with their mothers. They begin to learn new things from their mothers since the day they open their eyes to the world. Therefore, mother’s behaviors towards their children play a crucial role to shape child’s interests and acts. Dewey (1995) claims that men’s being more dominant and aggressive than women are not directly connected with biology.

The reasoning behind the evil woman hypothesis was that woman have violated gender roles as well as laws, which is consistent with hostile sexism. Women may receive more assistant and help post prison compared to men since women typically are not as psychologically as stable compared to men. Men should also be offered this same options as the women are instead of being stereotyped into one category as everyone being the same as one another. People believe that more women are offered more assistance after being released from jail compared to men because men typically want to play the “tough man” role to prove that they do not need any help compared to women once being released from jail. Another factor to as why women receive more options compared to men is that women are usually more targeted by those who they may have gotten to know in jail or even prior to being in jail and also tend to be a victim rather than being a recurring

From birth, children are socialized into the stereotypical roles that are linked to their specific biological sex. Studies have shown that the awareness of gender roles have already been perceived by the age of 2 or 3 and deeply embedded by the age of 4 or 5 years. It has also been found that children distinguish these differences in toys and will only play with the “gender appropriate toy” whether there is a cross-gender toy selection due to the positive or negative feedback given by the parents. These perceived notions continue into adulthood where there is a lot more men found in professions such as law enforcement, politics, and military whereas females are mainly found in social work, hospitals, and childcare. This adherence to gender specific roles is evident of the fulfillment of society expectations but not a true reflection of personal preference.

Throughout history, from the beginning of time to today, women have frequently been viewed as inferior; men’s possessions whose sole purpose was to satisfy the men’s needs. Maybe it 's because men are physically stronger than women and have always had the ability to control them that way. The recurring theme of gender conflicts helps drive the novel Things Fall Apart by showing how important women are to the men. Chinua Achebe portrays this recurring theme through an analysis of women as a social groups’ spiritual,

Males tend to respond better when training do physical activity. If boys can respond with hard work and determination then who is to say girls can’t respond the same. Females might not respond the same because they haven’t always been told they have somewhere to go in life with their sports because in most ways there is no way for them to play professional sports. All girls might need is to be told they can go somewhere while doing what they love. Just by saying this it could light the spark that the girl needs to have the same passion, drive, and determination that a boy has.

Although it is granted that men are stronger than women, it can still be maintained that countless women have tried and passed the issued physical fitness tests. In addition, many would suggest that women lower the moral and unit cohesion as an argument against women fighting in combat. In some units cohesion may not be gained between male and female recruits. However, studies done on Norwegian and Israel armies women bring useful skills to their units and have increases the cohesion within their assigned units. Another argument many believe in is that the military is not appropriate for women due to its traditional gender stereotypes.

Nevertheless, empowerment does not seem to be interchangeable both ways. Despite being able to incorporate menswear into womenswear for something more androgynous, it is hardly recognised amongst men to adopt the essence of womenswear and to merge it with menswear -- for men. It is easy to envision masculinity being tied to the female body, but not otherwise as it is something embarrassing for a man to be seen as ‘effeminate’. This is also probably why women seek to find confidence and empowerment through various sources, if potent parts of the gender norms were changed especially in such a sudden manner, “the public reacts as if basic gender conventions are being threatened” (Paoletti and Kidwell, 2007). Yuniya Kawamura (2005) argues that clothes are just clothes, it is but a tangible material product, while ‘fashion’ is much more: it is a symbolic product.

Besides, men just have one title “Mr” while women bear “Mrs” for married women and “Miss” for “the young or unmarried women”. Marital status is considered more important for female than for male. Proverbs Sexism can be clearly found in English proverbs. They carry sexual bias against female: women are the source of bad things, trouble, absurdity, talkativeness, weakness and of course prejudice in favor of men: power, wisdom, strength. Women are fastened to negative associations and subordinates while positive connections and authority are for men.