'Codes In William Pollack's Real Boys'

The authors conducted a study in regards to the atypical gender development of children. Atypical is a term used to define those who have gender variance and don't yet know what to identify as. Ultimately, the goal of the study is to find if genetic or environmental contributions play a part in the process of defining your gender. To conduct this study, they used the families of opposite twin pairs, along the ages of 3 and 4 to observe the gender development of each. As a result they looked at the boys who were highly feminine and at the girls who were highly feminine compared to others of the same gender. To pursue the study they took the two groups and looked at the behaviors in relation to gender as well as the environment around

In Robert Jensen’s article “The High Cost of Manliness”, he states that the idea of masculinity is a bad thing and they should get rid of it. This article debates on the common stereotypes of men, as he states:

Aaron Devor discusses the patriarchally-expected gender roles of today’s society. He delves into the discussion of femininity versus masculinity. Society associates femininity with weakness, whilst associating masculinity with greatness.

In our progressive world, we are failing to recognize an important issue of sexism. Men are constantly expected to be ‘manly’ and strong, mainly seen in their attitudes and fashion. This strong cultural expectation of men is the core reason behind the bullying of those who don’t conform to gender stereotypes. Acting outside the boundary for males causes ridicule and becomes a taboo.

Throughout the course of history, society uses gender as an organizational tool to classify humans into two basic categories: male and female. This creates a gender binary with socially constructed norms that design a rigid guide as to how each gender must act and perform in their daily lives. Gender is a social construct and not inherent in our genes. As gender theorist Judith Butler claims, “Gender is the repeated stylization of the body, a set of repeated acts within a highly regulatory frame that congeal over time to produce the appearance of substance.” In other words, society is performing a role of gender every day that gives off an impression of male or female through our own repetitive performance of gender. Gender performance roles create and uphold societal norms, discourse, and the foundation upon which children are being raised in the patriarchy.

“Masculinity as Homophobia” an article by S. Kimmel, that talks about how men these days have the fear of being judged and ranked based on their manhood. There are some arguments that the Professor mentions and uses in his article that supports his argument and some experiences from other people 's perspective in life of men over the years.

Customs and convictions change; respectable people are the last to know, or to admit, the change, and the ones most offended by fresh reflections of the facts in the mirror of art (Updike). The story, A&P, is written by John Updike, it takes place in a grocery store named “A&P”. Three girls were judged based on what they wore. In the short story, the main characters are the girls, manager, and the teenage boy. The short story, “A&P”, by John Updike demonstrates diverge ideas of the feminine sex through ideas of feminine uniqueness, collective expectations, and rebellion of the social ideas.

“And while parents’ support of their children’s gendered behavior is not always and certainly not simply a conscious effort at gender socialization, their behavior is probably more powerful than they think. Even parents who strive for gender equality, and who believe that they do not constrain their children’s behavior along gender lines, have been observed in experimental situations to do just that” (Eckert and McConnell-Ginet, 743). We all have experienced this process while growing into the common “big boys and big girls” (Eckert and McConnell-Ginet, 742). Parents are making the mistake of teaching their kids to act the way they should because of the genital body parts each are born with. It will just raise the issue of gender inequality more when they grow up. A man will have such roles and a woman should have such roles. A person shouldn’t be honored for contributing as a woman or man in history but their actions instead. This is an inevitable act carried out by parents universally and will continue for a long

Gender is the state of being male or female. Male are thought to be adventurous, aggressive, strong whereas females are to be affectionate, attractive, shy and sexy. While I highly identify with my feminine gender characteristics, at times l possess masculine characteristics like confidence, ambition, and sometimes aggression.

In the essay “Masculinity as Homophobia” by Michael Kimmel, he brings up many points as to how men view masculinity as trying to be perfect to hide underlying insecurity. He then states that anything deemed less than manly (females, people of race, homosexuals, etc.) is ridiculed because of the way we view masculinity. Kimmel first brings up a story about boys on a playground, where you have to prove that you’re manly at a young age, and that it is essentially engraved into our nature that we must not be a “sissy”. This then stems off to how violence is created by this sense of manhood, since we must always fight and never run when conflict arises. Kimmel argues that we have gender coded responses to everything, and that if a man does anything

In the article “Men –It’s in Their Nature” by Christina Hoff Summers, the author supports the claim that men acting the way they are born and bred—that is, aggressive, competitive, and more indifferent to their feelings—is not an issue (Sommers 366). The issue, she argues, is that schools are trying to make boys less “like boys” and more “like girls”. Sommers believes that masculine qualities and behavior are rooted in men’s DNA and it is practically a hate crime to try and force them to suppress their manly tendencies. However, on the opposite end of the spectrum, men being “the way they are”, or rather, “the way they are supposed to be”

In Stephen Mays article “ What About Gender Roles In Same Sex Relationships” he talks about how the traditional gender roles of a relationship do apply in a small way to same sex couples but he also says “Imposing gender roles on on gay couples is even more ridiculous than doing so with straight couples”. The whole purpose of a gay relationship is that there is no “woman” and in a lesbian relationship there is no “man”. People are so accustomed to the traditional relationship of a man and a woman that they try to push those gender roles onto single gender relationships. When a man shows personality traits that we would normally associate with a woman, that does not make him the woman in the gay relationship because he is biologically a man. I couldn 't agree more with Mays in this article, a women can be more masculine and that does not make her a man, so why does society feel the need to force strict gender roles on everyone.

Despite our physical appearance and cultural values, there are other aspects of our lives that can pattern an individual’s lifestyle based on their gender. There has always been a significant difference between men and women. Due to our human anatomy we are expected to follow particular rules and behaviors that determine our social acceptance. I believe that most of us have been influenced since a very young age by the

Throughout decades the roles of women in society constantly evolves. However, society continues to limit the natural progression of women, who want more for themselves. In “Why Women Smile” by Amy Cunningham and in “The Feminine Mystique” by Betty Friedan, both discuss how the majority of time, women are always expected to act on the role given to them by society. Due to these notions that are set by society, the social roles of women have not progressed to their full potential.

It is time to discuss the meaning of gender, its significance, its importance, and how this could play a major part in one’s life. What is gender you might ask? Could it determine the role you play if you may play a role at all? Gender is socially learned and reinforced characteristics that include one’s biological sex and psychological characteristics. It is said that gender has nothing to do with male or female. However, we can say that Shakespeare has a way of being sexist in his playwrights, or having a sexist attitude. Let us say just because you are female you could not get a job, nowadays this is considered discrimination, but during the Elizabethan times this was a way a life. Could we say that Shakespeare wrote his plays this way because he himself was truly sexist, or was it solely based upon the way of life during this time. We really do not know much about