Synthesis #1
Our concepts of gender are constructed by our biological characteristics and societal factors. In many societies, these concepts of gender, and the differences in men and women are rooted in tradition. The moment a child is born a kind of social construction begins. A child whether girl or boy will most likely be shown some behaviors on how they should behave according to their biological characteristics. Throughout history, we have seen the same stereotypes placed on gender, men should be strong and brave. They are the ones that support their families while women are the caregivers and the nurturers and handling the household. According to Emily Kane in “Glamour Babies” and “Little Toughies”, “gender is not a straightforward amplification of underling biological differences between male and females; rather, gender is constructed through social processes and enforced through social mechanisms.” With that being said Kane feels that we should not limit ourselves to those preconceived notions of what men and women can do. According to Kane, we should not believe that men and women could not develop certain mental or psychological attributes merely because of their sex. This mean that we do not have to fall into the trap of preconceived notions, such as; if we are born a girl we will love the color pink and do poorly in mathematics. My niece Jackie who is 10 years old has never liked the color pink her favorite color is cobalt blue she is an A student in
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Show MoreReading 1 of The Lenses of Gender by Sandra Lipsitz Bem focused primarily on how society has viewed men and women through looking at the history of religion, theories, philosophies, and law. Bem uses her research to teach readers of the main differences that have historically set men and women apart from one another in the areas of male superiority, biological differences between the male and female bodies, and the roles that the sexes have maintained in cultures. What I found most significant was the general belief throughout all areas of historical research that Bem presented, that men are the “standard” for humans, and women’s ability to be pregnant and have children is extra, or “other” than the standard. Not only did the mentioned cultures
Gender stereotype Do you know how negative stereotype impact on boys and girls? It is because the society has a stereotype about boys are more involved with drug crime and sexual harassment. Research has shown that teachers and parent’s expectation of student’s ability’s, achievement and behavior are influenced by gender role stereotyping. . In her writing “The War against Boys” Christina Hoff Sommers states that ““It is really clear that boys are Number One in this society and in most of the world,” says Patricia O’Reilly” (283). For this reason, the boys taking benefits of their position, as a result it leads the boys doing crimes, violence, and sexual harassment.
Gender Roles- Are They Inborn? The essay “Why Boys Don’t Play with Dolls”, by Katha Pollitt, argues how boys take the role of being strong and masculine, while girls embody politeness and ladylikeness. Pollitt asserts that males and females’ mentality and actions are a result of social conditioning.
The Beacon Street Girls Series focuses on five preteen girls as they proceed through junior high, who all know they can count on each other. These girls reflect different personalities in comparison to one another as they validate opposites do attract in friendship. The twenty two books of the series target an audience of preteen girls, and involve lessons that they can take away from and apply to their everyday life. The sixth book in the series, Lake Rescue, presents the girls with a new character named Chelsea, who is “. . . Usually dressed in a baggy Patriots sweatshirt, and always sitting in the back of the room . .
The book talks about how men are the breadwinners of the family and that the females are the nurturing kind. For my family alone, it is mostly females and therefore they had to work hard to be the breadwinners. I have never seen them be the stay-at-home mom and take care of the children. For my family, the roles are equal. If it is a mom and a dad, they both work, they both clean, they both take care of the children and they both take care of the finances.
After watching the film Tough Guise, the main message of the film is that men are responsible for the majority of violent crimes, and this has to do with what the mainstream media shows, and the upbringing young men have in the United States. Men from an early age are taught to adhere to standards and stereotypes such as to not cry, to not show emotion, to not step down from confrontation, and to not act feminine. When men watch movies, listen to music, and play video games, much of the things they consume are violent or misogynistic. There are thousands of movies with hardcore violence, video games where you break the law and kill people, and music with suggestive themes that lyricize with murder, sex, and objectifying women. This idea of a “tough guise” or toxic masculinity has a significant impact on society because it perpetuates, unrealistic standards for men, while promoting violence and aggression that has been shown to affect women, minorities, and the LGBTQ community.
Both articles relate to this concept in explaining how society and culture have created a patriarchic society in which the dominant gender is male. Gender affects how we think of ourselves due to the social expectations associated with being masculine or feminine, male or female. Society teaches us how to behave by having an establishing certain guidelines through gender roles. In other words, we are expected to follow a certain behavior due to our sex or gender. Males are expected to be leaders, tough, ambitious and proud while females are expected to be emotional, sensitive and affectionate patient, and
People are not born with knowledge of biases or differences among each gender. Bennhold, the author of the article “What Roles Do Nature and Nurture Play in Constructing Boys and Girls,” believes, “early stereotyping via gender-specific toys, clothes, and language, matters.” Teaching your children that differences between genders do exist molds their future abilities and behaviors. For example, people often associate certain toys, jobs, and even colors with male and females. Women are often portrayed as caregivers and Men are seen as the breadwinners.
Dalton Bragg Mrs. Sager English 12 12 February 2018 The Struggle to Understand As times have changed so have people. Men are no longer the only ones that can do tough and excruciating work.
Sarah Skyman Ms. Montaño English 800B 16 February 2023 Strict Standards When men are used to having power over women, and women step too far out of gender norms, men are unsure of what to do. Little Women explores the early concept of feminism through Jo as she defies how women should be seen and treated. Jo’s typical Victorian sisters, Meg, Beth, and Amy behave in ways that support 19th-century gender norms, thereby highlighting and emphasizing Jo’s differences. Jo behaves in a way that many consider manly, and she ignores her so-called feminine duties as they do not interest her. Laurie, Jo’s best friend, and member of the upper class critiques Jo and Meg’s feminine identities and often feels disturbed when the sisters do not live up to
Gender roles in the twenty first century world have had evolved over the centuries, the general idea that men and women possess distinct characteristics is often treated skeptically, but this is an almost universal view that has been held since the eighteenth century. Ideas about gender differences were derived from classical thought written by patriarchal societies, Christian ideology from the Catholic Church and science and medicine. Men and women were thought to inhabit bodies with different anatomical structures and that thought that they possess fundamentally
I remembered when I was young, there were plenty of movie that has girls play dolls and boys play football. These movies were popular among children that day until now, girls were meant to be soft and boys were meant to be powerful and strong. Then one day, I’ve watched a movie that has a girl play in the football team and I were surprised because it’s the first time that I’ve seen a movie that shows girl can be both femininity and masculinity. This movie has a huge impact on young children behaviour and has influenced children in constructing gender roles in the society. ‘Little Giants’ has shown the characteristic of the main character to be abnormal and changing the gender stereotypes in young audiences’ perspective.
Unlike ‘sex’, which typically refers to the biological and physiological differences, gender is a sociological concept that describes the social and cultural constructions that is associated with one’s sex (Giddens & Sutton, 2013, p. 623-667). The constructed (or invented) characteristics that defines gender is an ongoing process that varies between societies and culture and it can change over time. For example, features that are overly masculine in one culture can be seen as feminine in another; however, the relation between the two should not be seen as static. Gender socialization is thought to be a major explanation for gender differences, where children adhere to traditional gender roles from different agencies of socialization. Gender
Although some people believe that nature affects the gender identity, others argue that, based on the education an individual receives, it is actually nurture. For example, John Moore, a teacher at a female-only school, says, “My findings suggest that, in some senses, the single-sex school is strongly feminist” (Moore, 2005). On the other hand, many societies teach the children gender stereotypes to try and limit them from becoming against what the society feels is appropriate. Gender roles or stereotypes are “a set of qualities, behaviors, and attitudes that are considered appropriate for males and females based on their biological sex” (Whalen & Maurer-Starks, 2008). Most of the time, these stereotypes are taught and explained to the children in the early stages of learning, since as mentioned above, gender identity is most likely detected after the child is two years old.
Gender roles, also known as gender stereotypes, are social and cultural norms on how females and males should conduct themselves within a society. Every culture has certain roles both genders are expected to follow. An example of this in traditional American culture is a man becoming a doctor while a female becomes a nurse or men being the hard workers and women being stay at home mothers. Gender development researchers, similar to other developmental researchers, focus on questions of change over time in gender related subjects (Ruble and Martin 1988). Research suggest that children are socialized to understand gender stereotypes at an early age.