Androgyny: Rejection Of Gender Roles

In many shops, there seems to be an obvious separation between boys and girls items, for example, the birthday cards, books, clothes, and toys. This is shown in a variety of ways the boy's items are mainly the color blue and the books have pictures of either action figures, superheroes or tools. Whereas the girl's items are mainly the color pink. The books show pictures of fairies, princess, and Bratz. The cards also have the theme of the color pink for girls and blue for boys. The girl's cards have a lot of sparkles and pretty pictures whereas the boy's cards are covered in camo kind of illustrations and also have action figures on the covers. The children's clothes are separated into sections where there are labels for the boy's clothes and labels for the girl's clothes. The girl's clothing is all pretty and pink, it is covered in sparkles. Whereas boys clothing has camo patterns, blue colors, and pictures of action figures.

Parents of these children are not supporting their decisions of who they desire to be, leaning towards the sex of being more feminine (regarding female) or masculine (regarding male). As young as pre-school, children begin to show their common interests such as; playing with dolls, trucks, dressing up as princesses, building sky scrapers, playing with action figures, etc. This article mentions, depending on what they child plays with or how the child acts shows the risk of gender assessment. For example, this article is trying to say that if a young boy plays with a doll or dresses like a princess he

When it comes to gender, it is as easy to determine as quantum physics; all the pieces are there but it is impossible to put together. Without hard evidence, all people can do is to make assumptions. The two biggest arguments on how gender is determined right now is based upon social and biological construct. Arguing for the sociological aspect is Aaron Devor, writer of the article, “Gender roles behaviors and attitudes”. Dover believes that, “People use femininity and masculinity to claim and communicate their membership in their assigned, or chosen, sex or gender” (Devor 505). Devor considers that society has certain roles that are predetermined towards males, females and anyone in between. A man has to act a certain way to be masculine and a female a certain way to be considered feminine. On the not so opposite side of the spectrum is Deborah Blum, author of the work, “The gender blur: Where Does Biology End and Society Take Over?”. Blum doesn’t necessarily disagree with Devor, but asks the question, “Do the gender roles of our culture reflect an underlying biology, and, in turn, does the way we behave influence that biology” (Blum 512). Blum is arguing that maybe it was our genetic makeup that built the foundation on how a gender should act. Both authors present valid points for their arguments, but in the end, it is Blum who comes over on top with her usage of tone, evidence, and the use of a counterargument.

We decided to use 15 people so that we could use the non-gendered descriptions from 5 of the participants and compare them to the descriptions of boys and

The Bem test said that I'm androgynous on Bem's scale and I feel as though this is accurate. I feel this way because although I strongly possess female traits (a couple being that I'm sensitive to the needs of others and that I'm sympathetic), I also strongly possess male ones (such as that I'm willing to take a stand and that I have leadership abilities). I also believe this is the case because some of my friends are similar to myself in the sense that they strongly posses both female and male traits and some strongly possess female traits. I'm also very close to my dad who possesses male traits so both my dad and friends have impacted the traits I have

The Bem Sex-Role Inventory is considered by many to be empirically sound. I completely agree with this statement as my results from the test are what I predicted. I scored a 4.85 on masculinity and a 4.65 in femininity which makes my gender status masculine-dominant androgynous. My highest scoring masculine traits - receiving only sevens - were leadership, analytical, and competitive while my highest scoring feminine traits were loyalty, sensitivity to others, compassion, gentleness and loves children. After laying out my top traits, one thing immediately comes to mind and is a perfect example of where

Gender and gender roles are a somewhat complicated idea to understand. Contrary to popular belief, gender and sex are two different things in that “gender is not inherently nor solely connected to one’s physical anatomy” (“Understanding Gender”). When parents automatically assign their child a gender based on their sex organs, it leaves very little room for change later in the child’s life, because children born with female sex organs are not necessarily girls, just as children born with male sex organs are not necessarily boys. Rather, gender is based on mindset, personal identity, outward presentations, and behavior of the individual. Binary genders, or the broadly

Chapter one: The Study of Communication is what I must say is a soft enlightenment. It not only covered all the basic terms that is associated with gender: cis, transgender, androgyny, intersex but the chapter approached each term in a cautious manner. For example, once the text introduced the term androgyny a column featured a time in western culture where society associated the color pink to men originally and the color blue for girls as well as lace and heels- items that is now considered feminine was once sported by men. In almost every page in book there is a viewpoint of individuals who all have different views and scenarios about gender, proving that is nothing wrong with having different opinions. These parts of the book always intrigue me, out of one viewpoint can stem a discussion and personally it helps me understand opinions that are

In present day all around the world, society has certain expectations for the actions and behaviors of males and females. There are many factors in our everyday lives that contribute to the gender norms that society has set. This essay will discuss how situations in life can play a part in how people treat other people based on their gender. It is believed that males are the leaders of our world, but in present day woman can do as much as men can do. From The Journal of Marriage and Family, Hu states, “Differentiated gender roles in adulthood are rooted in one’s gender role socialization. In order to understand the persistence of gender inequalities in the domestic sphere, we need to examine the gendered patterns of children’s housework time.”(2015, P.1). Gender roles are society’s expectations of the proper behavior, attitudes, and activities of males and females that they must be taught. These roles define how females and males are viewed in society, their household, and workplace. In The Journal of Sports behavior by Hardin, he states, “Although gender role differences from biological and “Natural” exists in popular consciousness, research has long demonstrated that instead, many are long time socially constructed… Individuals understand their gender because they are given names and treated in particular ways, such as dress in pink for girls and blue for boys, that reflect social construction of gender. Bandura's social cognitive theory is key in understanding the factors in socialization”(2009, P.3). Bandura's theory of of social cognition is that behavior, environmental events, and cognitive factors are the main keys that shape attitudes and actions of an individual. Although, gender roles play a very big part in our society, specific genders are treated differently while dealing with peer influence, media influence, as well as employment.

The term androgynous is something I agree with; a person can be both masculine and feminine. A woman can be girly and aggressive, and a man can be both strong and gentle at the same time. However, BSRI is something I don’t fully believe. Taking a thirty question test can’t tell you if your only feminine, only masculine, both feminine and masculine, or neither. It’s just something where some of your actions can show your feminine side and some can show your masculine side. Creating a test was unnecessary in my opinion. I do agree with her when she talks about a women’s place. Men are not superior to women, they should be seen equally in all aspects including work, marriage, duties at home, and etcetera.

When calculating the results, I began to realize that a lot of my answers were based on how I felt, and was raised. The reason, I say the way I was raised was because my mother was both my mother and father, so she showed us the nurturing aspects of life. Also, this was why my highest score of 76 was femininity (nurturing), however there was a score of 32 that described a more instrumental approach. "During history, we represent sex as whether a person is male or female, and gender refers to an individuals nonbiological actions and characteristics that views them as masculine or feminine" (Bradbury & Karney, 2014, p.132). Although, many individuals male and female will have different ways of dealing with and accepting many situations. Throughout my life, I have grew up in a county that really did not accept many LGBTQ individuals. Although I see nothing wrong with these individuals, it was hard for my cousin to come out because according to society guys were suppose to be masculine instead of feminine. This made me feel like how can someone just put a label on an individuals, even if they are not LGBTQ, we still label each individual just on they way they act. Gender stereotyping in my life has always been neutral because I see that a girl can act instrumental and still have that nurturing side, vise versa. So, I believe all individuals should be seen equally, but this is not always going to happen.

Androgyny is a word used to describe individuals whose personalities reflect both stereotypical male and female roles. First developing the concept in 1975, psychologist Sandra Bem understood that androgyny allowed for an individual's behaviour and intelligence to become more flexible in everyday circumstances. According to Bem those who fall into the stereotypical gender roles limit themselves to the stereotype constraints. Androgyny individuals are more common in modern society, thus gradually exterminating gender stereotypes. Ultimately this can act as an extraneous variable as well as an advantage when researching the differences in gender intelligence.

In this essay I will be discussing and analysing, androgyny and gender. More importantly, how gender was and is an important part of society; as well as, how people have challenged the basic stereotypes of gender through fashion and photography and how androgyny is links in with this. I will be using theories from authors like: Judith Butler, Rebecca Arnold and Stuart Hall to support my research analysis. I will also be adding images to back up and secure my research analysis.

Gender socialization often begins early once parents are shown the sex of their child; from then on, baby showers are planned according to gender “appropriate” colors, which are often pink for girls and blue for boys. Even differences in how children are spoke to can be picked up easily in Western cultures. Girls are called pretty and sweet, whereas boys are handsome and strong. Ultimately, the way children learn to identify with their gender culture is in part due to not only family and friends, media, schools, and religion, but also from the toys that may inexplicitly advertise gender expectations. Gender-typed toys may be bought for children as a way for parents to encourage and reinforce gender-appropriate behaviors. However, recent debates have engulfed toy manufacturers and major retailers, which has brought about changes in toy design and marketing in an effort to make reflect more realistic and gender neutral options.

The definition of androgyny is being partly male and partly female in appearance, and of indeterminate sex. The origin of the word comes from the Greek terms “andros” for man and “gyne” for woman. Individuals consider themselves androgynous usually either exhibit behavioral androgyny, where they adopt the roles or activities associate with the opposite gender or psychological androgyny, where they have ambiguity regarding gender or sexual identity. There are three distinct forms of this third identity. The first is biological sex,