All my life I have been labeled. I have been told I was too small and that I could not participate in sports because I was not as strong as boys. I used to sit on the sidelines during gym because I was too afraid I would get labeled for not being good enough. I have missed out on opportunities because I am a girl. Overcoming the stereotype that girls are
Somaly Mam was born in Bou Sra around 1970, lived there until she was nine, then went with a man who claimed he was her grandfather to Thlok Chrov. There she realized he was nowhere near a grandfather as she had to clean, cook, wash and fetch water for him and anyone else in the town who would pay him. If she was late or did something wrong, grandfather would beat her. During her time there, she took a liking to the river, Mekong River, where she met a boy who introduced her to Mam Khon and Pen Navy. Mam and Pen welcomed Somaly into their home where she got a meal and a family. Grandfather was a man of many debts. To pay off one of them, he gave her body to a Chinese merchant who took her virginity when he raped her. Grandfathers then married her to Than, a soldier who beat her and only used her for sex and food during their marriage.
Some girls, like me have played a “boys” sport. Boys always told me I am not good enough to play. “Girls can’t carry the same weight as males” (Collins). I played on a co-ed team for about four years, and I wasn’t the best. Since we could walk, my dad would take my sisters and I out on the ice before or after his games. He would take us around the rink for a skate. Where I live there isn’t much hockey; no one knew about it. But now our community has a brand new rink,
“Never let someone stop you from doing something you love” - anonymous. Has anyone ever stereotyped you or labeled you in a way that made you want to quit an activity or something you had a great passion for? Our society has many stereotypes, a multitude about participants in sports. Gender stereotypes in sports affect females negatively; more must be done to encourage females to live up to their potential in any athletic/sport.
“Today I will do what others won’t, so tomorrow I can do what others can’t.”- Jerry Rice. I love this quote by Jerry Rice because it says the hard work you put in will pay off. That while others are slacking off, you are bettering yourself and are one step closer to your goals. Throughout this essay, I will explain what exercise is, how fast your heart should beat, how many calories should be burned, and that muscle fibers should be broken down.
I was taught to be polite, to work hard, and above all, to be a good person. I was told “boys don’t cry,” more times than I can count, and I was taught the basic differences between girl traits and boy traits. While this may sound politically incorrect, at such young an age, I appreciated the simplicity of having only two categories in my life, and I enjoyed being taught to “be a boy.” However, despite instilling the ideas of boy characteristics in my head, my parents never let me sacrifice my individuality. When I became a target of bullying in my public school, my parents allowed me to switch to a private all-boys school. It just so happened that the time I switched schools was the same time that I was going through puberty. Looking back, going to an all-boys school during those years made my life much easier simply because I was taught to be a respecting individual who just happened to be male. I was allowed to be as different or as similar as I chose because everyone around me had the same ability. Gender was almost completely overlooked, and that was a great way to go through the supposedly “most awkward” years of my life. As a result, I think that I benefit now because I am more accepting of unfamiliar ideas, and I am also not afraid of being more “feminine” at
Growing up, I didn’t always conform to the normal little girl ways set by my society. I had Barbie dolls but I also had Pokémon, Dinosaurs, and Ninja turtle toys. The social gender norm for girls would be tea parties and Barbie dolls, while boys would have dinosaurs and car toys. Though, I had a little bit of everything, as an only child I had a choice of what I thought I liked better. My parents didn’t choose what was right for me, and I didn’t so much care about what other kids had. I also started a sport very young, I joined a swim team because my dad taught me how to swim at the age of five and I adored it. Ever since then I started playing outdoors and I grew up playing basketball and football with the neighbor boys. Therefore, I always had the mindset that girls could do anything that boys could do, and gender didn’t matter in most cases. Unlike the common belief that boys or men in general are better, or more superior. My parents raised me on a more neutral level and it changed my views from the social “norm”.
One of Amazima’s primary goals that they hope to achieve is to provide an education to all underprivileged children. “The Amazima School is a classical Christ-centered secondary school that exists to equip Ugandan students with the tools of learning to enable them to live fully for the glory of God.” The Amazima School “emphasizes academic excellence, servant leadership, and nurturing relationships.” Not only does the Amazima organization provide children with an excellent education, they provide each child with “a loving home, invested house parents, excellent teachers, nutritious food, great extra-curricular opportunities, strong academics, and vocational studies all within a biblical worldview.” The Amazima ministry believes each child
Imagine you are a 13-year-old boy. You are playing tackle football with some of your best buddies. You are running with the football just inches away from getting a touchdown when suddenly, a girl rams right on your side, causing you unbearable pain as tears rapidly flow from your eyes. One of your friends bursts into laughter, “You’re crying like a girl!” You and the girl do not say a word to defend yourselves because you have been taught gender stereotypes by society. I believe that boys and girls should be raised to accept who they are and must abolish these stereotypes because they are not true.
When my mother's water broke, my father was anxious to see his newborn son. As he laid eyes on me, his first born child, he claimed, " A girl? Why a girl? Put her back where she came from!" When my mother recalled this story, I cried. I finally understood why my father looks down upon me. He believes that I am less than the boy he expected to have. To compensate for his disappointment, I became a tomboy. By 4th grade, I was officially one of the “guys”. I was always the first one to be chosen for a sports team. I wore loose pants, tied my hair up in a ponytail and I was never afraid to get bruises and scratches on my porcelain skin. By 5th grade I wanted to show my dad how “manly” I could be and decided to work with him at his office. At
Towards the end of eighth grade, my teacher, Mrs. Brown passed out this form that instructed us to choose our classes for the ninth grade. I made casual marks along the paper, oblivious to the fact that I had chosen honors classes. Dumbfounded would be an understatement once I got the schedule out the mail. “No mama, I can’t do this, you have to call that school and get me out right now.” Consequently, I got the first silent treatment from my mother and I was ashamed because I knew I had disappointed her. After a haunting day or two, I was begging my mama to talk to me. I tried to butter her up by informing her that middle school material was much
The reason why the atomic mass of an atom is a decimal number is because every atom has isotopes . The atomic mass of an atom contains a different number of protons and neutrons. If an atom has a different number of neutrons, the atomic mass will be different for each atom. The mass of the atom is measured in AMU’s which is atomic mass unit because it has an extremely small mass. In order to measure these tiny atoms, we know that one amu is equal to 1.66054 X 10^ -24 g. The way the elements are arranged on the periodic table is by the order of increasing atomic number, which includes the mass number of protons and neutrons.
Annually, there is a Boys vs. Girls rally on my campus where the two genders go head-to-head. I sat, watching gender be portrayed as binary, rather than a spectrum comprised of varied identities. I watched the festivities exclude anyone who did not fit neatly into preconceived notions about what it meant to be male or female. Students were divided into opposing sides of the gym as men were portrayed as brainless athletes and women as lascivious objects. I wanted to despise my peers for their narrow perceptions, but I also knew that they never had the opportunity to know better. Our minds were filled with what it meant to be male, female, gay, straight, weird or normal upon entering high school. We entered with social perceptions irrevocably altered by how
Knowing that I didn’t have any older siblings that were girls nor did I have girl cousins, it was slightly hard for me to just have a girly girl mindset. As I got older playing “boyish” sports became a custom to me. By that time, it was going to be hard for anyone to break me from that. The I went into elementary looking to play the sports I was used to playing. Unfortunately,
“In order to be a girl, one must dress elegantly, otherwise they are not considered feminine or “ladylike”. When I was 12 years old, I was asked to join a beauty pageant and they asked for a cute picture of me. At first, I was ecstatic and honored, until I was told to wear an extremely short dress, high heels, and a plethora of make up. In this case, I felt as if my gender and physical traits were being questioned. I am more of a sporty, simple, and casual dress kind of person, not a “girly girl”. Deep down, I felt out of place. As a result, I questioned whether or not I was masculine or feminine. If I am athletic and into sports, does that make me masculine and not feminine? I came to a solution. Maybe physically I dressed masculine, but emotionally I was