Boys Will Be Boys Essay

The book All American Boys, by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely takes place in the United States, although the state is left unspecified. The time period is also unconfirmed, but through assumption it can be estimated that it takes place in modern day time. Where it connects to American History isn’t exactly a specific section, but moreso just racial tension in general, linking the book to various parts of history. The main characters in All American Boys are Rashad and Quinn. Rashad is an African American boy who gets into an accident while at a convenience store, causing a police officer to assume that he was stealing. The policeman then proceeds to brutally beat Rashad, despite his compliance. Then there is Quinn, a white boy who, while

The feminist movement has been trying to change the idea of traditional sex roles and stereotypes in society for decades, but maybe the issue relies on society instead of biological differences. While these biological differences and research show that there are small differences in cognitive brain activity between the sexes, they also propose a theory that this “is the way it’s supposed to be” (Pollitt 2549). Although these differences exist it does not mean that sexes should have permanently assigned roles in society. Katha Pollitt, a feminist author and high profile activist wrote the essay “Why Don’t Boys Play With Dolls,” published in 1995 in The New York Times Magazine. In the essay, she argues that “biological determinism may reassure some adults about their present, but it is feminism, the ideology of flexible and converging sex roles, that fits our children’s future” (2549). Pollitt raises important ethical problems in her essay, gender roles and stereotyping. Throughout her essay she provides several claims to her argument and builds credibility with her audience by using rhetorical strategies. However, the argument also exhibits some minor flaws, which could in return limit its persuasiveness. This analysis will identify Pollitt’s three main claims and the evidence she uses to support them. I argue that overall Pollitt provides an effective argument by building her credibility and expanding her audience with the use of rhetorical strategies, such as ethos, pathos,

Gender coding is not a natural or biological characteristic. People are born with different physical and biological characteristics, but make sense of their gender roles through cultural influences. “Stereotypes are amazingly powerful, and we may not realize the degree to which our thoughts, beliefs, and actions are shaped by them” (Silverman, Rader, 2010). Boys and girls are labeled as masculine or feminine, which is considered the “norm” for society. Children are not born masculine or feminine, they learn these roles from parents, peers, media, and even religion. Concepts of gender identity are sometimes placed on children even before their birth, such as with the selection of paint colors for the nursery.” Children begin to form concepts of gender beginning around the age of 2, and most children know if they are a boy or girl by age of 3” (Martin & Ruble, 2004). From an early age, children are encouraged to identify with gender coding. Gender is formed at birth, but self-identification as being male or female is imbedded into their minds by parents and society. A child learns to understand their gender role and their identity by what is taught and expressed to them by others. Yet as a child grows, gender coding can cause cultural confusion, and insecurity issues throughout the course of their life.

We are all living in a society that is filled with social expectations of gender. From our early age, we seem to be able to response to these expectations accordingly. For example, we notice Barbies are for girls while robots and cars are for boys only. In the “Performative Gender”, “Doing Gender”, and “Nerd Box”, authors all indicate gender is learned instead of inherited. They bring out their insightful observation and critical personal experience to illustrate how the social expectations with punitive effects construct our gender unconsciously. These articles provide a great lens for us to understand the mental state and behaviors of the main characters in Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. In Fun Home, Alison Bechdel portrays how living in Beech Creek, Pennsylvania during the 1930s not only repressed both her father, Bruce, and her from coming out as a homosexual and genderqueer, but also trapped her mother, Helen, in her “women box”. Through the graphic memoir, Fun Home is able to present the struggling process that one may need to go through before admitting one’s unusual gender identity and sexual orientation.

As a mother of two young girls, I constantly worry about the decisions I am making to raise them. Like any parent, I want my children to be happy and be able to be who they truly are, even if that means they do not fit the stereotypical role of a girl. In today’s society some of the most difficult things people face is their choices they make to be themselves, whether they are little boys playing with their mother’s makeup, or the little girls who want to be a super hero rather than a princess. Sometimes these choices made can be ridiculed, criticized and even labeled as wrong. Patricia J. Williams wrote an essay in June 2011 titled “Are We Worried about Storm’s Identity- or Our Own?” In this essay, Williams explores the decision Kathy Witterick

The article “How Boys Become Men” written by Jon Katz, gives a positive statement on how boys still haven’t change and are still growing up the same. Jon Katz, shares with us while walking his dog one day, he saw a boy get beaten by a group of older boys. While walking towards him, Katz asked if he was okay; the boy said yes and begun to swing like nothing happened. I believe that what Jon Katz states is true, because the fact is; boys are always going to think they’re the Alpha Male in every situation. For example: who can climb the highest Rock, who can make a bigger splash in the pool or who can maybe get a girlfriend first.

This article, “No Way My Boys Are Going To Be Like That,” converses that young children are becoming aware of gender processing, which means

Boys & Girls Clubs of America is a program that was introduced in the 1860’s in Hartford Connecticut. “Believing that boys who roamed the streets should have a positive alternative, they organized the first Club. A cause was born.” Now made up of more than 4,300 clubs and in their 103rd year, the goal of these clubs is “to enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens.”

Once a child is born, he or she learns to view the world based on the behaviors of others. The child’s primary caregivers, usually the parents, and others present in the child’s environment, such as siblings, peers, teachers, and even the media, contribute to the development of the child’s perception of himself, those around him, and society overall. This concept is called socialization. “The way we are, behave and think is the final product of socialization” and it is through socialization that we “learn what is appropriate and improper for both genders” (Crespi, 2004). This concept of gender socialization leads to the inescapable

“Friend stopped, stood still, and braed himself.. see I’m no chicken” (Katz 221). Male maturation is a very complex sophisticated process. In “How Boys Become Men” Jon Katz takes on the challenge and head ache of analyzing this process. He explains how learning one of the central ethics of the gender is experiencing pain rather than showing fear and emotion. We do so by taken on challenges because we feel obligated to in front of our friends in order to not look cowardly. How we demonstrate machismo and lack commitment, how we do whatever we can to fit into the society around us and are willing to do anything just to resemble coolness and absolutely no tolerability of getting pushed around. It called Guy Code, a set of

In NPR’s article “The End of Gender,” they discuss the emergence and growth of gender neutrality. NPR goes in depth with various examples of how gender neutrality is slowly being implemented and first-hand accounts from individuals that are practicing gender neutrality.

No pink for girls or blue for boys, nor pink for boys and blue for girls, nor any colour on the spectrum for anyone; only colours for everyone. Humans have been programmed, since Adam, Eve an the Garden of Eden to apply gender to themselves and the world around them. The large majority of history has been categorized into the binary genders – male and female. However, since the second wave of feminism in the 1960s and the increased awareness of gender studies and equality, more people identify as a non-binary gender. The question is when do gender and equality intertwine and negatively affect society. Sweden is currently investigating the effect of a potentially genderless society in a preschool by using the neuter pronoun hen and by reading

“Boys will be boys, and girls will be girls”, says Aaron Devor. Women and men have always been seen as totally different people, but is it right to say that women are different from men. Many research findings support these gender differences. The range of critical response to the topic of the gender is clearly discussed in the reviews written by Aaron Devor “Gender Role Behaviors and Attitudes,” Deborah Blum “The Gender Blur,” and Mariah Burton Nelson in “I Won. I’m Sorry”. Marian Burton Nelson, a former Stanford University and professional basketball player and author of sit book on gender identity. Deborah Blum, a Pulitzer Prize-winning professor of journalism at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Aaron Derov, a sociology professor at University of Victoria. All three articles have similar and different opinions, but they are all about gender differences. While Devor and Blum talk about the origin of gender differences in men and women, Nelson focuses more on strong women; all three articles focus their discussions on aggressiveness, gender behaviors, and male domination.

When a child is born, it does not know anything about the world. As it gets older, the child learns morals and values from the people around it. One concept children learn is the role of gender in their lives. Young boys and girls are given different messages about what they are and are not supposed do in social situations, causing them to act and dress differently from one another. Gender is not something tangible that happens; it is something perceived by American society. Only by teaching children that there is no difference between men and women can the world have true gender neutrality.

1.) To what extent could Dean expect to apply the philosophies and techniques of JIT described in this chapter to the running of a staircase cell.