Gender And Gender Roles

Remember the 50s in America, how men were the predominant head of the household and women were expected to cook, watch their kids, and clean? This is an excellent example of gender roles, and how they control some aspects of life. Gender roles according to multiple sources are, the way people behave, what they do and say, to express being a female or male. (“Gender Identity”, Blackstone, "Gender Spectrum"). They are forced upon an individual from the day that person is born even in the most trivial of terms of putting boys in blue clothes and girls in pink. Throughout that person’s life from then on, they will face everyday cultural expectations to act according to their sex. Gender roles can often be confused and hurtful, many stores have moved away from assigning products to a specific gender, but not only can gender roles affect behavior, it plays a huge role in transgenderism.

Gender roles are categories that characterize what it means to be feminine and masculine in society, on how people think about gender as they relate to one another (Adams et al., 2013). For example, women are expected to be accommodating and emotional, while men are usually expected to be self-confident and aggressive, this shows how men and women are to behave in society. However, these sayings were taught to individuals based on norms, or standards created by a society which is called Gender Socialization (p. 318). Growing up as a child, we were taught as girls to play with dollhouses, pretend kitchen sets, cleaning supplies and play dress up. Whereas boys are taught to play with cars, sports equipment’s, action figures, and weapons. However, if a boy was playing with dollhouses, or playing dress up, he would be considered gay, or not masculine and looked down upon by society, and families. The same goes for girls who play with boy toys, or dresses as a tomboy, this is what we are taught to play with at a young age. Our families tell us how to behave, our schools tell us what

In “Why Boys Don’t Play With Dolls,” Pollitt writes about the differences between growing up as a boy growing up as a girl. She brings up the stereotypes that society naturally creates between genders in early ages, which leads to the lifestyle and path that boys and girls are raised in. Parents and feminist alike play a big part in establishing these sex roles. They raise their kids wanting them to be successful at what they are expected to be good at based on their gender and the trend that has been set before them.

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.

Unconsciously, we have all been affected or can relate to the effects of gender role stereotyping. From the day we were born, we are labeled as either boy or girl. Although, society has changed its norm in gender roles, many of our traditions have not. In the gender stereotype, we commonly relate a boy with the color blue, and a girl with the color pink. Gender roles have been instilled in us from past generations, due to the way that society was. Gender labeling is still influenced today through children’s toys, where toys are designed differently according to each gender. Through media, society persuades into the ideology of how gender role should be considered acceptable or not.

‘Boys will be boys’, a phrase coined to exonerate the entire male sex of loathsome acts past, present, and potential. But what about the female sex, if females act out of turn they are deemed ‘unladylike’ or something of the sort and scolded. This double standard for men and women dates back as far as the first civilizations and exists only because it is allowed to, because it is taught. Gender roles and cues are instilled in children far prior to any knowledge of the anatomy of the sexes. This knowledge is learned socially, culturally, it is not innate. And these characteristics can vary when the environment one is raised in differs from the norm. Child rearing and cultural factors play a large role in how individuals act and see

From birth, people are told what they should like, act like, and become based on the gender of their body. These preset ideas start off by expecting young females to like pink or pastel colors and young males to like blue or darker colors. It teaches young children that females are nurses and males are doctors, that the mom stays home to clean the house, cook, and take care of the children while the dad goes off to work to make money and provide for the family. Society has come to call these ideals gender roles since they are basic roles and ideas that a certain gender should conform to and accept. In the essay “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, she discusses in one paragraph how the traditional woman is supposed to act. Michael Kimmel writes in the essay “Bros Before Hos” the same ideas, but he discusses how men should behave. Both authors do not like the roles placed upon men and women. Their attitude towards the roles is very negative. While these stereotypes and ideal roles may seem innocent and harmless, they have a dramatic effect on the everyday lives of people. From personality development to careers and education, gender roles have set boundaries that cause a negative effect on both genders.

Mention is made that the reason for this challenge is natural, as girls normally experience social transitions and physical maturity earlier than boys making them feel pressured to conform to gender-role stereotypes. Given the fact that girls experience early maturity than boys, it can be refuted that much is

Gender roles are a stereotype of what society deems acceptable for boys and girls to behave. The social norms for young girls are for them to like dolls, kitchen play sets and pink, and young boys should like truck, building things and toys tools.(Golombok,1993) When the boys and girls do not match the typical roles they are seen as unusual. At an early age boys are to be seen as more aggressive and dominant and girls are to be seen as dainty and delicate. Some parents will unintentionally put their child into these roles because this is what they were taught also. Should children at a young age be expected to fall into these simple roles? Are children taught to be in these roles? Will these created simple

Throughout history males and females have had distinct physiological differences, however are these innate differences the determining factor for sex roles in society? Authors Katha Pollitt of Why Boys Don’t Play with Dolls and Paul Theroux of Being a Man both take the “nurture” perspective on this controversial argument. They both make points to prove that the environment and experiences determine behavior. The blame for gender stereotypes is instead placed on the way a child is brought up and a parent attempting to conform to society’s norms. Today parents foster these stereotypes through childhood toys and activities. Girls are supposed to play with Barbie while boys play with trucks. Feminism is discussed by both authors; however Pollitt and Theroux have slightly different views on the effects it has for diminishing the stereotypical sex roles. Theroux shifts the attention from women’s everyday grievances towards men’s grievances as well. Although Pollitt and Theroux have a similar perspective on socialization and development their solution to solve the problem is distinctive.

Unfortunately, young girls and boys are given very different ideas of expectations, guidelines and messages about their genders, which cause strain and hierarchies for both genders. When playing, girls are more likely to play with toys that are neutral or considered masculine, and usually not be bullied or negatively judged to a serious extent. Young males experience a very strict set of expectations that if not followed, they receive negative life consequences and negative reinforcement, such as bullying. “If a boy chooses activities or actions that are feminine it is punishable by disapproval by peers, family, and society” (O’Brien et al, 2000). As young as preschool age, boys are more likely to choose toys and activities that are ‘masculine’ and they begin to exhibit a strict belief in typical boy-like gendered behavior. Apart from parents, peer and one’s friend group influence a major part in the gender role development throughout all stages of adolescence. Around the age there is often an increase in this behavior. “Starting from age five, boys tend to mingle within a crowd, and take part in group activities, whereas, girls prefer solitude or small groups of two or three people” (Santrock, 2009). They develop a strong sense of what is appropriate and inappropriate behavior and activities for their sex and opposite sex. “The practice of introducing stereotypes and gender roles early in life causes sexism, aggression, gender role conflict, and a new generation of people

Ever since the dawn of time, women and men have been associated with specific gender roles that can be seen controversial in the eyes of many. Traits and roles associated with a specific gender can be either innate or learned over time. Looking into the deeper concept of gender roles and stereotypes, it is clear that these fixed gender roles are not naturally born with, but rather taught, learned, or influenced by external forces.

As a whole, our society has ways that we expect men and women to think, act, and present themselves. These gender norms have been in place for thousands of years, dating back to early civilizations. It is unknown how these roles became so defined in society today, but they influence us immensely every day. Gender norms negatively impact individual’s identities in ways that make them conflicted and fearful to express their personal feelings.

Gender expectations have developed throughout several generations, slowly becoming more and more unreachable. A woman is expected to act one way, and a man is to act the opposite. The rules, that are expected to be followed, have been set by people who neglect their own family and friends in order to enforce their opinions onto someone who wishes to fill the shoes of the opposite gender, or take on the opposite role as part of their identity. Gender roles have begun to take over the lives of children who are at the age of impressionability. These expectations have reached the point of guiding the color of the package on a childrens toy to one gender, and putting the same product on the shelves, the only difference being the color that is typically for one gender or the other.

Gender stereotypes have been around for hundreds of years, and sometimes it seems like nothing is changing with them. To some, it may feel like instead of improving, they are just worsening. Gender stereotypes, even today, continue to encase both males and females in a false sense of ‘direction’ on how they should look, act, or feel.