Gender And 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.

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.

A lot of males’ violent behavior and females’ complaisance can be accredited to family and institutional socialization. Parents usually raise boys on aggressive sports, such as hockey and football, which encourage violence. Girls, however, are generally brought up on "feminine" activities, dance and figure skating to name a few, which promote a gentle, polite nature. It is the rare parent that heeds their four-year-old son’s aspiration to be a ballet dancer by purchasing the child a pair of tights and a leotard. When a boy shows more interest in dolls than in trucks, his family may be distressed, and provoke him to reveal his "masculine" side. After striving for egalitarianism between the sexes for so many years, families still deter young girls from pursuits of hockey stardom, hoping to interest them in Pointe shoes. Displays of emotion by boys are often criticized for being "unmasculine", whereas emotional behavior in girls tends to be expected and accepted. As a result, boys tend to not only hide their feelings, but criticize friends for showing their emotions. Girls, on the other hand, encourage one another to express feelings and console one another naturally.

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.

‘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

It is expected for boys to go outside, be loud, and play rough in the dirt. As for a girl, it is expected that she remains calm, quiet, and clean at all times. Femininity in girls is related to the father 's masculinity, and his approval of the mother as a role model, and his participation in feminine activities (Gender Roles and Gender Differences). As a result, predicted by cognitive social learning theory, parental characteristics influence as gender role models for their child to imitate (Bussey & Bandura, 1999). In this process parents model directly and indirectly towards their children.

Ever since we were born, the way people behaved and interacted with us made us the person we are today. Through this socialization, we also learn how the society’s rules and norms that we live in. An example is when children introduced to certain roles that are linked to their biological sex, teaching how a child how a man and woman should behave. When a child is born, parents would typically dress their child according to their sex. If it is a boy, he is dressed in blue, and if it is a girl, she is dressed in pink. In our society, these roles given to us are mainly based on gender norms and standards. It is known that masculine roles have traditionally been associated with physical strength and dominance, while feminine roles have been associated with gentleness, empathy, and nurturing. Whereas boys are told that "real men don 't cry" and are pressured to not express their vulnerable emotions, girls are taught that it is okay to show and discuss their feelings with others.

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

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.

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.

According to the chapter, people learn their roles of males and females through the process of socialization. There are certain guidelines established by society that people follow in acceptable manner. Each person goes through the stages in life and at the each stage he or she learns behaviors that are appropriate for his or her gender (Ballantine 247). If people do not meet gender expectations, negative functions are imposed by other members of society. Society expects boys to be aggressive, independent, strong and competitive. Girls, on the other hand, are expected to be soft, nonaggressive and nurturing (Ballantine 254). “Boys are socialized into the boy code” (Ballantine 252). Expectations for them are more rigid than are those for girls and despite the fact that they experience the same feelings and emotions, boys supposed to repress them. Parents from the “Secret Life of Boys” admitted that they were treating their kids differently so that girls in their family share their feelings and emotions openly, and their son keeps feeling to himself. This way of dealing with stress affected his performance in school and resulted in misbehavior. It is recognized that hidden emotions can be

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

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 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.

When it comes to gender, many people have different views and experiences. Men and women have different expectations put upon their lives. These expectations are common even within the family and on the job. While some gain advantages others do not. Men gain the advantages when it comes to work and education. They are expected to be the primary breadwinner in their families. Nonetheless, not every man has the same attitudes towards gender. While we have the same structure of gender at work and in the family, men do have different attitudes and opinions than before.