Culture and Gender
Heather Richardson-Barker
Drexel University
Society has clearly defined boundaries between what is considered to be male or female. The development of an individual’s gender role is formed by interactions with those in close proximity. Society constantly tells us how we should look, act and live based on gender. Family, friends and the media have a tremendous impact on how these roles are formed and the expected behavior of each gender role.
Gender, as defined by the United Nations, includes the psychological, social, cultural, and behavioral characteristics associated with being female or male. It further defines acceptable and allowable behavior in for both men and women in a broad cultural sense (United Nations, 2016). Gender identity impacts our development and how we interact with society. Our daily life decisions are impacted by our gender role beliefs.
Gender ideologies determine the roles that men and women should adhere to in society and are influenced by an individual’s social beliefs and experiences. From traditional to egalitarian values, prejudicial and discriminator behavior towards women can be explained as either interest based or exposure based (Bolzendahl & Myers 2004). The interest based theory is dependent on whether or not an individual’s personal goals are negatively impacted by gender inequality. If so, they are then more likely to embrace an egalitarianism way of thinking.
In our world there are so people that are being overrated, from their skin color, to how they talk or to where they came from or the way they walk, everything from what people wear to where people come from and their ethnic background. These people are looked down on from the rest of society for just being themselves and doing only what they know to do. For some, it’s wrong if others do not act just like them and they put them down for it. Stereotypes can be described someone of a certain race, religion, gender, nationality, or other groups. You can see that language, gender, and culture (class and race) does relate to power because men’s have more power than women’s, the way you speak, your
Society has drilled an image into our minds as people of how the role of each gender should be played out. There are two recognized types of genders, a male and a female. Most people come to think that gender is just male or female. Yet it has become more complex then that. Today it is not just that if you have male parts, you are a man, the opposite goes for women. According to the authors Aaron Devor and Deborah Blum. Gender is much more complex then just male and female, it is more socially composed. We are taught to be male and female trough things like media, our parents, and role model figures. These
“Gender identity“: an individual's self-conception as being male or female, as distinguished from actual biological sex.[3]
According to Michael Messner, our society practices the act of gender socialization by ignoring “group and contextual factors while overemphasizing ‘the constitutional and unfolding of individuals as boys or girls’” (312). Additionally, gender socialization is defining and executing actions that are masculine versus feminine. We have seen with extensive research that, through generations, the definition of gender socialization is conformed and practiced differently. As an example, I have interviewed two people from different generations and asked questions about their experiences and beliefs about masculinity and femininity role. Although there were similar answers, it is evident that gender is socialized differently between generations. The understanding of gender socialization is manipulated differently; however, there are similar beliefs throughout different ages of life.
Gender is the concept of maleness and masculinity or femaleness and femininity. One’s gender identity is the sense of one’s self as male or female and does not refer to one’s sexual orientation or gender role.
Gender identity is the personal conception of being a man or a woman and the society creates standards and comes up with gender roles basing them on existing norms and traditions which will in turn influence gender identity. For instance, most societies associate strength and dominance to be masculine roles while caring and assisting or subordination known to be feminine roles. This clearly makes gender identity be bred within the society. One’s identity is important as it influences his or her life through events like life experiences, how one is being taken or treated, how to do one associate or socialize with others, the type of job one will have to do and also opportunities that may come up favoring a certain type of gender identity. One is also likely to face obstacles or discrimination due to his or her identity.
These characteristics are shaped by society”(Gender Identity). Gender roles can be as simple as thinking about the genders’ and talking about one should being doing something that the other can not do because it is masculine or feminine. Also, since gender roles and gender identity is interconnected with one another that they are often confused and switched around. Gender identity is “how we feel about and express our gender and gender roles like clothing, behavior, and personal appearance”(Gender Identity). Gender identity is often used when people express that they are girly or manly.
Gender is a socially constructed differentiation and a key explanation of the different social roles of men and women; a fixed binary opposition: masculinity or femininity. Socialisation creates 'learned ' ‘Gender appropriate’, behaviour from birth e.g. the
As stated in our text, gender identity is our psychological awareness or sense of being male or female, and it’s one of the most obvious and important aspects of our self-concepts. Gender identity is almost always consistent with chromosomal sex, but such
Gender is the state of being male or female typically used with reference to social and culture differences rather than biological ones. In psychology, gender is defined as a set of characteristics or traits that are associated with a certain biological sex (male/female). According to the definitions related to sexual orientation and gender diversity in APA guidelines, “Gender refers to the attitudes, feelings, and behaviors that a given culture associates with a person’s biological sex. Behavior that is compatible with culture expectations is referred to as gender-normative; behaviors that are view as incompatible with these expectations constitute gender non-conformity. In our psychology book gender are of masculine or feminine. While looking from outside we know only male or female. But people have different characteristics that know their gender is masculine or feminine.
Gender is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as the state of being male or female as expressed by social or cultural distinctions and differences, rather than biological ones. Gender dictates how many people live out their lives. But It’s important to ask ourselves why this idea of “gender” has so much control over people. Although some may argue that gender is solely determined by the sex of a person, gender is a social construct made up by old traditions and enforced gender roles based on the sex.
Gender roles have a significant impact on the way we see ourselves and others. These roles are learned through our behavior patterns, obligations and privileges that are considered appropriate for each sex. Personally, I view myself as being considerate, emotional, gentle, home oriented, and passive. My parents raised me to portray these feminine characteristics from the day I was born and to act a certain way in our society. Males on the other hand are perceived to be active, aggressive, competitive, dominant, ambitious, and independent. My brother developed all of these described traits. Throughout my childhood and teen years, many agents affected my gender role in society. School, peers, mass media, family and religion all impacted the way I view gender socialization. These agents create and maintain an expectation for gender –related behavior. From the moment I was born, my parents instilled “accepted” gender roles into my life. Society expects us to conform to our gender role based on our sex.
Gender socialization and gender roles have always existed in society. Gender roles are playing major part in our way of living. As we grow, we learn how to behave and respect from those surrounding us as well as children learn at a young age what it means to be a boy or a girl in our society . there are certain roles placed on boys and girls in accordance with their gender. These gender roles are set on children from birth and are taught until eventually they are accepted as adults. In this socialization gender role process , children are introduced to certain roles that are typically attached to their biological sex. Socialization of gender roles is supported through three major points parents ,social media, and education system
There are so many different ways in our society by which people express their expectation about a boy or a girl. For example, when a baby comes into the world he or she has to face either “Blue” or “Pink” reality. All around the world we can see that, babies are differentiated by the color, pink stuffs for a girl and blue for a boy. When they grow up, they start act like a male or female because they receive the message from society about their identity and act accordingly. That is how society constructs gender. Gender plays an important role in our society and society expects different type of behaviors according to men and woman. Gender socialization teaches how to do play a role as a male and female in the society. The set of gender socialization is made up with behaviors and attitudes which encourage a person characteristic based on his or her sex. Differences between men and women are influenced by Our society, culture, norms, values, religious, media, rules and regulation. For example, when a girl fall down we show her sympathy and take care to her, while a boy fall down we encourage him not to cry and ensure him that he will be ok. By way of explanation gender socialization help from our identities as men or women. Masculine and feminine cultures and individuals generally differ in how they communicate with others. For example, feminine people tend to self-disclose more often than masculine people,
As a child grows up no matter the sex they are socialized with rules and norms to follow that align with their sex. The gender role is the behaviors, attitudes, and characteristics that are expected from a person based on their sex. Boys must be aggressive, masculine, and tough and outgoing where as girls must be submissive, sweet, caring and emotional (Schaefer & Halland, 2011. p.236). As the child grows they become accustomed to these norms through socialization. There are many agents of socialization that include, the family, role models, religion, education system, peers and most importantly the mass media. Media has such a strong influence on everyone’s life from the latest smartphone connecting to social networks, TV and magazines; it is able to shape our culture and influence public opinion and perception. Both genders are inaccurately depicted with hyper masculine and feminine aesthetics.