Gender Expectations Essay

The Effect Social Expectations of the Nineteenth Century Had on Women Living in That Time Period

From a young age, children are surrounded by influences that shape how they come to understand the world around them. With the formation of schemas during early childhood comes along the development of gender stereotypes and gender roles that have an impact on how children come to understand their own gender identity. Environmental factors such as peers, the media, and even parents perpetuate stereotypes through their own actions. Children come to understand gender during development through experiences that are shaped by their environment and perpetuated by their culture, which ultimately encourages gender stereotypes and conformity to gender roles.

During early thirties and forties which was right after the depression, government and corporate felt the necessity to revive the market. At that time, people thought women were the ones with dominating consumption powers. As Kenon Breazeale quoted in his article, “Women are indeed the shoppers of the world.” (Breazeale, 231). However, some people such as those in journalism fraternity regarded women’s buying power as “gullible vulnerability to consumerism’s trashy faddishness” (Breazeale, 232). Those people spread wide hostility toward women’s taste and argued that men should be the ones with

Gender roles, stereotypes, and expectations found in the Puritan New England community can be examined by using source documents from the Salem Witch Trials which took place in 1692. While the trials themselves are an important part of American history, the glimpse into that time period afforded by these surviving documents is invaluable. Gender roles and religious beliefs play a large role in the hysteria which spread across Puritan New England as it had in Europe for centuries before.

For this paper, I am going to be discussing gender in the institution of films. Specifically, I am going to be discussing femininity in coming of age films. Coming of age movies set an expectation for teens and young adults because it lays out what they should fear and what they should thrive achieve in order to transition into adulthood successfully. The media defines cultural and gender norms that are often very stereotypical. The cultivation theory suggests that exposure to stereotypes in the media can lead to adopting these beliefs in their real lives (Giaccardi et al., 2016). In the media, masculinity is often portrayed as aggression, power, dominance, status seeking, emotional restraint, heterosexuality, and risk taking. (Giaccardi et al., 2016) In most films and media it is hegemonic masculinity that is displayed rather than other types of masculinity (Giaccardi et al., 2016.) In regards to femininity, it is often constructed as white suburban and focused on consumerism (Bickford, 2015). When portraying women and young girls in films and TV shows a common narrative is often the woman deciding between her career and personal happiness, because women can not have it all (Bickford, 2015). In coming of age movies young people in some way often tell the narratives of trying to achieve some form of femininity or masculinity. I will be analyzing the characters in two movies, The Duff and Dope. I would like to discuss and analyze the differences in how gender is portrayed in

I know a sweet little boy that loved to do gymnastics. He was made fun of by his classmates. He was bullied for doing gymnastics because his classmates thought that it was a girls sport. Who is to judge what is a boy or girls sport? It’s the same situation for girls and boys. People think that it’s unnatural for a girl to play a boys sport and vice versa. Women's Sports Foundation.org says that “prior to 1970, if a women wanted to pursue a professional degree in college, chances were she wouldn’t be admitted to a law school or medical school program because she was a woman,” I don’t care who you are, that is just madness. That is just like today with girls wanting to play a boys sport, no I am wrong that is just like today with girls wanting to play a sport. Who says that football and wrestling are boy sports? There are many girls in this world that want to play football, why there are some that do! I think that is awesome! Then there are those girls that want to but can’t because like our school, the school board of education doesn’t allow it. The school thinks that girls shouldn't be allowed to play on the same team as boys. I think that it is absurd that my friends that want to play football can’t. They can be cheerleaders, which I guess is a girls sport. There are other schools that have boy cheerleaders. Why doesn’t our school? I tell you why we don’t it’s because everyone thinks that it is a girls

Freedom and equality are ideas this country has had for centuries that have evolved over time. In 1776, what Thomas Jefferson meant by “all men are created equal”, is that white males are dominant in society. Women are treated worse than men and slaves treated worse than women. People that weren’t of the “superior” race/gender of a white male were typically treated as if they were less. Women and African-Americans aren’t being treated as bad today, but they’re still being treated worse than the white males of society. Even today, when white males are typically the leaders of society, it’s not always race and gender that creates inequality; sometimes it’s money that creates the issue. Not just from past evidence, but from present

Real Lives of Most Men." He says to a friend of his "This must be a

Power and gender expectations are an important element of sexual risk taking behaviours. Gender beliefs like 'the more sex I have, the more manly I will be' or 'always listen to what your boyfriend wants even if you don't want to so he doesn't break up with you', pressure many females and males into engaging in sexual behaviour that they may not want and as a result, increase their risk for unexpected pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

In recent times, it has become much more common and socially acceptable for parents to raise their children in gender neutral ways. As queer rights, feminist movements, and gender equality take on a greater social relevance, many caregivers no longer expect their children to behave stereotypically “masculine” or “feminine;” children may even be praised for going beyond their gendered expectations (e.g., boys who can cook well or girls who are fit and athletic). Raising your kids without expecting them to conform to gender norms may allow them to develop a broad potential in many areas, rather than only allowing them to explore activities that are appropriate for their traditional gender roles. For example, if you are raising a girl, she may have the potential to become both a great mechanic and a talented dancer if you do not narrow her choices down to only those that are gender conforming. However, this choice in parenting may come with some unexpected issues and consequences -- ones that are as of yet unforeseen.

3) Are the gender roles for boys and girls as limiting as in previous generations or are they beginning to change? Include educational material to support the position.

wanted and should thus now be silent. Both the needs of women today and the

Gender roles and expectations leave a massive, indirect impact on people of western culture. It can limit both genders as to what they are socially allowed and not allowed to do. While most believe that the roles appear natural, it is only because it is how they are raised to believe, not because of biology. It is completely okay to believe and stick to gender roles on one’s own terms, but the issue lies when the individual is oppressed or harassed for straying from the subjective social construct of standards. It affects a lot of western culture, making different people be able to obtain different professions, wear certain clothing choices, have dominant or passive roles in relationships, and be accepted as either more assertive and

The textbook identifies four approaches to gender development: biological, interpersonal, cultural, and critical. Define each theory. Then answer the following question: which of the theoretical approaches to gender do you find the most valid? Be sure to include at least two examples from your own experience as well as two scholarly sources to back up your claim.

It is only recently that sociology has begun to explore the topic of gender. Before this, inequalities within society were based primarily on factors such as social class and status. This paper will discuss gender itself: what makes us who we are and how we are represented. It will also explore discrimination towards women throughout history, focusing mainly on women and the right to vote, inequalities between males and females in the work place and how gender is represented in the media.