Gender : Gender And Gender

From gender roles, we, the people of society, are able to determine whether someone identifies as a male or a female. Both biological and social factors tend to determine what gender roles a person takes on. However, there are also gender stereotypes, which are “the fixed and oversimplified beliefs about the ways in which men and women ought to behave” (Rathus, 2010). Often times, gender stereotypes are related back to the traditional beliefs of when women were responsible for staying home and being the caregivers and men were responsible for going out to work and bringing home the food, supplies, and money that the family needed (Rathus, 2010).

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.

This week’s materials have many commonalities found throughout the text, which challenges the representation of gender identity in last week’s materials. One of the similarities found throughout this week’s materials is that gender is complex. Professor Davis’s lecture “Sex & Gender – It’s Complicated” defines “Binary gender: man or women, female or male, and masculine and feminine. Two distinct categories” (slide 5). The Western society mostly see gender as binary, black and white. However, Baird writes in “Transgender: ‘as the stars in the sky’” that “most of us are culturally heavily conditioned to categorize sex and gender in this binary, dimorphic way. But actually, life and nature are a lot more complex than that” (pg 113). Professor Davis exemplifies binary gender in the Western culture using public restroom as an example. She explains that an “individual must identify themselves with a stick figure either with a dress or pants as female or male.” However, Baird statistically illustrates the biological complexity of gender. For example, Baird states “Intersexual, popularly referred to as ‘hermaphrodites,’ are usually born with genitals somewhere between male and female – rarely with two complete sets as in myth. The number of such birth is more common than most people realize, with the highest estimates in the US at four percent of births. That’s some ten million children, annually” (pg 117). Professor Davis concludes the example of public restroom as a clear cut

People criticize everything, they criticize buildings, they criticize schools, they criticize the news, but one thing people criticize the most is gender. They say that it is not right for a guy to be in show choir or a girl to be on the football team. Girls should be girls and do girly things and participate in feminine activities such as ballet or paint nails, and boys should be boys and get involved with masculine activities such as football or boxing. Why does it matter what kind of activities boys and girls get involved in? We criticize the activity someone is interested in based on their gender rather than what they are interested in. We also criticize on the romantic relationships some people are involved in. I am wondering why it is so important to people that boys and girls stick to the activities their gender represents.

“I was young and dumb,” said Kim Spight, a forty-year-old FedEx sales manager who became pregnant her freshman year at Howard University. Ms. Spight had the mindset to succeed so instead of dropping out of college to raise her daughter, she kept studying until she received her masters degree and now manages a 12-person sales team in Dallas. Meanwhile, her daughters father continues to work odd jobs and live at home with his mother (Cauchon, 2013). Can you believe at one point in time this reality wasn’t heard of or seemed impossible to achieve? Gender roles continue to transform year after year in relationships where men have began welcoming in the ideas of being a stay at home dad while the mom is the breadwinner. Women have the capability of climbing up the ladder in the workplace and even a little change has swept through different cultures. Let’s take a leap into the past to see just how gender roles have transformed history in the workplace, culture, and marriage.

Gender socialization is defined as the process in which we learning the expected social norms and attitudes associated with being a female or male (Iwamoto, 2016). Gender socialization begins at a very young age and continues to shape our behaviors, attitudes, and personality for the rest of our lives. For example, from birth, the color pink is associated with girls and the color blue with boys. Boys and girls are often dressed and treated differently based solely on their gender. Indubitably, gender socialization has impacted not only how I think about gender, but my actions and behaviors. Reflecting on my life experiences thus far, I have come to realize my cultural background as well as my upbringing has significantly shaped my values and perspectives’ on gender.

In this assignment I will be discussing the expect of nature vs nurture debate and will be defining what gender and sex is and applying that to nature vs nurture debate.

Gender socialization often begins early once parents are shown the sex of their child; from then on, baby showers are planned according to gender “appropriate” colors, which are often pink for girls and blue for boys. Even differences in how children are spoke to can be picked up easily in Western cultures. Girls are called pretty and sweet, whereas boys are handsome and strong. Ultimately, the way children learn to identify with their gender culture is in part due to not only family and friends, media, schools, and religion, but also from the toys that may inexplicitly advertise gender expectations. Gender-typed toys may be bought for children as a way for parents to encourage and reinforce gender-appropriate behaviors. However, recent debates have engulfed toy manufacturers and major retailers, which has brought about changes in toy design and marketing in an effort to make reflect more realistic and gender neutral options.

In what ways is the male gender superior to the female gender in relation to “The Homeric Hymn to Demeter”? It tells the story of Persephone, goddess of spring, taken against her will by Hades. Her grieving mother, Demeter, goes through great lengths to be reunited with her beloved daughter. The hymn portrays a great divide in authority between both genders. The male gods use their authority without consequence. They assert their power on others without taking into account who it affects. Zeus and Hades interpret authority as power’s equal; however, true authority requires one to have a sense of community and be able to take responsibility for their actions. The females shown in the hymn provide a model for community that the males learn from. Through Demeter’s defiance, woman are able to free themselves from the imbalance of authority.

Gender is a social identity and categorization of people based on perceived biological differences between male and female. It is a binary sytem created and enforced by sociocultural institutions. Sociocultural institutions are values, practices, and social organizations that teach us social norms. Gender is all around us and we are often unaware of it. According to Lorber, gender is taught to us the moment we are born based on the gender assignment (1). Gender expectations and messages are present in our daily lives. Upbringing, cultures, media, peers, et cetera are some of the many influences that shape our understanding of this. How a child was taught and has interacted with gender affects their view of the world today. Gendered

Throughout today’s society, almost every aspect of someone’s day is based whether or not he or she fits into the “norm” that has been created. Specifically, masculine and feminine norms have a great impact that force people to question “am I a true man or woman?” After doing substantial research on the basis of masculine or feminine norms, it is clear that society focuses on the males being the dominant figures. If males are not fulfilling the masculine role, and females aren’t playing their role, then their gender identity becomes foggy, according to their personal judgment, as well as society’s.

Gender is considered a socially constructed idea that is infused in individuals during their childhood and it encapsulates a social code of behaviour that will facilitate their later integration in a social group. Additionally, it

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.

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.

Most high level jobs are done by men. Should the government encourage a certain percentage of these jobs to be reserved by women?