Gender Roles Are Becoming Increasing More Malleable

In the article, “What's Wrong With Cinderella?”, mother and author Peggy Orenstein expresses utter concern for the increasing rise of the princess culture. From a personal stance (mother, feminist, and gender advocate) Orenstein forms valid assertions about the expansion of the princess image, and how it has influenced younger girls, including her three-year old daughters’. Moreover she displays negative impacts for the influential princess image and its capacity to affect the lives of younger girls in the future years, yet fails to acknowledge a personal stance. While correlating the princess culture into a larger context that singles out relevant points of gender awareness/equality, she degrades the princes culture, and

Throughout history, gender roles have been the foundation that determines the course of a civilization. These gender roles have undergone a change over time. It is important for every society to re-evaluate its preconceived ideas of gender and determine if that is still the norm for their society. When people think of gender roles we typically have set stereotypes in our head of what that means. Much of the time, what we believe, is not what is actually true. It is often argued what is right and what is wrong.

In “Brave” Merida and her mother both demonstrate the transcendental characteristic that real self is found in nature. Merida especially demonstrates this characteristic. Although many of her days are spent training to be princess, on the few days Merida has off, she goes out into the woods to pursue her true passion of archery. Merida appears happier in the woods, and only in the woods is she really allowed to pursue archery. This behavior demonstrates that Merida can only be herself in nature. Merida also demonstrates real self found in nature after fighting with her mother about being a princess. Merida and her mother have a fight about Merida finding a suitor, and to process the fight, Merida leaves and heads to the forest to contemplate. Only in the woods is she able to truly able to be happy, and the forest is her only source of clear thinking. Again, Merida demonstrates that her real self is found in nature. While Merida most strongly represents this trait, Merida’s mother does represent it as well. During the time that Merida’s mother is a bear, she spends time in the woods with her daughter, and begins fully

The evil characters are portrayed as less “feminine” than the heroines, with curvier and heftier figures and longer noses as opposed to the slender figures and delicate faces of the princesses (Walker). In 2012. Disney released Brave, whose main character Merida was a spunky tomboy with fiery red hair, which was a step towards more realistic body types. However, after the movie’s release, Disney released a “redesigned” Merida, in which she is “sexier” with a slimmer waist and tamer hair (Perez). Merida’s creator, Brenda Chapman, supported a petition against this new design that

Brave on the other hand, is all about Merida and her living life on her own terms. She refuses to marry just because it’s her responsibility as a princess. She wasn’t ready so she asked her own hand in marriage.

If the Mouse House's recent, quickly reversed decision to "beautify" Brave's redheaded warrior heroine, Merida, was a sad commentary on pop culture's continuing endorsement of ridiculous feminine ideals, that incident remains a minor blip compared to the loathsome lessons being taught on a daily basis, in 22-minute form, by Disney Channel sitcoms such as Shake It Up, Jesse, Wizards of Waverly

When thinking of gender roles in society, stereotypes generally come to mind. Throughout history these stereotypes have only proven to be true. Major historical events have had a huge impact on the way men and women are seen and treated. In this way, women have always been secondary to males and seen as the fragile counterparts whose job is to take care of the household and most importantly, be loyal to her husband no matter the circumstance. Gender roles throughout history have greatly influenced society. The slow progress of woman’s rights throughout humanities led to an explosion of woman’s rights throughout the 20th century and that trend will only continue on into the rest of the 21st century.

The myth of gender roles plays a pivotal role in This Boy’s Life- A Memoir by Tobias Wolff. Specifically, the myth of masculinity shapes much of the actions and experiences that occur. Toxic masculinity is commonly described as socially-constructed attitudes that describe men as being violent, unemotional, and sexually aggressive. The rules of masculinity that are implied in the memoir include displays of physical dominance such as fighting against others, use of weapons for power and control, domestic violence, and trying to win at everything. Sexual virility is discussed as bragging about sexual conquests and talking crudely about women around other men but generally trying to be hyper sexual. Another, key aspect of masculinity is to not show any emotion as others will perceive you as being weak which leads characters being unable to express how they feel about themselves and their conflicts. Males are taught to not get mad but to get even; this means retaliating by stealing or other means in order to get revenge. Within the memoir, Tobias’ perception of masculinity and his idea of what man should look and act like is demonstrated through Roy. Qualities that include being: “an expert hunter, conventionally handsome, [a mechanic or handy in general], does not need to talk more than needed, having a tattoo”(14). The myth of masculinity pigeonholes males from This Boy’s Life- A Memoir by Tobias Wolff by making them believe that they must act in a certain way in order to be

Throughout time gender is something that has been constantly changing due to people becoming more acceptable with who they really are. Today's times there is plethora of what someone may consider themselves as. Like whether they identify as male, female, transgender etc. Society has become more acceptable with the idea and since then gender roles have changed. because this is something that is constantly changing gender roles for a transgender person they may take on the responsibility of caring for the household , being finan1cially stable and caring for the children. "Ischomachus, I said, this is just what I'd like to learn from you. Did you teach your wife yourself what she needed to know or did she already know everything she was supposed

Cassandra Stover explains in her Journal Damsels and Heroines: The Conundrum of the Post-Feminist Disney Princess, the dramatic shift with Disney princess at the peak of the late 1980s and early 1990s. She explains that the shift can derive from feminist movements and how the change can be directed to the third wave of feminism. She examines the original Disney princesses and decribes them to be more passively aggresive and unindependent, while the new princesses are more independent and brave. The author then explains if the shift from the old to new princesses are actually better, and not just different. Stover analysizes that Disney princesses evolve and are a part of the worlds change on feminism.

Gender roles govern the way that most of the world’s population interact with one another. Many African cultures uphold deeply patriarchal gender roles which dictate how women and men interact with one another. Chimimanda Ngozi Adichie, a staunch feminist, gives readers a look into Nigerian gender roles in her short story Birdsong. Her writing in Birdsong and her TEDtalks explore and expose how these gender roles are harmful and how important it is for many stories of young women of color to be heard.

What young girl does not dream of becoming a princess and living in a castle happily ever after? Virtually every young girl identifies with princesses and has watched at least one Disney Princess movie. From the first movies of Snow White and Cinderella, to the later movies of The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, to the most current movie Moana, Disney Princess movies permeate not only the movie theaters, but also our culture. In fact, “becoming a princess is as easy as purchasing a tiara and hosting a princess-themed birthday party or buying a Halloween costume and playing pretend” (Garabedian, 2014, p. 23). Nonetheless, as declared by Princess Merida in the movie Brave, “there comes a day when I don’t have to be a princess. No rules, no expectations. A day where anything can happen. A day where I can change my fate” (Andrews & Chapman, 2012). In other words, does the life of a princess measure up to the expectations of little girls everywhere? The Disney Princess brand has grown incredibly popular, especially with young girls. In spite of this, the franchise has also become extremely controversial due to potential gender stereotypes in the films. “Gender is one of the most discussed topics in today’s society…[it] represents and also reproduces certain attributes, expectations and roles which are associated with male and female…influencing the views and opinions of future generations” (Maity, 2014, p. 31). Yet, is the Disney Princess brand harmful to young children due to gender stereotypes? Two essays that contemplate the Disney Princess brand and gender stereotypes with opposite viewpoints on this controversial issue are “Girls on Film: The Real Problem with the Disney Princess Brand” by writer Monika Bartyzel and “In Defense of Princess Culture” by writer and mother Crystal Liechty. However, Liechty’s essay “In Defense of Princess Culture,” is the most effective article in convincing the audience of her point of view due to the claim, support, warrant, language, and vocabulary employed.

Queen Elinor is thinking of Merida and wishes for her to be the traditional "proper" Disney princess, but ignores what Merida really wants. Merida takes after her father as opposed to her mother, because of this she does not act like a proper princess. Merida was introduced to archery at a very young age and has a very close relationship with her father. Merida sees no reason to act proper and does not believe that she should act different just because she is a woman.

Society today places many ideals when it comes to proper behaviours regarding gender roles. These are considered societal norms that are widely debated and controversial. Society has created a norm, which encompasses specific expectations and rules that change the daily lives of men and women, giving them specific tasks and behaviours to abide by. These standards are known as gender roles, which are defined as distinguishing actions, thoughts, and feelings of males and females. Gender roles are said to be a result of nature, which is a natural process, every male or female is to follow. On the other hand it can be a result of nurture, which changes ones way of thinking and adapting their lifestyle to fit their environment. Either way gender roles are a part of someone’s life from the moment of their birth, as they develop, and long after that, this proves that gender roles are influential to a person’s life and development. This essay examines how media such as music, family life, and different parenting styles encompass gender roles and teaches behaviours regarding them. Therefore, gender roles define males and females are a result of nurture and not nature.

Today we live in a world that continually stresses to us that, "All men are created equal." While this sounds great at face value, further inspection tells us that this is far from realistic and sadly may never be. One can examine any aspect of society whether it be race, religion, language, level of education, sexual orientation or economic status and notice that there are numerous characteristics and factors of identity that enable others to treat others differently. This truth may not be pleasant or make one feel all warm and fuzzy inside, however it is our society’s reality, however dismal it may be. Even if the statement above as to the equality of all men were true, how about women? Clearly women have made tremendous strides towards