Gender Roles Of Men And Women

The genre of fairy tales has its roots in folklore and in oral tradition. Jack Zipes remarks that fairy tales and folk tales are today generally confused with one another and that:

Fairy tales have been passed down from generation to generation, each person in one way or another altering the tale to reflect a piece of their life in the work . The Brothers Grimm wrote hundreds of fairy tales in their life time and in these works they used their childhood experiences as reference. Because of the hardships they faced growing up their tales take on a more gruesome approach to fairy tales. Because their mother was their only caregiver growing up, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm reflect their fondness towards her through the strong willed, independent female characters in their fairy tales. Female heroines are rarely seen in modern day fairy tales, but as a result of their childhood the Brothers Grimm utilized them frequently

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 present day all around the world, society has certain expectations for the actions and behaviors of males and females. There are many factors in our everyday lives that contribute to the gender norms that society has set. This essay will discuss how situations in life can play a part in how people treat other people based on their gender. It is believed that males are the leaders of our world, but in present day woman can do as much as men can do. From The Journal of Marriage and Family, Hu states, “Differentiated gender roles in adulthood are rooted in one’s gender role socialization. In order to understand the persistence of gender inequalities in the domestic sphere, we need to examine the gendered patterns of children’s housework time.”(2015, P.1). Gender roles are society’s expectations of the proper behavior, attitudes, and activities of males and females that they must be taught. These roles define how females and males are viewed in society, their household, and workplace. In The Journal of Sports behavior by Hardin, he states, “Although gender role differences from biological and “Natural” exists in popular consciousness, research has long demonstrated that instead, many are long time socially constructed… Individuals understand their gender because they are given names and treated in particular ways, such as dress in pink for girls and blue for boys, that reflect social construction of gender. Bandura's social cognitive theory is key in understanding the factors in socialization”(2009, P.3). Bandura's theory of of social cognition is that behavior, environmental events, and cognitive factors are the main keys that shape attitudes and actions of an individual. Although, gender roles play a very big part in our society, specific genders are treated differently while dealing with peer influence, media influence, as well as employment.

Who is supposed to take out the trash? The man or the woman? Gender roles have become norms within heterosexual relationships in our society. Beyond simple tasks being associated with gender—women washing dishes and men taking out the trash—power has also become tied to gender. Men have acquired an unbalanced hold of power that women have been denied. Ciara points out these unfair gender roles in her music video Like a Boy. To Ciara, men have been allowed to lie, cheat, be secretive, and come home late—giving men an unequal hold of power within the relationship. She refers to these actions as acting “like a boy.” In order to reveal the unfairness of these double standard gender roles, Ciara asks what would be if she, more broadly what would happen if women did these things; what if they acted “like a boy?” The video begins with shots of Ciara after switching roles and says: “2007 ladies, I think it’s time to switch roles.” She makes a call to women to switch roles, to critique the actions that have been deemed acceptable for men, but unacceptable for women.

For centuries now, women have been bombarded with an infinite amount of conflicting and overwhelming messages about what it means to be a woman and which behaviors are considered appropriate, especially regarding sexual behavior. Traditionally, women have always been defined in relation to men. Men are seen as strong, while woman are seen as weak. Men are superior and women are their subordinates. This is exemplified by the fact that “masculine” traits such as strong, non-emotional, and competitive are considered socially desirable traits, while “feminine” traits such as docile, emotional, and passive are not. We evidently live in a society that is not only sexist, but also undoubtedly racist. The white woman typically appears as virtuous and pure, while the woman of color typically appears as unclean and tainted. If the woman of color also happens to be poor, she appears as being even more worthless. Therefore, in the United States, femininity as a concept is inextricably linked with concepts of race and class. In the present paper, I discuss the effect that this is having on women and their sexuality, the events that have paved the traveled path towards gender equality, and current issues plaguing women today, such as the attack on our reproductive rights and our value as women.

“I think we 're struggling with trying to redefine various positions at this point in history. To allow freedom for women, freedom for men, freedom from those sharply defined gender roles “ (Fred Ward). I agree with this quote because in today’s society gender defines the roles of what a male and a female can do. What is gender? Gender, according to the Merriam Webster dictionary, is the state of being male or female (typically used with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones). The term gender is only used when we describe how men and women are different in a society but the actual term that really defines a man and a woman is sex. Sex, according to the Merriam Webster dictionary, is either of the two main categories (male and female) into which humans and many other living things are divided on the basis of their reproductive functions. The differences of gender roles are something that is seen in many cultures. It can be seen in families, society, in occupations, and in politics. This can be related in the field of psychology because these can create a general notion of a person and what they are supposed to do and how they should behave, or in other words what a person can create in his or her mind is stereotypes. Some stereotypes on gender are according to www.healthguide.org some of the gender stereotypes are that women should have clean jobs. That means that women should not have a job like a being a sewage worker or a miner. Another

Societies today are highly affected by the way people are believed to act. Gender roles are created by society, and they are a way to define how a gender should or shouldn't act. In “Answers” by George Singleton, there is a husband and wife thinking about getting divorced, and they begin answering questions in a book, and realize that the other turned out to be less manly or trustworthy, than they believed to be. In “Public Relations” by George Singleton, a man and his wife are out eating with his boss and his wife. While eating he gets fired for talking about how women should act, and how they will amount to nothing without an education. In both of these stories, men and women act differently than the stereotypes put on them by their

Literature throughout history has displayed to us the evolution of the male and female gender roles in society. Women have been described as ‘the angel in the house,’ whilst men are typified as dominant and prevailing in comparison to women. The gothic genre in literature is used to personify and exaggerate these stereotypes, by using gothic motifs such as dream sequences and themes such as horror and terror. Not only does the gothic exaggerate the stereotypes, but it also allows them to be contravened, due to the transgressive nature of the genre. The psychoanalytical aspect of this genre, allows for repressed desires to be made eminent and therefore characters can transgress and in the process, cross their contemporary gender boundaries. Keats uses the gothic device of Negative capability in order to conceal the transgression of the females in his poetry, Carter revised gothic fairytales in order to display them from a feminist approach and Stoker uses gothic themes, set against the backdrop of the fluidity of Fin de siècle period, to allow characters to stray from their gender stereotypes.

Not all folktales are fairy tales, but all fairy tales are folktales (Brewer). Fairy tales are a product of the folk (Bottigheimer). Fairy tales initially referred to tales about fairies, but the Grimms reconceptualized the genre (Bottigheimer). Fairy tales now mean “...magical tales, folktales… anecdotes, animal tales, jests, burlesques, and legends” (Bottigheimer). They represent the passage from youth to adulthood, which is a topic of continued interest young to old (Brewer). “Only since the eighteenth century in West Europe have fairy tales been...” meant for kids (Brewer). The things that draw people in are the fun stories with lessons and the encouragement of self-esteem and confidence (Brewer). Kids like fairy tales because they convey “...the idea that if we persist, if we keep our nerve and our wits about us, are kind to the apparently weak and unfortunate, we shall win through, shall grow up” (Brewer). They also have fantasy and daydreaming at heart (Brewer). A lot of adult literature that deals with serious topics such as death also include an underlying fairy tale story to make it more appealing and easier to deal with (Brewer). Some well-known fairy tales are Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Puss in Boots, The Golden Goose and Jack and the Beanstalk. According to Brewer, fairy tales usually have patterns. The hero or heroine suffers from a disadvantage called a lack. They face adversity, and adventure follows. Oftentimes, the protagonist commits a fault, but “...overcomes it by ingenuity, bravery, and industry.” The motivation of their driving force can be found in family drama, desires, or something symbolic. In the end, the protagonist almost always finds a mate. There is frequent gender-stereotyping in fairy tales as well. They are still recognizable even when altered, because although “...so variable in detail, the main lines are clear”

Fairy tales originated as folktales and by oral tradition. These tales were originally matriarchal which presented the females as goddesses and men as inferior. With the spread of Christianity, portrayals of men and women were altered. Females are subjected in patriarchal society that silenced their voices in the society. Men became superior that hold power over women.

The different ideas that authors have toward a fairy tale or any kind of writing has to do most with his or her professional experiences. Bruno Bettelheim is known to be a child psychiatrist. Bettelheim states “The child, as he develops, must learn step by step to understand himself better; with this he becomes more able to understand others and eventually can relate to them in ways which are mutually satisfying and meaningful” (Bettelheim 731). Bettelheim in this is talking about what he does. Bettelheim professional area is a therapist of disturbed children.

Specifically with the Grimm Brothers’ tale, Haase states that “[Heinz] Rolleke helped debunk the persistent myth that the [Grimm] brothers’ transcriptions were authentic...that they had undertaken significant editorial interventions” (Haase 10). The fairy tales one has come to love from their childhood is one that has been “reappropriated for a gender-specific identity”. The purpose of fairy tales in a cultural sense was to demonstrate the status quo to society. This was done effectively by editing the female voice out of the fairy tales entirely. Even though “females were among the most important of the brothers’ informants and their the source for many of their important tales” (Haase 14), they were able to be cut out from fairy tales because it was a social norm of the

Fairy tales are one of the many types of folklore that generally have some sort of fantastic element, usually featuring magic, imaginary creatures, and often a conflict between sides that are clearly good and evil. Within

Fairy tales are something that everyone has read or seen, they all seem to have important lessons at the end of each one to teach young children some of the lessons they need for life. These fairy tales when we were younger all seemed innocent and something we all hoped that would happen to us. Little did we know as we got older that the fairy tales we all knew and loved when we were younger, weren't as innocent as they seemed.