Gender Roles and Stereotypes Explored in Judy Mann's The Difference and Bernard Lefkowitz's Our Guys

The book “Our Guys” is more of a cultural and sociological study than just a mere crime book. Bernard provides detailed information about the story of a young girl known as Leslie who was raped by the Jocks in a town known as Glen ridge in New Jersey. The story reports that the Jocks had been in trouble since their middle years in school. However they were considered the star athletes, golden boys in a town that valued competition and athleticism. The behavior of one of the young men was so inexplicable and revolting; however, he was never charged or punished for his actions. As Bernard puts it, you would walk in a high school with a cabinet full of trophies, game balls and other accoutrements, but surprisingly, you would not be able to find the honor roll list (Lefkowitz, 1997).

The novel Our Guys, written by Bernard Lefkowitz, is a very dynamic story about the heinous actions of a dozen middle-class athletes, from a small New York suburb, against a defenseless mentally handicapped girl. Lefkowitz describes a brutal gang rape involving a baseball bat and broomhandle, which took place in this unsuspecting town, by these upstanding young group of boys, as the town would describe them. Lefkowitz looks at the incident which took place and then examines the “jock clique” sub-culture that allowed such atrocities to happen, and spawned the scandal to cover it up.

In her powerful, realistic play, “Good Kids”, Naomi Iizuka wrote the play with intentions of bringing a horrendous real-life situation of sexual assault to people’s attention and revealing the dramatic impact that social influence has on the situation. With high aspirations, Iizuka intended to not only educate people, but to also encourage people to take the proper precautions in an effort to prevent sexual assault from transpiring to themselves, friends, and others. Within this theatrical performance, a teenager named Chloe is raped by a high school jock named Connor and his friends whom all play the game of football together. Iizuka utilizes Chloe’s friend and cousin to reveal how Chloe’s sexual assault could have been prevented. If Chloe’s friend would have not let Chloe out of her sight, and if Chloe’s cousin would have given her a safe ride home, then Chloe would have not been drugged and raped by the football players. Furthermore, Iizuka intended to reveal how Chloe and Connor were not the only ones affected by the sexual assault, but friends, family, classmates, and parents were also dramatically affected too.

In the article “Parental Influence on Children’s Socialization to Gender Roles” by Susan D. Witt states that parents expose their children at an early age of what it means to be a boy and a girl. Witt argues that parents do play a role in gender stereotypes to their children as early on as infants. Witt explains how parents decorate a child’s room. Witt states that children grow and develop gender stereotypes at home. She explains how parents encourage their children to participate in sex-typed activities, sports, and role play. Witt reveals that both parents contribute to the gender stereotyping but fathers have been found to reinforce gender stereotypes more often that mothers. Witt’s audience is

In the riveting documentary Audrie & Daisy, husband and wife director team Bonnie Cohen and Jon Shenk retrace the events leading up to the harrowing sexual assaults of three teenage girls; Audrie Pott, Daisy Coleman, and Paige Parkhurst, and expose the agonizing after effects and exploitation of the assaults. Subsequent interviews with family members, friends and law enforcement officials give important details about the aftermath of the events, and introduce viewers to possibly the biggest villain of all, Sherriff Darren White of Maryville, Missouri. Throughout the documentary White appears smug when he states that “as County Sheriff, “the buck stops here” (Darren White), and when asked about the crimes committed by Maryville’s football star, he rebuts with “was there a crime?” (Darren White). As the film moves through the twists and turns of the cases, the settings, conflicts, and tragedies are enhanced by the use of montage, long and subjective shots, close-ups and personal sketches that submerge the audience into the victim’s point of view. At the conclusion of the film, the viewer is left to decide what constitutes sexual assault and rape, and if society and law enforcement are to blame for today’s ‘rape culture’ acceptance and the continued victimization of young girls. It also reveals how much can be hidden from parents, and how disconnected they can become from their children in a social media world.

In today’s society, men and women are confronted with gender stereotypes daily. In the texts Ten Things I Hate about You, The Big Bang Theory, I’m Glad I’m a Boy! I’m Glad I’m a Girl! By Whitney Darrow and ‘Stupid Girls’ by Pink, the roles of men and women are perceived in different ways. Some characters in each text challenge the typical stereotype whilst others accept it.

(Including stereotypes), to evaluate complicated situations that called for judgments about both the inclusion of someone and the exclusion. That included information about the children 's past experiences. Other studies have stated that the parents also have a huge impact on children’s gender role stereotype. From having an absent father to having parents argue about money or their children, could have effect on how children see their own or the opposite gender. This paper will review the current literature on how the gender role stereotypes effect people.

By juxtaposing ‘unwanted attention’, representing innocence within females and graphical language such as ‘callously manipulated, deceived and assaulted’, Szego fights against victim blaming in an effort to inform and guilt bystanders. This could pressure many in society to stand up for sexual harassment against teenage schools girls and in particular compel fathers to reflect upon their reluctance and atone for their tortious actions. She then tries to appeal to the reader’s family values by mentioning ‘mothers’ rancid memories’ and reminds fathers and sons how they too have a female family member. This contextualisation of the issue may cause teenage boys to feel disgusted about their

In the riveting documentary Audrie & Daisy, husband and wife director team Bonnie Cohen and Jon Shenk retrace the events leading up to the harrowing sexual assaults of three teenaged girls; Audrie Pott, Daisy Coleman, and Paige Parkhurst, and expose the agonizing after effects and exploitation of the assaults. Subsequent interviews with family members, friends and law enforcement officials give important details about the aftermath of the events, and introduce viewers to possibly the biggest villain of all, Sherriff Darren White of Maryville, Missouri. Throughout the documentary White appears smug while he states that “as County Sheriff, “the buck stops here” (Darren White), and when asked about the crimes committed by Maryville’s football star, he rebuts with “was there a crime?” (Darren White) As the film moves through the twists and turns of the cases, the settings, conflicts, and tragedies are enhanced by the use of montage, long and subjective shots, close-ups and personal sketches that submerge the audience into the victim’s point of view. At the conclusion of the film, the viewer is left to decide what constitutes sexual assault and rape, and if society and law enforcement are to blame for the today’s ‘rape culture’ acceptance and the continued victimization of young girls. It also reveals how much can be hidden from parents, and how disconnected parents become from their children in a social media world.

Raw, visceral, and an unflinching story, Some Boys takes of mere days after the rape of our protagonist, Grace, has occurred. Grace is suffering from harassment from her peers, all of them and not just the boy who raped her. This book relies heavily on the “he said, she said” trope of rape books. Grace’s friends know that she liked Zac before the party, that she flirted with him – and they believe her cries of rape to be fake. The whole town, not just the students in her school, wants absolutely nothing to do with her but want everything to do with her downfall and making her feel as if she is worthless. Zac, the accused rapist, is the towns golden boy. He is the star lacrosse player and the boy who gets away with whatever he wants because

Throughout history, humans have always been expected to act a certain way depending on their sex. These societal expectations are called gender roles. (Rathus, 2010, p.447). These roles begin to develop even before a child is even out of the womb. A mother may decorate their nursery pink if they are having a daughter because “girls like pink,” and “boys like blue.” Gender roles should not be confused with gender stereotypes. A gender stereotype is a narrow way of thinking about how men and woman are obligated to behave. For example, men have always been considered to be the breadwinners of the family. Females, on the other hand, are seen more as the gentle homemakers that stay home to clean and take care of the children. (Rathus, 2010, p.447). These types of stereotypes have caused certain out-of-the-home jobs to be mainly categorized for either women or men, causing an even more distinct line between the genders.

Gender stereotypes are mostly taken for granted at a young age: girls are told to play with dolls and boys are told to play with trucks. But as children grow older they find themselves in a world where the reality of gender roles and stereotypes aren’t acknowledged, and the illusion of gender neutrality is commended. If gender roles are becoming more neutral, then it would follow that gender role stereotypes are also becoming more lax. However, in actuality this is not true.

An Annotated Bibliography for The Main Cause In Negative Gender Stereotypes and Traditional Gender Roles:

At a young age, we are taught to adhere to norms and are restricted to conform to society’s given rules. We are taught that straying away from stereotypes is anything but good and encouraged to build our lives upon only these social rules. Recently, stereotypes based on genders have been put into the limelight and have become of high interest to a generation that is infamously known for deviating from the established way of life. Millennials have put gender roles under fire, deeming it a form of segregation and discrimination by gender. Researchers have followed suit. Mimicking millennial interests, numerous studies have been published that detail the relationship between gender, stereotypes, and the effects of the relationship between the two. Furthermore, gender roles have been used as a lens to study socialization; tremendous amounts of interest have prompted studies on the inheritance and dissemination of norms, culture, and ideologies based on the stereotypes that cloud gender. For sociologists, determining the extent of the impact of gender stereotypes on socializing our population has become a paramount discussion. Amidst many articles, the work of Karniol, Freeman, and Adler & Kless were standouts and between the three pieces, childhood served as a common thread; more specifically, these researchers studied how gender roles impact socialization from such a young age.

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.