Journal Assignment Five : Brief Interview Essay

Throughout the history of society, women and men both have faced the constricting roles forced upon them, from a young age; each gender is given specific social and cultural roles to play out throughout their lives. Little girls are given dolls and kitchen toys, little boys are given dinosaurs and power tool toys, if one was to step out of this specified role, social conflict would ensue. Contrast to popular belief, sex is a biological construct, and gender is a social construct specifying the roles men and women are to follow to be accepted into society as “normal”. The effects of gender roles have had on women have proved harmful over the decades. Although the woman’s involvement in society has improved throughout the decades,

Gender coding is not a natural or biological characteristic. People are born with different physical and biological characteristics, but make sense of their gender roles through cultural influences. “Stereotypes are amazingly powerful, and we may not realize the degree to which our thoughts, beliefs, and actions are shaped by them” (Silverman, Rader, 2010). Boys and girls are labeled as masculine or feminine, which is considered the “norm” for society. Children are not born masculine or feminine, they learn these roles from parents, peers, media, and even religion. Concepts of gender identity are sometimes placed on children even before their birth, such as with the selection of paint colors for the nursery.” Children begin to form concepts of gender beginning around the age of 2, and most children know if they are a boy or girl by age of 3” (Martin & Ruble, 2004). From an early age, children are encouraged to identify with gender coding. Gender is formed at birth, but self-identification as being male or female is imbedded into their minds by parents and society. A child learns to understand their gender role and their identity by what is taught and expressed to them by others. Yet as a child grows, gender coding can cause cultural confusion, and insecurity issues throughout the course of their life.

Sociologist Dalton Conley wrote his book, You May Ask Yourself, addressing how “gender is a social construction” that is so normal for society to think how a man or woman should act towards the public. Society often categorizes roles that females and males are suppose to play in, but not only are they categorized they are also being taught what their gender role is suppose to do. The beginning of gender socialization can start with a child who is not born yet by simply having the parents purchase items that are all pink if its expected to be a girl, but if its expected to be a boy then everything they purchase will be blue. Conley states that gender roles are “sets of behavioral norms assumed to accompany ones’ status as male or female” (Conley [2008] 2013:134). So even when a child is growing into their infant years, toys are made specifically for their gender. By examining how social construction places gender in categories it becomes apparent that males and females get differentiated a lot which emphasizes inequality between them.

Today’s society is organized in a way that women seem inferior to men and each gender is expected to behave a certain way. According to Ariel Levy, author of Female Chauvinist Pigs, society has set specific stereotypes for each gender. These stereotypes of women tend to hinder their movement to be seen as equal to men. Some women embrace them (FCPs) and other women do not (feminist). In her article, Parents Keep Child’s Gender Secret, Jayme Poisson writes about a couple who decided to take a stand against society’s expectations and raise a child without revealing the child’s gender to the world or to the child.

In Saul Kaplan’s The Plight of Young Males, he brings to light the fact that as women have progressively become more equal in the eyes of society, men have begun to dwindle. Kaplan offers a range of statistics proving how men are now in turn sliding down the equality scale. He first says that even though males comprise 51% of 18-24 year olds, only about 40% of today’s college students are male. He also says that women are achieving higher academic honors than men than ever before by dominating high school honor rolls and nearly ¾ of the time being class valedictorian (Kaplan 733). These statistics further prove that genders are unbalanced, only this time offering evidence that it’s unbalanced in favor of women.

Prior to this class the term gender to me was associated with male and female, that they grow up into the image the caretaker wants, and then the replica is cut lose to stand on their own. However, after class discussions the term Gender studies has taken on a life of its own. It is an interdisciplinary study devoted to gender identity and gender representation of society. It looks at inequality amongst men and women in both the public and their private spheres. Now as I look back upon my childhood when I had to remain indoor to cook, clean, wash, and iron I can identify how I was gender role socialize base on my sex as female. Although, at that time I did not see it as socialization, to me it was unfair and unjust, because I always taught my brother got the easiest and coolest chores. Even though he use to complain about his chore he never use to envy what I did. It was also

Men and Women's lives are controlled by the double standards all around them. Every gender is told how to feel and how not to feel, how to act and how not to act rather than just acting and feeling as they want to. The lives of human beings are plagued by these awful societal rules that are all meaningless. Despite the progress made in equality for men and women, double standards create inequality for both genders.

Gender inequality is a huge issue in American society today. Not only are women treated as the lesser of the sexes, anyone who does not adhere to their ascribed sex role is judged and seen as different in a negative light. Society in the United States has placed constraints on gender and sex. The United States operates under the concept of sexual dimorphism: there are two sexes, male and female (Ryle, 2015). This idea is further restricted when one considers sex roles, or the expectations of an individual based on their ascribed sex (Ryle, 2015). Men are expected to take on more masculine, breadwinning positions in the home and women are expected to be caregivers. A stereotype exists that women are lesser than men in many ways, especially physically. This leads to women receiving lower pay in the workforce. Females who have families are less accepted in the workplace because the opinion that they belong at home taking care of the children still exists in “traditional” subcultures.

For years, both male and females have been treated differently. Parents claim, son or daughter, they treat all of their children the same. From the research I have gathered and also from personal experience, this claim deceives parents. In the sense of a parent, determined by the child’s sex, parents treat their children differently. With this treatment comes numerous situations where double standards occur.These standards can begin to take place as early a toddler. When it comes to parental gender double standards, I believe the phrase “well, she is a girl” and “boys will be boys” is too commonly used by parents. Although parents set a standard for all of their children, daughters tend to be set at a higher standard than sons. These standards

Society is quick to label, quick to decide who people are before they’ve gotten the chance to discover it for themselves. As soon as one is born, they are assigned a gender. “It’s a boy!” or “It’s a girl!”, they don’t make any other balloons or cards. The habit humans have of dividing things into twos applies not only to the world around them, but is at work intrinsically as well. As with many of such partitions, the separation of people into males and females runs very deep. It is ingrained socially, legally, and culturally with ubiquitous reminders that this is what is normal. It is such a constancy that it almost creates the illusion that it is natural. However, this binary construction of gender is an inaccurate representation of reality, possesses restrictive qualities that poison the human experience, and is a contradiction of the quest for human freedom. The gender binary is a cultural accomplishment rather than a natural order, and requires coercion. People are taught their place in the binary as they go through life through such influences as consumer culture. Examples such as toys, magazines, and film all serve to produce gendered identity which complies with the established system, and therefore are culprits which serve to exacerbate the problem.

Throughout many decades women have been struggling to be equal to men, both at home and in the work place. Women have come a long way and are certainly fighting to gain that equality, but gender roles are very important in our society. They have become important in life from birth, and society continues to push these gender roles. The treatment of the male gender is very different from that of the female, and this issue has become very important to me, as a woman. As children we learn and adapt to specific gender roles, and as we grow they become more evident and more important to our role in a society. There is a lot of discrimination against the female gender. Carol Gilligan argued that

Lets take a look at the core of gender inequality. What first must be distinguished is the difference between sex and gender. Sex refers to the biological label given to each individual at birth (Social Inequalities 316). We are labeled male or female based on our sex organs, bodily chemistry, and bodily functions in general (Social Inequalities 316). The social and cultural differences not acquired at birth determine gender (Social Inequalities 316). These accepted behaviors to which men and women are expected to conform are established by the society. These are referred to characteristics of femininity and masculinity. As one grows up they realize their role to play in society and make it their duty to play their role to its full extent. This is how inequality begins.

Women from birth are looked at as inferior to men. As a society we label babies by the color of their blanket when they are born. Boys are given blue as girls are given pink blankets. This from the start separates the two genders. As boys grow they are given action figures and are taught to play rough games, and girls are given dolls and taught to play nice. These differences continue to cause a gap between the two genders.

“A father and his son are in a car accident. The father dies at the scene and the son is rushed to the hospital. At the hospital the surgeon looks at the boy and says "I can't operate on this boy, he is my son." How can this be?” As kids, most of us, were asked this very simple riddle, and almost all of us couldn't figure out the answer because we couldn’t think of that a woman could be doctor as well as a man. This shows us that starting with early ages, people develop an understanding of gender and assign particular meanings to each gender. Then, these assumptions become social norms, which create gender inequality. Today, we see that both individuals and women-dominated groups and organizations fight to provide gender equality. The question is why does not men fighting for gender equality as much as women.

The topic discussed will be about how my parents tend to respond differently to male and female children. It is my strong belief that due to gender, both males and females are being treated differently in society. According to Mills, sociological imagination “enables its possessor to understand the larger historical scene in terms of its meaning for the inner life and the external career of a variety of individuals” (Mills, 3). In regards with this aspect combined with a personal point of view, the topics that will mainly be discussed are on gender inequality, as well as personal experiences growing up as gendered person. First to clear out any misconceptions; sex and gender are two completely different definitions that are not to be confused with one another. According to professor Murray sex can be defined as a “classification of people as male or female, assigned at birth and is based on bodily characteristics such as internal reproductive organs and genitals.” on the other hand gender according to professor Murray can be defined as “one’s internal, personal sense of being a male, female , both, neither or any other option”. I will first discuss the experiences i have had growing up, and how the adults around my childhood would respond differently to male and female children. The next paragraph will be about social norms. Continuing on after that paragraph will be how roles are portrayed in reality. Then In conclusion i will end the essay with a statement on how I