Masculine and Feminine Norms and Gender Identity Essay

For a long time, men and women have been dealing with the controversy of gender roles. In modern day, the battle for gender equality has been more known. In the story “Guys Suffer from Oppressive Gender Roles Too”, the author Julie Zeilinger explains how males are held to a more macho standard, but do have prevalent emotions. If we were to let go of these rigid rules about what is manly, there would be no standard for any gender. If that was reality, men shouldn’t have to feel humiliated about staying home, and if their companion makes more money than they do. Zeilinger talks about how males detach themselves from some emotions, and live a “life nub to a true range of human emotion” so they can meet this masculinity standard. However if males

Gender role expectations are inescapable in our society as we naturally tend to sort humans into categories, the easiest one being gender. Upon first meeting a person, most people automatically classify the other’s gender. With this classification come the inevitable gender role expectations. Even for those who consciously try their hardest not to cloud their perceptions of others based on “traditional” gender role expectations, it is almost impossible not to subconsciously succumb to these expectations that are ingrained in our minds virtually since the day we are born. These expectations often influence how one interacts with another. This is especially important when taking into consideration the effects that gender socialization of children through gendered toys, media, and parental affects child development.

In a similar study done by Robinson et al in 2001, participants were told that other members of the same-sex could withstand a pain pressor task for a particular amount of time. Some participants were told others members of the same-sex typically withstood the pain task for 30 seconds, while other participants were told that members of the same-sex could withstand the pain for about 90 seconds. A final control group was given no expectations about the pain task. After treatment, each group performed the pain pressor task and was asked to report feelings of pain. Robinson found that women reported more pain sensitivity and lower tolerance than men in the control group. These findings are consistent with other pain tolerance tests in that women had higher ratings of pain. Interestingly, women and men responded similarly to pain when expectations about pain tolerance were provided before the pain pressor task (Robinson et al., 2001). It would seem that when men and women are given a clear definitions of gender norms, they are likely to conform to these definitions. When no definitions of gender norms are provided, women and men will respond to pain in ways they have been previously socialized. The results of Robinson’s study are similar to Fowler’s in that situational cues can be used to manipulate men and

From race, religion, cultural, sexual and gender; we are currently viewing one of the biggest society changes in our time (Chalfant and Roper, 1980). Exploring gender, our perceptions of gender and sex currently we have the opportunity to observe of the people within a public social settings such as a restaurant. Drinking has always been more prevalent among males than among females. Some suggest that the meaning of public drinking is to express a form of masculinity. Drinking was found to symbolize the embodiment of hegemonic masculinity. The ability of the body to tolerate alcohol and the relevance of drinking too little or not drinking at all is viewed as weakness, homosexuality or femininity (Holloway, S. L., Valentine, G., & Jayne, M. (2009).

It all starts from the moment a child is born. The doctor happily shouts “It’s a boy!” or “It’s a girl!”, a pink or blue hat is slapped on the kid, and a celebration of the new life begins. It is not only the beginning of a new life, but the beginning a childhood of the pressure to conform to gender norms. The general understanding of what it means to be male or female is very cut and dry, and to challenge the norm is often met with ridicule. Growing up with the pressure to conform and restrain yourself from being who you truly are is an unnecessary struggle that children do not need. The effects of societal gender roles enforces negative stereotypes and does more harm than good to children.

Men and women are different in many ways. Biologically it is caused by how the brain acts and how it is wired. Men and women’s brains process things differently and control different parts compared to the opposite gender. The biological differences between men and women affect how they process emotions, stress and the differences in how the two brains are wired. The differences of the brain between the two genders make it easier for scientists and doctors to identify the way the male and female brains work the same, and different.

From the moment they are born, parents, peers and advertisements bombard children on what a males and females should look and act like creating stereotypes and societal norms. Males are groomed to be leaders and protectors and women to be nurturers and housewives. These stereotypes control not only young children but the adults that are raising them. Lois Gould, author of X: A Fabulous Child’s Story, details how it would be difficult to be a unisex child not only because of peer alienation but also because the judgement parents would inflict because they too are slaves to societal norms. These societal norms negatively affect gender identity in adolescents by pressuring them to uphold gender norms.

Gender stereotypes often come from many different sources; some of those sources are television, movies, books and society. We typically hold these stereotypes whether we know it or not, and it affects the way we think. Most of the time people hold themselves or their partners accountable for living up to these expectations. One of these common stereotypes is a male being the provider in the relationship. Traditionally speaking, we often associate the male figure of the relationship as the provider. Males are always stereotyped to ensure the financial safety and stability for their family. If he fails to provide for his family we assume the relationship is broken or failing. A providing male typically feels superior and according to Zuo (2011) research of the Effects of Men’s Breadwinner Status, a man’s breadwinning role has been viewed as a core part of his masculinity. Men 's beliefs are found to be strongly associated with the breadwinner status (Gerson, 1993; 1994; Izraeli, 1994; Wilkie, 1993).

We live in a progressing society with one never ending battle, it’s a global battle. A clearly determined line from both involving parties reveals to us the ancient war of genders. A society which has overcome many social indifferences yet gender roles is a highly controversial and complicated topic. It seems this generation is caught in the crossfire of the final frontier of this ancient war. An increase in fundamental changes in gender roles is resulting in manipulating society and altering gender boundaries; females are breaking out of traditional restraints. As with all changes, there are positive and negative attributes; females are advancing and closing the inequality division between males but have traditional roles been underestimated?

Gender identity has always been a controversial subject because everyone has a different opinion or feeling about the subject, but until everyone fully understands the immense history, the different types of identities, laws that have been passed and changed over the years, money that has been spent, bullying that takes place every single day, or the hundreds of controversies that have been argued about the issue one will never begin to understand the actual subject of gender identity.

For centuries, men and women have battled over issues of equality. While it has been proven that women can perform physically and cognitively equivalent with the male gender, there are still certain areas of dissimilarity that isolate men and women to their respective corners. No matter the physique or intelligence of either gender, psychological matters will always segregate the two.

Given that the structure of gender qualities has been a large part of our views, in regards to a variety of issues, a number of people take exception to variances from within these rules. Keeping this in mind, we will discuss the reasons why many individuals are discouraged from crossing traditional gender traits, and closely examine parts of the article assigned for this paper.

Men with higher levels of testosterone and muscle fat ratio are stronger than females (Incledon, 2005, p.8). Evidence shows that male subjects were 50 percent stronger than female subjects. Michael Levin, author of Feminism and Freedom points out that females are not efficient in terms of combat soldiers. As a result, women who wish to be combat soldiers are given less demanding, physical skills (York, n.d., para. 30). As an example, my aunt is a police officer, and at times her workplace gives her less demanding, physical duties for her job. She explains that this is due to low physical strength, and her weak performance at her job. Researchers from the University of Wisconsin carried an experiment in which they inserted testosterone into unborn female monkeys. Accordingly, when these female monkeys were born, they were aggressive and violent and behaved like male monkeys (Corley, 2011, para. 5). Matlin emphasizes that women are naturally caregiving through inborn characteristics, not because of the social beliefs that women act upon (Matlin, 2008, p.8). These experiments were done to understand the innate differences between males and females.

Ingrained thoroughly into society is the notion of a binary gender system. In this system, men are supposed to inhabit the ideals of masculinity such as strength, sexual prowess, and monetary security, while women do the same for femininity, which includes being gentle, submissive, and emotional. Such a system maintains a status quo that every individual is pressured into following. As deep-rooted in all societal structures and institutions as this is, there are means of undoing gender. One such way is through embracing that gender, rather than being static, can be subject to change throughout a person’s life. Gender fluidity can be expressed in sexual, physical, and/or emotional ways, and it works to undo normative notions of gender in the binary system by allowing people the chance to truly be themselves.

What is masculinity and what is femininity, why does it defined your gender. Why can’t a man be feminine without his sexuality or manhood be judge, or a woman showing masculinity traits without being called a bitch. That is because we live in a binary world, where one sex is supposed to be superior than the other. Where every day both sex is force to assume this unrealistic gender role, which in turn result in women and men learning how to act like the proper society approve women and men.