Personal Narrative-Gender Stereotypes In The Classroom

Things like these are frequent, everyday occurrences that I can’t escape. They’ve taught me to appreciate little victories such as wearing a tux to prom or buying a sweatshirt from the men’s department. In the end, I know who I am and that’s what matters. I’m here, I’m queer, and I’ll never be ashamed of that

I was so scared of someone finding out that I was gay. In Elementary School I told my friend Sierah Heiner that I was

A few months later a friend came out to our group as bisexual, then later pansexual and she started attending the school's weekly GSA meetings. That little coming out started a spark in my mind, and everything started to make a lot of sense. Maybe there was more to life than just straight or gay, more ways a person could be.

It was only in late Stage 3 that the topic of sexuality was approached – through intensive

The word “gay” has gone through drastic changes. Traditionally, it was a positive term that meant to be “happily excited” or “jolly” (Merriam Webster, “Gay”). It was used regularly to express one’s feelings about life. Today, it has a far different meaning. Now people use the word gay to label homosexuals, those with feminine qualities, or those who do something thought to be outside of the norm for their gender. “Being gay” went from expressing someone’s happiness to describing his sexual preference. The definition of gay has changed so much that its original meaning has become archaic and lost to the times.

"It's my purple sweater,” I responded, as my 4th-grade classmates surrounded me, questioning my outfit. Then they said it, the two words that would forever exasperate my adolescence, "That's gay!" And like that, the trend began. From that day on, my typical mannerisms, my lisp, my endless giggling, my fidgeting, were all characterized as gay. The constant bombardment of slurs like "Gayson" bewildered me, resulting in an inner abashment. I was afraid; I was ashamed of who I was.

Published by the Huffington Post, 20 year old Austin Fisher voices his process of coming out in his article entitled “The 3 Sides to my Coming Out Story”. I choose to analyze and reflect on this text for I believe it displays various situations and perceptions in response to one coming out. The author starts by explaining how he came to terms with himself. When Fisher was younger he idolized his brother’s bravery for announcing his homosexuality to the world. This planted a seed in Fisher’s mind that would not seem to stop growing. Though deep down he knew he was gay, he was not ready to admit it to himself or the outside world. Instead, Fisher suppressed his “gay side” and reinvented himself. He got a girlfriend and views “coming out” as overrated, for Fisher views it as unfair and unjust that because of his inherently “wrong” sexualtity he has to go through an emotional process of explaining who he is attracted to the people he loves.

I have chosen to focus this paper on the portrayal of gender stereotypes and expectations as seen in the book Ethan Frome written by author Edith Wharton. Before I proceed with this topic, allow me to highlight the ingenious writing style of the author and her subtle discussion of unhappiness, which opened the door to adultery in the marriages of both Wharton and her main character in the book Ethan Frome.

She reached over to the table beside her and grabbed the glass of ice water, sipping it before placing back down where it belonged and diving back into her computer again “Starting when I was around 3, I always had a constant obsession with one boy band or another. I jumped from one teen heartthrob to another over the years. Most of my conversations with my mother from about age 5 'til my early teens revolved around “my future husbands” as I called them.” Her fingers moved nimbly as the story began to unfold, “I would describe the life I plan to lead with them or the children I wanted to have. Within these conversations with my mom or grandma, they always managed to throw in things like ‘What if you bring home a girl instead’ or one would say ‘Well I can’t wait to meet this husband’ and the other would shout ‘or wife’ from the other room. At the time it made me mad and I would always respond with things like ‘MOMMMM I LIKE BOYS STOPPPPPP’ and storm out of the room. When I look back, I often wonder if they were trying to brainwash me or if they just saw something I didn’t, but it was a sweet way of reassuring me no matter who I love they would always accept me. At the time I never thought anything of it, I liked boys, boys were cute and that’s what the world had taught me. Girls like boys, boys like girls, and

I have always been Bi sexual, I did have a couple of girl friends in my past. I knew I liked girls in 8th grade I thought it was just a phase. I never told my mother or father because they are both Christians and I grew up in a church. I kept it quiet for as long as I could! I was forced to tell my mother I was gay. It was my senior year and I was on the basketball team for the school. Mesha is another team mate on my team who I was dating and still currently dating. We never let our feelings distract the way we played in practice or on the court. We knew how my coach felt about Gay people so we kept our relationship a secret from her. One day after school in the lunch room, we were in study table doing homework before practice. Mesha came up to me and kissed me as she pulled away I could see my coach

In Brisbane, he attended a social group for gay youth and realised he was gay and that was not going to change, so home on holidays in 1997, he told his family. "That was a scary thing to do but I am proud of how my family reacted. I guess most parents worry about the things you'll miss out on like marriage and children, but then they start to comprehend what you will have - the love of family and friends - and

Teachers must have a full understanding of their student’s cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds in order to become socially conscious of the power relations among their students. In order for teachers to learn to lose their own biases, I will host after school teacher trainings where I will facilitate discussions about race and class. This is important because according to author Gilda Ochoa, if teachers hold on to cultural assumptions they run the risk of sending racialized messages to their students, who then internalize them (Ochoa 165). In her book, Academic Profiling, she provides examples of how students pick up on such messages. For instance April Lee, reveals how she is aware of her teachers’ expectations of Asian Americans when she states, “When a teacher looks at you and your face, [they think,] “oh, you’re Asian.” She must be really smart, or she must be really good at math” (Ochoa 165). These stereotyped messages or “ideological assaults” often translate into the differential ways teachers treat their students and is known to create resentment in the students treated inferiorly (Ochoa 172). Clearly, in order for

Braden seated in the corner of the classroom most of the class time. During one activity he got up of his seat and joined two 6th graders boys to answer questions on a race using their iPads. His team won the race, and then he went back to his seat and stayed there while the rest of the students were moving around during the presentations and activities.

Catherine's older sister Karin was the same age as me, 12 years old. Her parents had the latest 'mod cons' shipped out from the USA and her bedroom was decked out with hot pink shag pile carpet and a white fourposter bed with gold trimming and pale pink floral fabric, which flowed delicately in all the right places. My bedroom had the bare necessities, which was all I really needed or wanted. My bedroom was very basic with no signs of femininity and I was okay with that. I also didn't like wearing frills or lace. I thought it was rather 'lame'. What I initially found very fascinating about Karin was thatshe had 'boobs', which she was particularly proud of, and I was very flat chested. I'd never met anyone my age with 'boobs' before. She convinced me that that's what boys like, and also emphasized the greatimportance of being liked by boys. She persuaded me to wear one of her old training bras and stuff it with tissues. I was so in 'awe' of her that I complied. There were only a couple of older boys on the mission station and they were actually teenagers, so their approval of our maturing young bodies, well... hers in particular, was very important. Before Karin had arrived the thought of attracting the attention of a boy didn't even register in my mind seeing as I was just one of them, mostly. I grew up with two brothers and mostly all male cousins so taking part in 'boyish' activities

As I walked out of my nine-story apartment complex, I saw an interesting array of faces. Mixed genders, some male, some female, all very different deep down inside. I study their faces, wondering what it'd be like to walk a day in their shoes. Some people are like open books, you can look at their facial expression and instantly guess what their emotions are, yet others are like locked diaries. You can't tell what they're thinking and you'll probably never know. I shake the thought out of my head as I rummage through my pathetic excuse of a handbag, pulling out my most recent bank statement. Thirty-two cents to my name. How do I live like this? My train of thought is lost as my mind ponders elsewhere. Do you think people can tell I'm a broke