Reflection On Heteronormativity

Dress codes in middle and high schools are a form of discrimination against teenage girls in today’s society. Parents and students all over the country argue that dress codes are directed mainly at girls and are a blatant example of gender inequality. The idea behind the strict enforcement of a dress code is that it will teach self-respect and raise moral standards for the students. However, when the reason for many dress code violations is questioned the rationale is often to prevent distracting the male students. Young women across the country are being shamed and punished for wearing what schools consider immodest and being a distraction to their male peers. This discrimination against female students results in their clothes being strictly regulated and dress coded more often than male students’ clothes are. The enforcement of these discriminatory dress codes has become a form of public humiliation for female students. Theoretically, a dress code makes sense and should be effective. In reality, it does not affect how students dress but causes a distraction and interruption of a girl’s education.

In this day, children can often feel as though they are at a loss of ways to express themselves. With the heavy burden of societal standards, clothes are one of the only “acceptable” ways students have left to express themselves with. The biggest and most relevant example of this today is Transgender and LGBT students, or those who identify with a different gender than the one they were legally born into. As said in The Movement Against Sexist and Discriminatory School Dress Codes, “Meanwhile, gender nonconforming and transgender students have also clashed with such policies on the grounds that they rigidly dictate how kids express their identities. Transgender students have been sent home for wearing clothing different than what's expected of their legal sex.” This said, they way one dresses can extremely affect

Essay 4 in The Matrix Reader “Masculinity as Homophobia” by Michael S. Kimmel explains the definition of manhood and how it has helped to create the concept of homophobia in a societal sense rather than a scientific one. Kimmel states that “Manhood is neither static nor timeless; it is historical,” and “…not the manifestation of an inner essence; it is socially constructed,” and “…does not bubble up to consciousness from our biological makeup; it is created in culture.” (pp.44) In today’s society, being a man has many stereotypes, and the legalization of gay marriage puts those stereotypes to test.

On October 6, 2017, I woke up and for an hour I thought about what social norm I was going to challenge for this assignment. After giving it careful thought, I decided I was going to challenge the gender roles, identity, and stereotypes that society has. “Gender roles are sets of behavioral norms assumed to accompany one’s status as male or female.” (Conley, 2017, p.133) I was going to challenge this with my clothing. So, I decided I was going to dress up like a man for the whole day. Gender roles are cultural and personal. They determine and control how males and females should think, speak, dress, and interact within the context of society. In the United States, these gender roles are

In, “Heterosexism and homophobia among college students,” Larry M. Lance starts off by explaining the difference between heterosexism and homophobia. Heterosexism is thinking that everyone should be attracted to the opposite sex and homophobia is having an irrational fear of gay men and lesbians. He mentions that efforts have been made to reduce heterosexism on campuses by encouraging homosexuals to be proud of who they are and not hide. However, with homophobia, he states that these negative attitudes are seen more in heterosexual males than heterosexual females. Heterosexual males could have more homophobic views on lesbians and gay men because of their exotic value even though they seem to be less homophobic towards lesbians. Lance

In the movie Mad hot ballroom(2005), this specific view has been imposed on the children through ballroom dancing consequently with how the instructors were teaching the children to act and dance in a heteronormative way. One teacher in particular asks the boys to know what color their partner’s eyes are, and to look into their eye and treat them like a lady. The partnered dance presented in Mad hot ballroom portrays what competitive ballroom dancing is in a social constructed way. The view on heterosexuality generally was also shown to us in Mad hot ballroom with how the kids were partially focused on only describing the opposite gender and their differences in their interviews throughout almost the whole

This set of photographs shows couples from the project “Switcheroo.” The clothing in which the couple wears expresses defining gender qualities. Dresses are viewed and labelled as feminine while pants and dress shirts represent masculinity. These photos contribute to Margo DeMello’s perspective on the gendered nature of men’s and women’s clothing. Both models can express their gender through their facial expressions, stance, and posture.

Imagine being mocked for who you are and singled out on the way you act and dress—heterosexuals face that problem everyday seeing it broadcasted on shows and movies commonly seen in the genre of drama and comedy. Stereotypes on groups of people affect whether they are true or just a perception. The gay community is discriminated against and has to overcome stereotypes in the media, as seen in Modern Family, Glee, and Mean Girls showing how they are struggling to be represented accurately and positively. Before the 1960’s gay men weren’t shown in films, plays, shows, etc.

Reimer, we delved into the historical side of things. Being a history teacher herself, it was no surprise that Ms, Reimer was so knowledgeable on the subject — in fact, she gave me more examples than I could possibly use. After careful consideration, we came up with a timeline of specific groups that had used dress to broadcast their identity to the world. First on the list? The Roaring Twenties and the Flapper subculture. The 1920s, says Reimer, were “a party time for everyone. Everyone’s living the high life…there was a sense of rebelliousness.” This rebelliousness was most often personified in the “flapper girl” who, according to a June 1922 article in The Flapper magazine, wore “bobbed hair; powder and rouge on the cheeks; …low cut, sleeveless bodice; absence of a corset; high skirts” (“Announcing Flapper Beauty Contest”). However, this so-called “modern woman,” was more than just her appearance; Journalist H.L. Mencken echoed the sentiments of many when he wrote that the flapper was “foolish…and inclined to revolt against the precepts and admonitions of her elders” (W. Morris and M. Morris 215). Like many people of the time, Mencken reacted negatively to the sudden strength shown by women who had appeared submissive only years

Americans live in a society that seems constantly plagued by various types of discrimination. For instance, ableism, classism, and sizeism are a few examples of the sorts of systematic discriminations that Americans face every day. However, as of late, one of the most prevalent forms that targets homosexual minorities is Heterosexist discrimination. Heterosexism is defined as the discrimination or prejudice against homosexuals (“Heterosexism”). In addition to being prejudiced and discriminatory, Heterosexism is more often than not paired with the idea that heterosexuality is the normal sexual orientation, and therefore superior.

Sociologists can analyze the most important aspects of life such as, love, romance, intimacy, marriage and family. My one piece of media is a song by Beyoncé called “Cater 2 U.” The song is about letting your man know that you appreciate his hard work and showing that it is the women’s job is to temporarily take the stress away. Heterosexual imaginary of appreciation is viewed in the song “Cater 2 U” by the emphasis on feeding the man. The heterosexual imaginary about relationships focus on pleasing a man by cooking dinner. Stevi Jackson a sociologist states, Heteronormativity standardizes gender performances and expands outside of just the assumption that everyone is heterosexual. Heteronormativity gives a standard for what’s expected for a certain gender. The social structure of gender is constructed through women who cannot cook are viewed as undesirable to men. Also, women who do not keep themselves looking attractive for a man, society views that as deal breaker for why a man would leave you. An example from the song Cater 2 U, “I’ll keep it tight, I 'll keep my figure right I 'll keep, My Hair Fixed,” ” this exactly shows us a glimpse of the heterosexual imaginary of women. These things are what women perceive as what a relationship should be. Most men are not viewed as this shallow, when it comes to what they want it is pretty simple. Some women cannot see because of all these social norms,

Throughout many dance styles, not only ballet, there are many methods of teaching focused solely on gender roles. In ballet, it is common for the male artists to be considered masculine and strong as opposed to female dancers being thought of as delicate and dainty. For years women have been told to act a certain way, speak a certain way and even sit a certain way, to “act lady like” and do as you're told. This preconceived notion of women is reflected within dance as well, throughout my Pinterest board I have pinned a multitude of images displaying gender roles. There is a particular image that sticks out among the rest pertaining to this topic specifically, showing a male dancer holding on to a female dancer who appears to be running off a cliff. This image displays the women as vulnerable and possibly weak whereas the male is portrayed, yet again, as the “hero” in the

A terrible social experience at a school over reacted with their dress code for homecoming. In Utah, “Twenty-four girls were asked to leave” even though their dresses were not short or revealing (Ramos).

Children learn at a very early age what it means to be a boy or a girl in our society. As children grow and develop, the gender stereotypes they are exposed to at home are reinforced by many elements in their environment and are thus perpetuated throughout childhood followed by adolescence. One major societal issue uprising with the way children are raised in today’s society is the gender specific dressing for boys and girls. The history with gender specific dressing is a one sided masculine enforced point of view for centuries. As children move through childhood and into adolescence, they are exposed to many factors which influence their behaviors and attitudes regarding gender roles. It is difficult for a child in today’s society to grow to adulthood without experiencing some form of gender bias or stereotyping. The question lies whether the view of gender specific dressing shall change or stay the same. As society continues to evolve and grow so does the tolerance of new uprising views for the general purpose of equality and freedom to do as pleased. Children regularly learn to adopt gender roles which are not always fair to both sexes. These attitudes and behaviors are generally learned first in the home but then reinforced by their environment, school experience, and media viewing. Nonetheless, the strongest influence on gender role development seems to occur within the family setting. Culture, values, and beliefs are the parents early role for passing on, both overtly

At schools “dress code” is one of the main gender stereotypes, why? Because in private school’s girls have to wear shirts and boys have to wear jeans. In other schools’ girls have to make sure that their shoulders and stomach and legs aren’t showing because they feel that it causes distraction in a classroom. The only thing that boys have to worry about as to pose to dress code is to make sure that their shirts don’t have any drugs, or sexual things on them and that the colors they wear aren’t gang relate. Dress code in school was placed to make sure kids don’t feel left out and make school a lot safer, but is