The Gender Trap

The article titled "Girls Against Boys," published in the 30 January issue of The Nation magazine by author Katha Pollitt, brings to light pressing issues of gender discrimination and how this nation's education system has changed over the past forty years but still isn't up to par with where it needs to be with issues of gender equality. Pollitt exposes the views of conservatives toward feminism in the school systems of today. This article describes how changes in society are taking place, and what the future may hold for men and women in the world of employment and education.

When a person is born, they are either male or female. Before they are born, their parents are going to set goals and expectations for them. Sometimes parents will name their child after a famous celebrity hoping they will be just as great as them. Each gender will have different ways they should live their life in order to stay within their gender role. Some will meet the expectations and other will not. That does not make them look less of their gender, they will just be expected to meet them. Over the years, some gender roles have submerged and others have risen above. They will be able to show how the gender roles are supposed to be in jobs, education, and marriage and also how they can benefit from stepping out of the gender roles.

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.

give the reader the ability to see at what age children become aware of gender identity. He then gives a

Parents of these children are not supporting their decisions of who they desire to be, leaning towards the sex of being more feminine (regarding female) or masculine (regarding male). As young as pre-school, children begin to show their common interests such as; playing with dolls, trucks, dressing up as princesses, building sky scrapers, playing with action figures, etc. This article mentions, depending on what they child plays with or how the child acts shows the risk of gender assessment. For example, this article is trying to say that if a young boy plays with a doll or dresses like a princess he

How we learn gender is part of gender socialization. It begins the moment we are born and continues till the end of our life. We are exposed to many factors that may influence our gender identity. Some of the factors are, media, our experience in school and our parents. In Martin & Kazyak’s essay titled “Hetero-Romantic Love and Hetereosexiness”, he explains how the media plays a part in shaping a child’s gender identity. In Thorne’s essay titled “Girls and Boys together…” he explores how sex segregation occurs predominantly in elementary school. In the film “Tough Guise”, Katz explains that men aren’t naturally violent but are taught to be so. And lastly, in Cornell’s essay titled “Masculinities and Globalization” he says that there are

An ever changing, yet common issue, in today's generation revolves around how society views gender. The general consensus dictates that gender, as a whole, is a spectrum, rather than a standard set for each individual male and female to follow throughout everyday life. However, there are those individuals who wish to remain reluctant in changing their view of society. Some believe it is better to allow the education system to be segregated by gender, in order to provide more resources to both girls and boys. One person in favor of this public education reform is David Brooks, a neuroscientist who published the article titled “The Gender Gap at School.” A thorough analysis of the effects of literature on men and women, biological factors

Environmentally, a child’s experiences impact gender identity. Depending on family values or morals, a child could be confused by their gender. When a baby is born, there is much control on colors (if boy or girl) and ideas of the parents on how they would want to raise their daughter or son. For an example, a father would treat his son in a rough or unemotional way, while a girl would be protected and nurtured. Known as traditional roles, a boy doesn’t cry or play with dolls, but he can roll

The role of gender roles/stereotypes in our society has greatly diminished. Only those who cling to the past and who benefit from the oppression of one group believe it is still an important factor in our society. These stereotypes are harmful and create a rift between two groups of people from an early age. Children should grow up without the label a gender chosen for them and away from the toxicity of gender stereotypes and conformities in toys and activities. When kids are treated differently from a young age they grow up under the impression that they are drastically unalike and that one group shouldn’t be like the other.

Infants born by Birthmothers are given a new name and handed by the Nurturers to its new family unit which occurs during the annual ceremony of Ones (24). Each family will receive a child in which sex they do not already posses within the unit. Further in the text Jonas states that solitary child within the family unit receiving the new infant "[Beam] with pride to receive a little brother or sister"(24). Looking at these passages through a close reading analysis, with specific emphasis on word meaning, the audience is informed that this society perceives gender and sex as the same thing. This is simply incorrect. The terms male and female describe the "biological attributes in humans" and gender is the "socially constructed roles, behaviours, expressions and identities" of an individual ( Canada Government ). These two definitions are different in meaning but are used interchangeably within the context. This society assumes the gender of a child based on sex in order to maintain its systematic approach to raising children. This transphobic society reinforces the traditional construction of gender by associating individuals with the sex given at birth therefore creating a cis-normative environment.

People receive thousands of cultural messages everyday about gender roles from advertisements, movies, TV, music, magazines, family, school… etc. People perceive these messages and realize expectations for their gender and for their children as well, and how they should operate within society. While many individuals and organizations challenge these traditional gender roles, the evident impact of mainstream culture persists.

Ariel Levy, a staff writer at the New Yorker, also known as “feminism’s newest and most provocative voice,” wrote Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture. In the reading, Levy describes FCPs as well-educated women in high positions and power, who in the daily take part in a culture of raunch which is ruled by men. FCPs go against gender norms, because they have to accept and refuse certain stereotypes. It’s hard facing society when you’re not acting your gender. Jayme Poisson, a staff writer for the Toronto Star, wrote the article “Parents Keep Child’s Gender Secret”. According to Poisson, the parents of Storm are trying to fight the influence of gender norms for all their children, so that the children will have a chance

Gender identity is defined as the identification of a human being as being male or female. The knowledge that we have about gender acquisition is still not as accurate as we would like. Biological and environmental factors are at play and not one or the other seems to be completely wrong. Biological views relating to gender identity are supported by chromosomal and hormonal based differences. Environmental perspectives emphasize on modeling and experience (individual and cultural) affecting gender acquisition. However, the only unbiased way to assess gender identity is by taking into account both biological and environmental factors (McCabe, 2007). This paper focuses on gender identity in early childhood development.

1. The book I chose to analyze was a favorite of mine when I was a little girl, If You Were My Bunny. This book was written by Kate McMullan and illustrated by David McPhail in 1996/1997. This bedtime story tells of a mother’s love for their child no matter if they were bunnies, bears, cats, or other animals. This book can be used to not only socialize children, but also their parents. This form of socialization focuses on the family and the role of love a mother should have. There are not really any sex/gender differences. The mother holds a role and status as one who will take care of their baby. This role the mother has is the norm across the whole book; no matter if she was a cat, bear, or human, the mother watched over her child. The only

Gender should not be intertwined with the term sex, which refers to the physical differences in individuals. Instead, gender is the idea of being male or female, and it is well understood by the time children reach the preschool years. Differences in gender become more pronounced as children age, and societal expectations are reinforced by parents and peers. Behavioral differences may be evident since parents may treat their child differently according to gender. A big example of this is how parents may react to a child’s first