The Importance Of Gender Codes In Society

Gender roles are defined differently by people and are usually centered on opposing conceptions of femininity and masculinity. They are a set of societal norms dictating what types of behaviors are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on their actual or perceived sex. Gender roles now compared to back in the day have very much changed, but there still remains a strong influence as to the way a woman should act and how a man should act. In places such as America, now, women and men both have jobs and can still balance spending time with their family and taking care of children whereas back then, women were housewives and were not able to hold a job because that was the man’s responsibility. The traditional roles of men and women are also looked at, as well as behaviors of men and women that are considered socially appropriate. Gender roles vary greatly from one culture to the next, from one ethnic group to the next, and from one social class to another. But every culture has them, they all have expectations for the way women and men should dress, behave, and look.

Gender can be defined as “sex roles” which are conditions that one considers to be for men or women. People tends to mistake it with sex or thinks that they are both the same. We discussed about the patterns of gender which how the authors of The Kaleidoscope of Gender describes it as “regularized, prepackaged ways of thinking, feeling, and acting” (Spade and Valentino,2017). It becomes an identity for us. We believe that there is and can only be two genders, being masculine for men and feminine for women. These roles has been forced onto us since birth: blue for boys, and pink for girls. You can see the roles being push onto a person throughout one’s life, but we don’t notice it since it’s “normal” to us.

“The Codes of Gender” is a documentary by Sut Jhally. He looks at how today’s culture creates and support gender roles for our society through mass media. The documentary analyze how men and women are taught to conform to look and behave a certain way to meet society expectations of what is ideal to being a male or female. Sut Jhally uses references points from Erving Goffman’s book titled Gender Advertisements, about how advertisements broadcast women in the most bizarre positions; These advertisements display women in awkward and unnatural poses, making them appear submissive, unbalanced, childish, delicate and vulnerable. These attributes are shown through their positions; tilting their head, bent knees, touching themselves, and looking out in the distance. Whereas positions for men are opposite; they appear alert, dominant, confidence and powerful. This can be

Although gender is a socially constructed idea, it is often suggested to be a natural phenomenon. Society plays an important role in reinforcing gender roles in a way that disguises itself as natural, and is thus accepted without question. The United States’ gender system emphasizes gender hierarchy and a binary system that forces individuals to conform. In order to progress gender equality, it is important to denaturalize these social constructions of gender.

Gender and gender roles are a somewhat complicated idea to understand. Contrary to popular belief, gender and sex are two different things in that “gender is not inherently nor solely connected to one’s physical anatomy” (“Understanding Gender”). When parents automatically assign their child a gender based on their sex organs, it leaves very little room for change later in the child’s life, because children born with female sex organs are not necessarily girls, just as children born with male sex organs are not necessarily boys. Rather, gender is based on mindset, personal identity, outward presentations, and behavior of the individual. Binary genders, or the broadly

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.

The behaviors and societal norms we associate with male and female are socially constructed. As Dr. Thompson states in the film “boys and girls are far more human and far more the same than they are different.” However,

How Gender Roles and Societal Expectations Shape Personal Lives” “Boys will be boys”. “If a girl flirts she should follow through”. “A woman belongs in the kitchen”; We all have heard these phrases in some form or another on our TVs, on campus, behind a pulpit, be it indirectly or directly. Somewhere along the line, these messages become a mentality, and in turn the mentality becomes a mandate: do what is expected of you. “Boys”, “Girl”, and “Lust” are all examples of how gender roles and societal expectations shape how we think, act, and see others.

The topic of gender has been of great debate for quite some time. Talks of social constructs used to segregate genders based on the concepts such as race, biology, and tradition and have people conform and believe in these ideas of gender. The very idea has shaped what society considers gender and gender roles, “the cultural expectations imposed on men and women to behave in ways deemed appropriate for their gender” (Ciccarelli, White). These beliefs control the perception of oneself and others and often these expectations are branded with stereotypes. Gender roles uphold sexist, misogynistic, and racist viewpoints that withhold individuality and so forth should be dismantled to have true gender equality and acceptance.

Throughout the course of history, the consensus regarding traditional gender norms has changed immensely. Just the thought of going against these morals was unthinkable and shamed. However, as times have come to change, the challenging of these norms has become more accepted along with the notion that there are no

People all over the world with different cultures, religions and beliefs teach us that they are two different genders, which are male and female. This fact is the foundation of social structure; some people are discriminated because they do not fit in any of the categories in society’s structure. On that note, social construction of gender, is how the “stereotypes” or the expectations of what each gender has to do, or is expected to do, shapes a child as they grow. For instance, the pink and the blue, how the girl areas in stores are full if pinkish delicate stuff and the boy are full of blue and cars and dinosaurs. In other words, people feel the need to separate these two genders in such drastic ways that if a mother decides to dress her baby boy in pink, people will mistake the boy for a baby girl. Furthermore, some people that do not identify themselves as male or female, are classified as genderqueer. “We may use scientific knowledge to help us make the decision, but only our beliefs about gender—not science—can define our sex. Furthermore, our beliefs about gender affect what kinds of knowledge scientists produce about sex in the first place.” (Ann

Gender roles and expectations leave a massive, indirect impact on people of western culture. It can limit both genders as to what they are socially allowed and not allowed to do. While most believe that the roles appear natural, it is only because it is how they are raised to believe, not because of biology. It is completely okay to believe and stick to gender roles on one’s own terms, but the issue lies when the individual is oppressed or harassed for straying from the subjective social construct of standards. It affects a lot of western culture, making different people be able to obtain different professions, wear certain clothing choices, have dominant or passive roles in relationships, and be accepted as either more assertive and

In every culture, society creates gender roles for individuals based on the typical behavior of each gender. For the purpose of this study, the definition proposed by Donaghue and Fallon (2003) will be used, which states that gender roles are expectations shared by a culture placed on individuals because of their gender. These roles determine everything from how males and females should think and interact within the context of society to how they should dress and speak. There have been several theories on where gender roles stem from, but the consensus between most researchers is that the roles are both cultural and personal. Blackstone (2003) proposed three main perspectives on the origin of gender roles. First, an ecological perspective states gender roles are a result of the interactions between individuals and their environments. Second, from a biological standpoint, it is suggested that women have a natural association with the feminine gender role and men vice versa. Lastly, a sociological perspective explains that gender roles are learned and do not necessarily have anything to do with biological traits (Blackstone, 2003). The gender role theory suggests that “individuals internalize cultural expectations about their gender because social pressures external to the individual favor behavior consistent with their prescribed gender role.” (Kidder, 2002). Chodorow (1994) also had a theory that gender roles originate and stem from a

Society has clearly defined boundaries between what is considered to be male or female. The development of an individual’s gender role is formed by interactions with those in close proximity. Society constantly tells us how we should look, act and live based on gender. Family, friends and the media have a tremendous impact on how these roles are formed and the expected behavior of each gender role.

Ever since the dawn of time, women and men have been associated with specific gender roles that can be seen controversial in the eyes of many. Traits and roles associated with a specific gender can be either innate or learned over time. Looking into the deeper concept of gender roles and stereotypes, it is clear that these fixed gender roles are not naturally born with, but rather taught, learned, or influenced by external forces.