Why Boys Don 't Play With Dolls By Katha Pollitt And Silko 's Essays Essay

Abundant individuals don’t know the difference between sex and gender roles. Sex is the biological characteristics in a person. Gender roles are the expectations of how a person should dress and act based on their sex. The majority of individuals accommodate to those roles early on, because of the influences their parents have on them. Such ideas of gender roles are exhibited at length in the two short essays, “Why boys don 't play with dolls” by Katha Pollitt and “The Gender Blur: Where Does Biology End and Society take over?” by Deborah Blum, in which gender roles are shown to be sociological rather than biological. Pollitt is an award-winning poet also well known as a liberal essayist and critic. Pollitt 's essay ventures to persuade her readers that not only will sexual roles always exist in society, but also, they have always been and will always continue to be hidden in controversy over the source of their origin that is nature or nurture. Pollitt also highlights some of the causes with gender stereotypes, especially in children. Pollitt says that the the blame for gender stereotypes and differences is based on the environment and how the child is raised. Blum 's essay discusses the differences between nature and nurture when it comes to raising her children. She also talks about how certain biological factors shape the pieces of an individual 's personality that nurturing doesn 't do. Pollitt 's essay is persuasive primarily because she utilizes strategies such as

Katha Pollitt in her article entitled, "Why Boys Don't Play with Dolls" illustrates a very powerful social movement in history that has made an impact in society. This was the Feminist Movement that made changes from starting from work, politics, friendship, and etc, but it has failed in the most important institution in American society, the family. It all begins from the family where children are initially socialized into the people that they will become in the future, if the family fails to educated children on gender and their differences then it becomes an issue as the days go. It can be said the it helps to educate, because it did cause a change in behaviors, where women were afforded equal rights under the law, the right to chose in

Another literary device Farrell employs in order to convince his audience of his opinion on male identity is an intellectual tone. Many people who write about male or female identity do it from a very subjective point of view. They discuss first hand experiences, use emotional rhetoric, and attempt to appeal to their audience through the use of pathos. These elements combine to make the tone of these pieces very affecting and personal, but in general can leave many readers behind for the same reasons. In Farrell’s essay the tone is designed to be intellectual and objective instead of emotional and subjective. By writing in this more formal and informative style, Farrell makes a very logical argument which is relatable and understandable by all people and not only those who have had similar experiences as the author, thus improving his message’s effectiveness.

“One is not born, but rather becomes a woman”. The definition for sex and gender is different depending on which theory one uses to describe each concept. There is the Biological, Psychological and Social Constructionism theory. This essay will highlight each of the theories definitions for sex and gender but, will focus on the Psychological theory as an opposing theory to Butler’s beliefs of gender and sex as performative. Intersectionality allows one to embody more than one identity at any given time.

I put quotes around the title “Why Boys Don’t Play with Dolls,” and I also made each first word of the essay title capitalize.

Chapter 22 of Ross’ Handbook focused on gender and what exactly it means to by the words “male” and “female.” Further, from this chapter a statement that I found remarkably compelling by Judith Butler is that gender is simply a performance that we do and act out on a day-to-day basis. Why I found this statement to be so compelling is for a number of reasons. First and foremost is that this idea could not be more accurate, but because more people identify with their biological gender it is not something that is readily discussed. Secondly, it is also moving as it is especially relevant with all that is going on in politics regarding the individuals who do not identify to the biological sex/gender they were born with.

From an early age children are taught that they are to play with material objects, based on their gender, they are to dress a certain way, based on their gender, they are to like certain things, based on their gender, and they are to view themselves not as they please, but as the manipulated image society puts in their mirror. These thoughts and ideas are thrust upon children as soon as the sonogram confirming their sex is placed in the hands of their parents.

Life is a complex story that all of humanity experiences in astonishingly contrasting ways. One distinguishable difference between people is class. Some are born with nothing, while others grow in prosperity. Those with little have limited opportunities and usually endeavor for an improved life by working strenuous jobs with low pay. Another difference is gender. Throughout one’s existence, dissimilarities are obvious between gender groups. Media, pop-culture, and other’s general behavior provide notions that assist in determining who is what. In Richard Linklater’s Boyhood (2014) Olivia is a single mother striving to support both herself and her two children Mason and Samantha all while attempting to properly raise the two and attend college.

Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries and even including all the way up to the 21st century, there has been questions generated on the gender roles of the society. Expectations can differentiate upon the behaviors and attitudes that affect men and women within those societies. In A Doll’s House, the gender roles match those that are consistent to the real world expectations of women’s rights. Henrik Ibsen, author of A Doll’s House, uses his play to represent the traditional gender roles of the time and even go further in depth to explain the reality of it all. Gender roles are supposed to be the way males and females should talk, think, dress, and how to go about everyday life. Between the 18th and 19th centuries, present day, and the

Ever since "A Doll House" first came to the stage in the 1880's, critics have argued vehemently about the Ibsen's intentions while writing the play, and the ambivalence over the play confused not only the plays but also the audience: while some patrons praised the play, others stormed the stages in protest of Nora's abandonment of her family. The difference of opinion ranged so far as to incite patron who, after reading reviews of the play that objected to the dialogue in the play, did not hear objectionable dialogues to accuse directors of censorship while in fact "not a word has been cut" and "the text they found so innocent contained every one of the enormities denounced by the critics" (Archer 20). Aware

Gender and identity, goes hand in hand in terms of individuality and how we and others identify ourselves. However, the stereotypical identity that comes with gender is also another way for other people to limit us, or put a negative connotation on our future possibilities as men and women respectively. Tony Porter discusses the limitations of men in “A Call to Men”, while Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie provides intel on the way women are perceived in “We Should All Be Feminists”. These common negative stereotypes give examples of the qualities that men and women should only possess, resulting in putting a label on us and destroying the uniqueness that everybody has.

Social norms are the concept that society sees as being the customary expectations anticipated of people in their culture. They range from the everyday activities of smiling at strangers to the expectancy of how children will conduct themselves based upon their sex. This expectancy is known as gender roles. Gender roles can be seen by the image provided by Miss Representation (1). Miss Representation depicts two concepts, the first picture is of Barbie commonly known for being one of the most popular toys for little girls, and the second picture is of G.I. Joe which is also known for being one of the most popular toys but for little boys. From the very beginning of children’s lives they are forced into a set gender, usually by their parents or other guardians. This is seen when babies wear pink for girls and blue for boys, boys play with trucks and girls play with dolls, etc. This type of conforming can be detrimental to a child’s development because they are being forced to imitate actions and beliefs that they may not naturally

Several years ago, I went out with my mother. While we were having a lunch at a restaurant, someone who was tall with long-hair walked in. My mother asked me, whether that person is a man or a woman. Our opinions were different. Because, in these days, there are many tall women and there are many long-haired men. When the person came close to us, we knew certainly. The person’s voice was deep, so we concluded that person was a man based on the information we figured out. But, that person could be a tall, long-haired woman with a deep voice. Are you a man? Are you a woman? What is your gender? Concept of gender and sex are very important matter for us in living in the society. In the stories, “The Metamorphosis” and “The Women’s Swimming Pool”, it is mentioned that what the role of men and women, and what it means living as a men and women in society.

Girlhood shapes women into who they want to be. Professor Kearney specializes in girls’ media, and explains in her journal “Coalescing: The Development of Girls’ Studies” how important girl-centered research is to contributing to greater respect for girl culture. Kearney describes how “focusing on the difficult experiences [girls] have during adolescence” has increased public attention and thus analyses done on the subject (Kearney 14). These experiences girls have during their youth have a tremendous impact on who they become. From a young age girls learn a distorted definition of what beauty should look like. Professor of literature Ann DuCille analyzes the toxic affect of Barbie dolls as role models on young girls in her article "Dyes and Dolls”. DuCille cites, “[Barbie] has the ideal that Western culture has insisted upon… long legs, long arms, small waist, high round bosom, and long neck” (DuCille 217). Society has perpetuated a culture where girls strive to be perfect – craving this Western ideal of beauty with a big house and nice car. Society has also created a stereotype women are expected to fit into. Philosopher Marilyn Frye explains oppression and describes how, “There is a women’s place, a sector, which is inhabited by women of all classes and races, and it is not defined by geographical boundaries but by function” (Frye 46). This function is to serve men by doing work that feels lower to them such as housework, cooking, and raising children. This inequality

People often mix up the terms sex and gender. However, there are distinctive differences between them: sex is biological, meaning that one is born with. In contrast to this, gender is a role that individuals perform everyday; ones gender reflects how they feel on the inside, and what they believe to be. The challenging part about this, is that the