Gender Stereotypes, gender stereotypes can be a confronting and tough issue during adolescence since this this is the time when a…
There are numerous influences that contribute to one’s gender identity. The way in which a person is raised, or nurture that one receives as a child can aid in the formation of gender identity. Parents typically vision their offspring as male or female, and as the boy or girl ages they tend to assume one or the other; masculine or feminine traits. Another possible important factor in the determination of gender identity is culture and the society in which one is a part of. Some may formulate their gender identity according to social norms and how they appear to…
Gender is defined as “organisms are classified on the basis of their reproductive organs and functions” (American Heritage Dictionary), nothing more than your reproductive organs. There are no cultural traits that go along with one’s gender, everything that you have been taught as to what a girl or boy may be, has been taught to you through social constructs. All of these constructs are taught during adolescence. “Saplings in the Storm” by Mary Pipher explores the young females and their challenges in their adolescent and teenage years. Essentially the girls lose all of their value during these years when they trade it for traditional female traits such as being idealistic and superficial.…
1. Why did Cato object to repealing the Oppian law? What was the basis of his objections?…
Parents dress the girls in pink and the boys in blue. Once children are cognitively capable, they themselves begin to contribute to the conformities of gender identity. Every parent hopes and prays that they will have a “normal” child, one that fits into today’s societal standards. This is why there are so many issues and complications that arise when an adolescent begins to push the boundaries of gender identity. There are invisible borders of what is and isn’t accepted by the general public. Gender determines how you dress, how you look, and how you act. However the most disturbing of gender determination is the fact that it controls how you feel, whether you are sensitive and emotional like a girl or tough and aggressive like a boy, you’re feelings are constantly being judged on a scale of appropriateness. Gender conformity is everyday behavior that conforms to norms and expectations that are related to a gender. Gender nonconformity is behaviour that is considered unusual and abnormal for a gender.…
It is a common practice to assume that gender is biological aspect of human lives, but in social sciences “gender identity [is] not a “thing” that people “have,” but rather a process of construction that develops, comes into crisis, and changes as a person interacts with the social world” (Messner 2009:120). As Messner (2009) explained, gender identity is not static but is rather a dynamic process that all individuals experience through social interactions. When I was young, my parents always referred to me as a “tomboy” because I often played with boys and was comfortable wearing boy’s clothes. Likewise, I knew that I was a girl. However, I preferred to play with boys because their games were more enticing and intriguing. Since I was little,…
Gender roles are associated with the norms, or standards that are created by society. These roles have surpassed the expectations of what our grandparents and ancestors were accustomed to. Men are viewed as strong, aggressive, and dominant; while women are viewed as nurturing, passive, and subordinate. The changes have impacted the world in great form by defying the odds in household duties, education, and work.…
Gender identity has become a prominent topic in today’s society as people are becoming more aware of personal identity. Gender awareness is fundamental for self-assessment and predominant in our perception of others. Social pressures also influence gender as they create stereotypes that people are expected to follow. These societal definitions of male and female greatly impact childhood development as they create restrictions and regulatory mechanisms that guide conduct relating to one’s gender and sex throughout the course of life (Bussey and Bandura 1). Societal perceptions of gender play a fundamental role in childhood development; gender conceptions and roles are the product of a network of social influences operating on the basis of a…
Gender role has been defined in various ways; for example, it has included a person’s preference for, or adoption of, behavioral characteristics or endorsement of personality traits that are linked to cultural notions of masculinity and femininity. Depending on which parent a child identifies this can provide its own identifier towards which gender role a child will attach themselves to. In childhood, gender roles have been commonly indexed and operationalized with regard to several constraints: peer preferences, toy interests, roles in fantasy play, etcetera. When children are asked “what identifies them as a boy or a girl” children often respond that it is there clothing and not their abilities. (Kerr, Multon, 2015)…
WS 100 is a multidisciplinary course that examines issues around gender with a particular emphasis on how women’s lives have been shaped by the definitions of femininity and masculinity as well as race, class and sexual identity. We begin and end this course by looking at the conditions and actions of women at pivotal moments in history. While our primary focus is on women and understanding why it is they experience for example violence, poverty and employment inequity, we only have a small portion of the picture unless we also seek to understand masculinity and how it functions within our culture. Throughout this course, we pay considerable attention to the complexity of oppression by drawing on race, class and sexual identity to see how women and men inhabit varying positions of power and subordination. We draw on the work of feminists and feminisms that span a wide range of key theoretical and practice that is fundamental to the understanding of oppression. Of course our thinking would be incomplete if we failed to consider and honour what people have done to combat injustice.…
Through human culture, we can see how life chances (political theory of the opportunities each individual has to improve his or her quality of life) and the life experiences of a human being are a mere social construction according to their sex, gender identity and role they play in society. This creates inequality between people in society. ‘Sex depends on whether you were born with distinct male or female genitals and a genetic program that released either male or female hormones to stimulate the development of your reproductive system. Gender is your sense of being male or female and your playing masculine and feminine roles in ways defined as appropriate by your culture and society. Gender identity is one’s identification with, or sense of belonging to, a particular sex – biologically, psychologically and socially. And gender roles are widely shared expectations about how males and females are supposed to act’ (Kirkman, Alison 2012, p.354). Knowing this, how does gender affect someone’s life chances and life experiences? Depending on the way individuals present themselves to society!…
This particular seminar was a very thought-provoking experience because of the contentious issue we were discussing. People conveyed their opinions regarding gender roles in a very explicit and coherent manner, and it really shows how my fellow peers have developed their own personal opinions regarding this social norm. The seminar began with Juliet stating that gender roles still are a part of lives and still play a heavy impact on both females and males. She referred directly to the Halloween costumes for little girls’ article that we examined couple of weeks ago, and correlated it directly to how major corporations still emphasize this discrimination between males, and females. Now, I value Juliet opinion and confidence for stating this right from the inception of the seminar.…
Gender roles are expectations of how a person should act, dress, and talk based on his or her sex. A majority of people conform to these roles at an early age, and will continue to carry these beliefs, often unconsciously, around with them throughout their lives, and these beliefs can affect people negatively. The message that gender roles send is that in order to be part of society, you must fit into the predisposed mold for your gender, or most importantly, what society deems as acceptable. But at the same time, try to incorporate individuality and establish a sense of self.…
Gender roles are an incredibly important factor when it comes to our identity. Gender is multidimensional, meaning that there are psychological, social, cultural, political, and economic dimensions to gender (Strong & Cohen, pg 110). On some of these dimensions, gender can be highly personal, and on others it is considered political. If I were the opposite gender, I believe that I would be an incredibly different person. I believe this because of the significant stress that is put on gender roles.…
Gender identity and gender role attitudes can have important influences on health behavior (Visser & Mcdonnell, 2012). The application of gender double-standards present a different set of principles and expectations to men and women which in return, will have effects on men’s and women’s engagement in health-related behaviors such as alcohol use. The purpose of this study is to apply a mixed-methods approach to explore how gender double-standards for alcohol use affect young people’s alcohol use. Previous research has often put a particular focus on young people and heavy episodes of drinking and its association with alcohol poisoning (Nicholas, 2010). Visser & Mcdonallel, 2012, felt there is a need for better understanding of the gendered…