Gender Roles And Stereotypes

Gender can be often defined as the physical attributes such as external genitalia and internal reproductive system that makes an individual male or female, but nowadays gender is not determined biologically, but socially. Stereotypically, males are strong and in control while females are weak and submissive. Raising children in cultures where it is encouraged to adhere to gender roles can be harmful to their well-being. First of all, what are gender roles and stereotypes? They are the behaviors, activities, and attitudes expected from a certain gender. These expectations are created by human culture. Males are expected to be masculine, enjoy mechanics, do “dirty jobs”, take charge in places such as the workplace, and not do the housework or
Eight-year-old Sunnie Kahle, for example, was asked not to return to her Christian school because she was a tomboy. Principal Becky Bowman stated in a letter that God created Sunnie as a female, so she needed to act like one. “Although Bowman wrote in the letter that Sunnie seemed to be having gender-identity issues, Thompson said Sunnie always says she’s a girl, though she happens to like collecting baseball cards and rocks, and practicing using her BB gun with her grandfather” (Lupkin). Sunnie, who knows she is a girl, did not go along with the societal gender norms, which made others think that she was having “gender-identity issues.” This shows the expectations that people have for females, and when a girl is not “girly enough,” people start to think that she has her gender identity
His eyeliner, eyeshadow, and lipstick was no different than an average girl’s make up. “...administrators told Martin he was violating the dress code. They wanted him to wipe off the makeup” (Carroll). It was stated that makeup was not in the handbook, so why did they say it was violating the school’s dress code? “The parents said this is not the first time their son's sexual identity has caused him turmoil at the school. Other kids have beaten him up, teased him and destroyed his belongings…” (Carroll). The only thing Chris’s makeup was “violating” was the gender roles and stereotypes. Society has created the idea that it could only be normal for females to wear makeup, and when a male such as Chris did, he became harassed by his peers and