Gender And Gender Impact On Gender

Study on gender role stereotypes has shown that there are several negative effects of stereotyping. The study on how gender role stereotyping effects children is not as prevalent because most believe that it doesn’t matter, since children are just forming their stereotype so children do not care. However, some psychologists have done some research on it, and from their research found out that children used a mixture of moral and social conventional reasoning

In many shops, there seems to be an obvious separation between boys and girls items, for example, the birthday cards, books, clothes, and toys. This is shown in a variety of ways the boy's items are mainly the color blue and the books have pictures of either action figures, superheroes or tools. Whereas the girl's items are mainly the color pink. The books show pictures of fairies, princess, and Bratz. The cards also have the theme of the color pink for girls and blue for boys. The girl's cards have a lot of sparkles and pretty pictures whereas the boy's cards are covered in camo kind of illustrations and also have action figures on the covers. The children's clothes are separated into sections where there are labels for the boy's clothes and labels for the girl's clothes. The girl's clothing is all pretty and pink, it is covered in sparkles. Whereas boys clothing has camo patterns, blue colors, and pictures of action figures.

While reading “Gender,” an essay by Jack Halberstam, the topic of sexism was brought to the forefront of my mind. It has been brought up more often in conversation in the modern era, issues such as how a few cruel insults pertain to female reproductive anatomy and, in a sense, degrade females and ultimately identify them, as well as femininity, as inherently “bad”. Such a thought stemmed from how Halberstam touches on the “problematic stabilization of the meaning of ‘women’ and ‘female’”: meaning there is no room for argument when it comes to your gender—you’re either a girl or not. You either fit into a strict mold, or you do not.

Society expects males and females to adopt, accept, and accommodate specific gender roles and stereotypes that have been previously established. In western society, males are expected to be an alpha, independent, and athletic type, whereas females are typically expected to be obedient, nurturing, and reserved. Society demands conformity to an enforced gender order. When these gender norms are pushed beyond its boundaries, it is common for labels to be given, questions to be asked, and individuals to be ridiculed. While “traditional” gender stereotypes have remained fairly constant over the past few centuries, they have also been challenged.

In the article, “Doing Gender,” West and Zimmerman (1987) argues the concept of gender as a social activity or interaction, as opposed to an intrinsic individual value. These activities and interactions are socially constructed norms of male and female, masculinity and femininity. To further explain gender, the authors define 3 important concepts: sex, sex category, and gender. Sex refers to biological factors (e.g., hormones, genitalia), sex category refers to visual markers (e.g., dress, hairstyle), and gender is the interactive piece. The authors state that doing gender is always certain and ongoing as it is embedded in everyday life (e.g., the way we dress, walk, sit, and communicate) and it is the individual who holds sole responsibility

Both Deborah Blum’s The Gender Blur: Where Does Biology End and Society Take Over? and Aaron Devor’s “Gender Role Behaviors and Attitudes” challenges the concept of how gender behavior is socially constructed. Blum resides on the idea that gender behavior is developed mainly through adolescence and societal expectations of a gender. Based on reference from personal experiences to back her argument up, Blum explains that each individual develops their expected traits as they grow up, while she also claims that genes and testosterones also play a role into establishing the differentiation of gender behavior. Whereas, Devor focuses mainly on the idea that gender behavior is portrayed mainly among two different categories: masculinity and

“Doing Gender” is a phrase popularized by West and Zimmerman. It illustrates the theory that men and women perform actions that are in accordance with the gender norm. In some cases, people do act against the gender norm but it does not diminish the theory of “doing gender.” Our society has formed a rigid understanding of characteristics that are ascribed to the gender binary, which are masculinity and femininity. This social construct of gender dictates the behavior of the individual.

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.

When I was little I only saw the word gender as a term to identify with yourself as male or female. I always had a doll that I would carry around with me no matter where I went. As I got older, I got out of the doll phase and started to get into video games more. Unlike some parents, mine never told me to stop playing video games because I am a girl and to go play with dolls instead because that is what girls do. My parents always let my sister and I play with whatever we wanted. As, I got older I learned that some of my friend’s parents have been gender typing their kids. They would tell the boy that it is wrong for him to want to play with

Gender roles are categories that characterize what it means to be feminine and masculine in society, on how people think about gender as they relate to one another (Adams et al., 2013). For example, women are expected to be accommodating and emotional, while men are usually expected to be self-confident and aggressive, this shows how men and women are to behave in society. However, these sayings were taught to individuals based on norms, or standards created by a society which is called Gender Socialization (p. 318). Growing up as a child, we were taught as girls to play with dollhouses, pretend kitchen sets, cleaning supplies and play dress up. Whereas boys are taught to play with cars, sports equipment’s, action figures, and weapons. However, if a boy was playing with dollhouses, or playing dress up, he would be considered gay, or not masculine and looked down upon by society, and families. The same goes for girls who play with boy toys, or dresses as a tomboy, this is what we are taught to play with at a young age. Our families tell us how to behave, our schools tell us what

Gender identity is the personal conception of being a man or a woman and the society creates standards and comes up with gender roles basing them on existing norms and traditions which will in turn influence gender identity. For instance, most societies associate strength and dominance to be masculine roles while caring and assisting or subordination known to be feminine roles. This clearly makes gender identity be bred within the society. One’s identity is important as it influences his or her life through events like life experiences, how one is being taken or treated, how to do one associate or socialize with others, the type of job one will have to do and also opportunities that may come up favoring a certain type of gender identity. One is also likely to face obstacles or discrimination due to his or her identity.

For my non-participant observation, I went to a Cheesecake Factory in a strip mall located nearby an urban city. “Doing Gender”, a journal article by West and Zimmerman, describes the nature of gender and sex in society. When I was observing people, I was really trying to locate patterns among genders, or assumed genders. Gender can be defined as “an achieved status: that which is constructed through psychological, cultural, and social means” (West and Zimmerman pp. 125). The article describes gender as something that is achieved, grown up with, and taught to by others who perform gender. Performing gender is conforming to stereotypes and ideals put in place by members of society in order to be seen and accepted as a specific gender.

The way people look at gender has been changing over the past few years. Gender has always been a social topic on what boys should do and what girls should do. Although, with the new generation, I have seen people break the mold of gender stereotypes. Over the years, I have seen many classmates and schools changing the status quo of gender. My generation has a different opinion on gender stereotypes than my grandparents and even my parents. Gender stereotypes are changing with each generation, whether it be through sports or the occupations people have.

Most high level jobs are done by men. Should the government encourage a certain percentage of these jobs to be reserved by women?

Are gender issues as important as the media makes them to be, or is it as pointless as arguing over the correct pronunciation of tomato or tomatoes so to speak. While we can agree gender discrimination is not something to joke about, but is it that prevalent in today’s society? Is enforcing gender roles as damaging as experts argue? Finally the “issue” of gender identity, is it important at all? Is gender identity a more complex form of gender roles? What is the difference between someone deciding to wear the opposite gender's clothes and identity as the opposite gender? Gender discrimination is the only real gender issue, while it is not as prevalent today it is still important. Gender roles and gender identity are not as prevalent as the media paints them to be, the idea of gender is an over analyzed human conception and has no real importance.