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Gender Roles In American Culture

Decent Essays

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.
When children start to associate themselves with a gender, they begin to behave according to the cultural attitudes towards said gender they identify as. For instance, if a female child begins to act out characteristics typical for a girl, the child is growing up to be a …show more content…

Certain attributions are considered the ‘norm’ in that given culture. In American culture, racial stereotypes are frequently mixed with asserted gender roles. From the experience of a black man, “the ability to alter public space in ugly ways: it was clear that she thought herself the quarry of a mugger or a rapist or worst” (Staples 542). People view black men as predatory due to racist beliefs about black people, black men are see has hyper-aggressive. The same mindset can be applied to black women as they are associated with being promiscuous, loud, rude, voluptuous and other racial stereotypes. “I often witness that “hunch” posture from women after dark on the streets of Brooklyn where I lived” (Staples 542). Women are typically weary of men while walking alone at night due to women being targets of street violence but when race becomes a factor especially a case with a man of color that fear frequently streams from

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