Rhetorical Analysis Essay: “Men Are Stuck In Gender Roles, Data Suggest” In Reyes’s Los Angeles Times article, “Men Are Stuck In Gender Roles, Data Suggest” posted on December 26, 2013, she discusses that there are gender roles in today’s society that has been set and learned at a young age, that men do men things and women do women things but there’s a small percentage where it’s flipped upside-down. The context of this article can be misogyny or sexist, and focuses more towards the male audience with a smaller portion of women. Reyes’s exigence comes from her own research as the “census data and surveys show that men remain rare in stereotypically feminine positions”(Reyes Par. 3). Due to her excellent use of appeals, Reyes’s article is highly recommended for the PopMatters Persuasiveness Prize. Reyes supports her claim with ethos with her usage of good credible sources; logos, using inductive logic and by providing good statistics; and pathos, like the bandwagon appeal with an attempt to sway people away from the norm, and by providing stories from everyday folk on how they’ve encountered these stereotypes regarding gender roles. Initially, Reyes begins her article with an emotional appeal as she shares with her audience a story about a man named Brent Kroeger, who so happens to be a stay at home father. Consequently as he was viewing vulgar comments concerning stay at home fathers, Brent was troubled “wondering if his friends [thought] those things about him” claiming
Explain the difference between ethos, pathos and logos and why they are each effective rhetorical strategies. Provide a real-world example of each and how those examples are successful at persuading their intended audience.
In her essay titled “Toxic Masculinity is Killing Men: The Roots of Male Trauma,” Kali Holloway uses scientific data to and evidence to state that gender stereotypes and roles are killing men. Holloway’s essay is a wake up call to today’s society that says we as parents, siblings, teachers, and anyone else who comes into contact to children who are young and impressionable, need to raise boys and girls the same way to prevent and eliminate gender roles and stereotypes.
Our society’s gender roles are constantly evolving and changing, all in the name of “progressive thinking”, though not all for the good. With a new “social norm” appearing every few years or so, it comes as a surprise that it
Kinzel and Solnit both aimed their articles at the male population to point out an issue that is usually swept under the rug. A man being the intended audience strongly affects the argument because they are the ones that the authors have a problem with. They want to get their point across but need to do it in a way that does not anger the reader. Kinzel shows her great understanding of the issue by talking about how women are capable of this type of attitude. She even describes her behavior in situations like this “I’ve always called it “lecture mode,” and I even have this habit where I take a deep, semi-dramatic breath before it shifts on, and I begin, on the exhale, with, “Well--” I always begin with “Well--” and I always conclude with, “Does that make sense?” (Kinzel). By acknowledging this male readers are more receptive to her message and more likely to be open minded.
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
Our gender has an effect on every aspect of our lives, varying from how we view ourselves and other people to how we interact in social and civic life. It also impacts the way we set our goals in opportunity areas such as education, work, and recreation. Gender socialization starts at birth then manifests through family, education, peer groups, and mass media. Gender norms are automatically placed on us, where women should learn how to be nurturing, sensitive, emotional, passive, and always hold a man’s position higher than hers. On the other hand men should be overly confident, aggressive, dominant, and view women beneath them. This paper uses various readings to show how these gender norms are supported and challenged in today’s society.
Women are stereotyped as the cooking, cleaning, child bearing machine whose sole purpose is to take care of men and children. Women are undermined constantly because of stereotypes surrounding them such as being fragile, vein, brainless, very feminine, and submissive. Women’s stereotypes make them appear useless. Growing up as the only girl in a family of men, I
Women and men are nestled into predetermined cultural molds when it comes to gender in American society. Women play the roles of mothers, housekeepers, and servants to their husbands and children, and men act as providers, protectors, and heads of the household. These gender roles stem from the many culture myths that exist pertaining to America, including those of the model family, education, liberty, and of gender. The majority of these myths are misconceptions, but linger because we, as Americans, do not analyze or question them. The misconception of gender suggests that biological truths no longer dictate our gender roles as men and women; they derive from cultural myths. We, as a nation, need
The feminist movement has been trying to change the idea of traditional sex roles and stereotypes in society for decades, but maybe the issue relies on society instead of biological differences. While these biological differences and research show that there are small differences in cognitive brain activity between the sexes, they also propose a theory that this “is the way it’s supposed to be” (Pollitt 2549). Although these differences exist it does not mean that sexes should have permanently assigned roles in society. Katha Pollitt, a feminist author and high profile activist wrote the essay “Why Don’t Boys Play With Dolls,” published in 1995 in The New York Times Magazine. In the essay, she argues that “biological determinism may reassure some adults about their present, but it is feminism, the ideology of flexible and converging sex roles, that fits our children’s future” (2549). Pollitt raises important ethical problems in her essay, gender roles and stereotyping. Throughout her essay she provides several claims to her argument and builds credibility with her audience by using rhetorical strategies. However, the argument also exhibits some minor flaws, which could in return limit its persuasiveness. This analysis will identify Pollitt’s three main claims and the evidence she uses to support them. I argue that overall Pollitt provides an effective argument by building her credibility and expanding her audience with the use of rhetorical strategies, such as ethos, pathos,
"A message to Garcia." This expression has had exceptional significance for different a large number of individuals everywhere throughout the world. It has turned out to be synonymous with certain honorable characteristics of character.
Gender stereotypes are mostly taken for granted at a young age: girls are told to play with dolls and boys are told to play with trucks. But as children grow older they find themselves in a world where the reality of gender roles and stereotypes aren’t acknowledged, and the illusion of gender neutrality is commended. If gender roles are becoming more neutral, then it would follow that gender role stereotypes are also becoming more lax. However, in actuality this is not true.
On October 6, 2017, I woke up and for an hour I thought about what social norm I was going to challenge for this assignment. After giving it careful thought, I decided I was going to challenge the gender roles, identity, and stereotypes that society has. “Gender roles are sets of behavioral norms assumed to accompany one’s status as male or female.” (Conley, 2017, p.133) I was going to challenge this with my clothing. So, I decided I was going to dress up like a man for the whole day. Gender roles are cultural and personal. They determine and control how males and females should think, speak, dress, and interact within the context of society. In the United States, these gender roles are
Before this class I believed men and women’s gender roles in society were strictly defined. As I gained more knowledge from the Critical Thinking Reader, The Grapes of Wrath, and my research project, I learned that gender roles change based on an individual’s environment, socio-economic standing, and societal norms/expectations. These resources helped clarify that men and women’s roles in society are interchangeable and there are no definite lines or barriers that keep them from fulfilling all roles, that being said men and women can also remain stuck in the roles society has traditionally seen them in.
Gender has been a highly relevant topic of discussion in recent years, with more and more individuals being aware of the gender roles that society places on individuals. With education has come activism, and the question of how individuals perpetuate these roles. Women, in particular, have faced harsh criticisms based upon stereotypes placed on them. Essentially, there are four main ways that typical gender roles placed by society can be classified or broken down into. The first classification is based upon personality traits. When looking at the expected personality traits, in order to fit women should be meek and quiet, whereas men are supposed to be dominant. Seeing as this is the norm, outgoing women who go
Institutions relay biased messages into our media that affect the way we view our gender and the roles that each gender should play in society. The media develops these “ideal” views on what gender roles should look like, and feed these ideas into our everyday media that lead to the altering of what we believe is the social norm. Distorted ideas and values are assigned to each gender, and exist solely because society as a whole continues to accept these roles instead of standing up against inequality. Men since the beginning of time have been “disproportionately represented in many institutions including law, politics, and economy (O’Connor Shelly, 2011),” who are continuously represented as the powerful counterpart, and should be the only individual providing for the family. Although over the last few decades’ women have made great strides in increasing representation in many of these professions, the only institution in which “women have had a central, defining, role is in the family (Acker, 2010),” and are expected to stay home and care for a family. Institutions are