Arguments Against Gender Roles

1280 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: How do stereotypes impact people

The constant battle of gender identity has become much more apparent in recent years. Fun fact: pink used to be a “boy color” and blue a “girl color,” totally contrary to what is accustomed now. Girls and boys are expected to stick to specific guidelines and rules asserted and expected by most of the population, resulting in gender roles. A gender role is a set of social norms establishing types of behaviors that are generally considered acceptable or appropriate for a person based on sex. The argument against maintaining gender roles has two argumentative sides. One, is that gender roles offer no real benefits and limit acceptability of one's self expression. The second, states that gender roles are a necessity to life and without these roles …show more content…

Around preschool age girls and boys acknowledge and follow stereotypical assumptions. Examples are girls should love pink and purple colors, play dress up, play house, like make up, and admire Barbie, whereas boys should enjoy action figures, playing with trucks, building things with blocks, and love blue and green colors. Assumptions on gender this early in life will stay with the child throughout growing up and will make it seem like it's acceptable to think so close mindedly. Not only does this limit children’s personalities it also limits how they are …show more content…

Parents are the first and most influential role model in a child's life. As a parent teaching kids to “play with the opposite gender, shatter stereotypes by partaking in opposite gender behaviors, as well as questioning all generalizations” will result in an unbiased and accepting child (Solomon). If a parent thinks more close mindedly and reinforces said stereotypes the child in question will likely believe and follow the stereotypes. A fear that the removal of gender bias and stereotyping will result in getting rid of gender altogether and the so called “order” that is in place today is ridiculous. Gender does not define a person's ethics or values in regular society. The country and âlaws will still run efficiently, it's just a matter of equality in every way for both women and men. Another thing often forced onto children is religion. While forcing children to go to church or follow any religion is another argument, churches also participate in reinforcing gender bias. David Csinos

Show More
Related

  • Gender Roles In Contemporary American Culture

    2622 Words  | 6 Pages

    In today’s contemporary American culture, gender roles are despised by the younger generation because of the distinctions placed on them. This is the era of open-mindedness and self-expression and because of this individuals feel they should not be told what they can and cannot do based on their sex. There are now material things such as, clothes, shoes and perfumes that are considered unisex, males and females can now fight in wars and men are no longer fully needed to be the providers of their families. Though the American culture has attempted to make a leap forward when it comes to breaking down the barriers of gender roles, it is still being held back. Being a culture that was first influenced by the Christian religion, there are still traces of these gender roles present. From areas of

    Read More

  • Quotes About Gender Roles In The 1920s

    1010 Words  | 3 Pages

    This quote explains, how gender roles are portrayed to people all over the world, many people are concerned about their sexuality and question it at times because they think that they don’t meet the masculinity or femininity standards of society. This has gone on for many years and these stereotypes and doubts about one 's self need to stop. Not only are we bringing ourselves down but also educating young children with our uncertainty about our “gender roles” when in reality there are none. Children are learning about gender roles at a young age, making them feel like they are not “masculine” or “feminine” enough for society to accept them as they are. Men and women are equal in all aspects however not all people think the same way and unfortunately

    Read More

  • The Prism Of Gender, By Catherine G. Valentine

    2064 Words  | 5 Pages

    Gender is deeply embedded into our society. It is pretty much at every level; it is something complex that goes far beyond just being a male or female. Gender impacts what occupations individuals have access to do, what type of activities they can and can’t do and even what colors they can and cannot wear. As mentioned by Catherine G. Valentine, in The Prism of Gender, society has taught us that a real woman is feminine; a real man is masculine and heterosexual; and any deviation is unacceptable and unnatural (3). Therefore, we live in a society that is binary, and has taught us that there are only two acceptable genders, male and female, and as a result everything is shaped by that idea. Nonetheless, like stated by Kate Bornstein in Gender

    Read More

  • Challenging Gender Stereotypes in The Hunger Games

    2237 Words  | 5 Pages

    Well what is gender and what do we mean by gender roles? “Gender describes the socially-constructed roles and responsibilities that societies consider appropriate for men and women” (World Health Organization). All people on earth are affected by gender and the stereotypes that surround it. A person should be able to choose who they want to be and not be scared. Things are changing. According to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, “same-sex sexual harassment extends to where the victim is singled out due to failure to conform to accepted gender stereotypes” (Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP). This is very important for everyone to know and understand. It allows people the ability to express themselves in any way they choose, without the anxiety or fear of being harassed for their decisions because they are a certain gender. This has only o...

    Read More

  • Gender Ethnicity And Identity Development Essay

    1275 Words  | 3 Pages

    When children experience gender bias at an early age, not only can affect their development but it can affect their behavior, beliefs, and relationship with others. Children learn by what they see their parents do or what is acted out in their communities. Studies have shown, not only do children experience gender bias at an early age but that they also learn to stereotype as early as the age of three years old.

    Read More

  • gender moments

    1385 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gender is intertwined in many of society’s institutions-education, religion, relationships, and politics- and because it is tangled up in all, it is very hard to change gender as an institution. It is very likely to be reinforced beginning in childhood; from children, adults, and peers. Because of the reinforcement, it is reproduced from parents to children and conforming is the easiest way to go through society. Change happens very slowly and although there is change from my grandmother’s experience to my own, I see the change as not very fluid- instead of water it’s more like heavy mud.

    Read More

  • Gender Conflicts In The Girl With Bangs By Zadie Smith

    956 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gender role conflicts constantly place a role in our everyday life. For many years we have been living in a society where depending on our sexuality, we are judged and expected to behave and act certain way to fulfill the society’s gender stereotypes. The day we are born we are labeled as either a girl or boy and society identifies kids by what color they wear, pink is for girls and blue is for boys. Frequently, we heard the nurses in the Maternity facility saying things like, “Oh is a strong boy or is beautiful fragile princess.” Yet, not only in hospitals we heard this types of comments but we also see it on the media…

    Read More

  • Masculine and Feminine Norms and Gender Identity

    1481 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout today’s society, almost every aspect of someone’s day is based whether or not he or she fits into the “norm” that has been created. Specifically, masculine and feminine norms have a great impact that force people to question “am I a true man or woman?” After doing substantial research on the basis of masculine or feminine norms, it is clear that society focuses on the males being the dominant figures. If males are not fulfilling the masculine role, and females aren’t playing their role, then their gender identity becomes foggy, according to their personal judgment, as well as society’s.

    Read More

  • Gender Role Representation and Stereotyping in Children's Books

    1271 Words  | 3 Pages

    At about age 3, children begin to realize that there is a difference between themselves and the opposite sex. By age 5, they have created stereotypes associated with gender (Turner-Bowker, 1996). At this age, children also begin to separate themselves and form their self-identity (Gooden & Gooden, 2001). These stereotypes affect the way young children view appropriate roles and behaviors. According to Beal, “gender is GENDER REPRESENTATION AND STEREOTYPING IN 3 both culturally and individually constructed” (as cited in Turner-Bowker, 1996, p. 462).

    Read More

  • Gender Roles and Stereotypes

    1756 Words  | 4 Pages

    Rigidity and flexibility of gender stereotypes in childhood: Developmental or differential?. Infant And Child Development, 14(4), 365-381. doi:10.1002/icd.399 Zosuls, K. M., Ruble, D. N., Tamis-LeMonda, C. S., Shrout, P. E., Bornstein, M. H., & Greulich, F. K. (2009). The acquisition of gender labels in infancy: Implications for gender-typed play. Developmental Psychology, 45(3), 688-701.

    Read More

  • Learning Gender In a Diverse Society

    999 Words  | 2 Pages

    In this article, Shaw and Lee describe how the action of labels on being “feminine” or “masculine” affect society. Shaw and Lee describe how gender is, “the social organization of sexual difference” (124). In biology gender is what sex a person is and in culture gender is how a person should act and portray themselves. They mention how gender is what we were taught to do in our daily lives from a young age so that it can become natural(Shaw, Lee 126). They speak on the process of gender socialization that teaches us how to act and think in accordance to what sex a person is. Shaw and Lee state that many people identify themselves as being transgendered, which involves a person, “resisting the social construction of gender into two distinct, categories, masculinity and femininity and working to break down these constraining and polarized categories” ( 129). They write about how in mainstream America masculinity and femininity are described with the masculine trait being the more dominant of the two. They define how this contributes to putting a higher value of one gender over the other gender called gender ranking (Shaw, Lee 137). They also speak about how in order for femininity to be viewed that other systems of inequality also need to be looked at first(Shaw,Lee 139).

    Read More

  • Argumentatice Essay Gender Roles

    1266 Words  | 3 Pages

    ‘Boys will be boys’, a phrase coined to exonerate the entire male sex of loathsome acts past, present, and potential. But what about the female sex, if females act out of turn they are deemed ‘unladylike’ or something of the sort and scolded. This double standard for men and women dates back as far as the first civilizations and exists only because it is allowed to, because it is taught. Gender roles and cues are instilled in children far prior to any knowledge of the anatomy of the sexes. This knowledge is learned socially, culturally, it is not innate. And these characteristics can vary when the environment one is raised in differs from the norm. Child rearing and cultural factors play a large role in how individuals act and see themselves.

    Read More

  • Three Classical Theories Of Gender Roles

    1132 Words  | 3 Pages

    Section 1: What is your topic, and why is it important to study this topic?

    Read More

  • Sex Roles and Gender Bias in Early Childhood Education

    2170 Words  | 5 Pages

    Although most of the research seems to indicate that sex role stereotyping permeates our society and our schools, there are ways to discourage children from falling into the stereotypical roles. It will take the voices of everyone to make a change in the way that society portrays boys and men, girls and women. We are doing an injustice to our children by encouraging these roles. Educators need to become increasingly aware of their practices in their classrooms. It is very easy to fall into the trap of segregating the sexes; all of us have to support and encourage our children that they can do and be anything. When enough people believe that the sex roles can be diminished, then society, the media and the government will follow.

    Read More

  • Personal Narrative: My Experience with Gender Roles

    638 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gender roles are unavoidable at any stage of your life. They are taught to you by parents, conveyed in the media, practiced and honored in organizations and supported by our government. No matter how many feminist groups attempt to bring the two sets of gender roles for males and females together, there will always be the unwritten expectations that males and females are taught. Boys will always play with guns and girls will always play with dolls. As long as this occurs, the ambitions for boys and girls will be directly related to the stereotypical form we are taught. It is up to the families, media and peers to use the gender roles appropriately.

    Read More

More about Arguments Against Gender Roles

Open Document