The stereotyping of gender in modern society has become so deeply engrained in our culture that it often goes unnoticed. Laurel Richardson’s “Gender Stereotyping in the English Language” and Louis Gould’s “X: A Fabulous Child’s Story” are two readings which highlight the importance we tend to place on gender norms in addition to the consequences gender typecasting may have on people in regards to their identity. Throughout their articles, Gould and Richardson both explain the ways in which a gender-based vocabulary demonstrates and encourages internalized societal beliefs about the roles of men and women. In “Gender Stereotyping in the English Language”, Richardson explains just how deeply embedded gender distinctions have become in our …show more content…
Gould explains that a life without the pressure of gender norms essentially frees a person to develop and mature with a lack of limitations. It is suggested that the idea that an individual’s sex should not matter until one might decide how they want to portray themselves. She recognizes that people may not understand or accept this life choice, but if one can live ignoring constant ridicule and criticism brought on by a society who value gender norms, they will ultimately be more well-rounded in all aspects of their life. (Gould, 1972) Richardson does not necessarily oppose Gould’s view, but rather focuses on how women specifically are negatively influenced by gender stereotyping. It is brought up that “Linguistic practice perpetuates in men their feelings of dominance over and responsibility for women.” (Richardson, 1981) While females are seen in society as dependent, incompetent, immature objects who are defined in terms of their relation to men, males are autonomous, independent beings who are defined primarily to the world of work. (Richardson, 1981) In Richardson’s view, gender stereotyping not only perpetuates hate and sexism towards women but also forces men to behave a certain way in order to uphold the patriarchy. This idea is so engrained in modern society that it would be difficult to raise a child in the idealistic way Gould
The English Language Systematically Degrades and Devalues Women It is often argued that the English language needs to be modernised to keep pace with the rapidly changing societies in the world. One reason for this is many words and their usages are viewed as sexist, in that they are discriminating against individuals based on their gender. In this essay, I shall discuss many factors relevant to the argument that the English language systematically degrades and devalues women. One possible argument in agreement with this statement is that male words and their female equivalents are often asymmetrical in their connotations and implications. For example, pairs of words such as ‘bachelor’ and ‘spinster’, have distinctively different associations: ‘spinster’ has relatively negative undertones, and conjures the image of an aging woman with a dull lifestyle, whereas the word ‘bachelor’ suggests a more carefree, younger man with an exciting and enjoyable way of life.
Risman (1988:14) notes that “early childhood socialization is an influential determinant of later behavior, and research has focused on how societies create feminine women and masculine men.” Rather than focusing on gender as natural and fixed, Risman (1998) suggests instead that gender can be viewed at three levels: individual, interactional, and institutional. Instead of viewing the differences between men and women outlined in “If I Were A Boy” as natural and fixed, sociologists would instead look to socialization and societal norms to explain why men and women appear dissimilar. Additionally, many sociologists view gender as being continuously created; Risman (1988:10) notes “the pervasive differences between male[s] and female[s]…are continuously created by the gendered structures in which we all live.” Sociologists, who would instead view these perceived differences as a product of our society, would heavily dispute the gender essentialist perspective taken in “If I Were A Boy”.
Sexism is a highly talked about issue read about online, seen in the news, and experienced in the day to day lives of many. The importance of this issue can be found in many writings. Authors such as Sandra Cisneros, Linda Hasselstrom, and Judy Brady have all discussed the topic of sexism in writings and how they affected their lives. Although each writer addresses the issue of sexism, each author confronts a different type of sexism; the kind we are born into, the kind we learn growing up, and the kind that is accepted by society at the end of the day.
Prentice, D. A. and Carranza, E. (2002), What Women and Men Should Be, Shouldn’t Be, Are Allowed to Be, and Don’t Have to Be: The Contents of Prescriptive Gender Stereotypes. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 26: 269–281.
In the first half of the book, “Half-changed world”, “Half-changed minds”, the author argues about how social and environmental factors influence the mind on the gender differences. She also includes the history and impact of the gender stereotypes we see and how science has been used to justify the use of sexism. In the first chapter in the “Half-changed world” section of the book she uses an example of if a researcher tapped you on the shoulder and asked you to write down what males and females were like if you would write down things such as compassionate for females and aggressive for males or if you would look at the researcher and tell them that every person is unique.(Fine,3) Based on the information in the book most people would pick up the pencil and write down descriptions of each gender based on the way the world perceives gender. She also talks about marriage and how “the husband is the breadwinner and works outside the home to provide financial resources for the family. In return, his wife is responsible for both the emotional and household labor created by the family…” (Fine,78)
By highlighting in depth, the idea of femininity and masculinity, both Devor and Blum asserts how gender discrimination affects children thus clashing with preexisting societal gender roles. Devor argues in her article how early ideas of femininity are stereotypical. She states, in “Gender Roles Behaviors and Attitudes” the preexisting idea of femininity is “according to this traditional formulation, a ‘result in warm and continued relationships with men, as sense of maternity, interest in caring for children. And the capacity to work productively and
Most societies have been patriarchal historically, and the feminist movement has only occurred relatively recently. There cannot be ideological equality while there is still a stigma to being born differently, or of the “inferior sex.” People make assumptions on others based entirely on their sex, such as females are supposed to be nurturing and weak while males are supposed to be dominant and strong. The vernacular language use implies a sexist attitude that is prevalent in society. There are several solutions to reduce the apparent sexist lexicon.
Nilsen began this study of the dictionary not with the intention of prescribing language change but simply to see what the language would reveal about sexism to her. Sexism is not something that existing independently in American English or in the particular dictionary that she happened to read. Rather it exists in people's minds.
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 femininity,
Suggested roles of all types set the stage for how human beings perceive their life should be. Gender roles are one of the most dangerous roles that society faces today. With all of the controversy applied to male vs. female dominance in households, and in the workplace, there seems to be an argument either way. In the essay, “Men as Success Objects”, the author Warren Farrell explains this threat of society as a whole. Farrell explains the difference of men and women growing up and how they believe their role in society to be. He justifies that it doesn’t just appear in marriage, but in the earliest stages of life. Similarly, in the essay “Roles of Sexes”, real life applications are explored in two different novels. The synthesis between these two essays proves how prevalent roles are in even the smallest part of a concept and how it is relatively an inevitable subject.
tereotypes can be useful and beneficial in certain scenarios. There are many benefits to embracing stereotypes they can help you to make safe or smart choices about people by observing them and weather they look dangerous. Why does almost every person in the world stereotype even though it can hurt people? There must be benefits that drive every human to embrace stereotypes.
The work's topicality is characterized by the existence of the gender stereotypes in society, having generalization, and does not reflect individual differences in the human categories. Meanwhile, there is still discrimination on the labour market, human trafficking, sexual harassment, violence, women and men roles and their places in the family. Mass media offers us the reality, reduces the distance, but we still can see the negative aspects too. TV cultivates gender stereotypes, offering ideas about gender, relationships and ways for living. Such media ideas attach importance to many people in the society. Consequently, it is quite important identify gender stereotypes in the media, in order to prevent false views relating to gender stereotypes.
In elementary school one of the most common phrase used was, “You can’t do that you're a girl.” Society puts gender stereotypes and expectations on children at a very young age. I never really understood these stereotypes and expectations until later in my life. I couldn’t figure out why it was that boys were not allowed to like the color pink, and if the girls wanted to play “boy” sports it was seen as unusual. My family consists of my parents, my sister and I; so I never had sibling of the opposite gender in my life. I didn’t have someone to compare gender differences with. I was given toys no matter what gender they were geared towards. I remember receiving hot wheels cars and baby dolls the same year for Christmas and never thought anything thing of it. I think that these experiences has really shaped who I am today.
Society has stamped an image into the minds of people of how the role of each gender should be played out. There are two recognized types of gender, a man and a woman, however there are many types of gender roles a man or a woman may assume or be placed into by society. The ideas of how one should act and behave are often times ascribed by their gender by society, but these ascribed statuses and roles are sometimes un-welcomed, and people will assume who they want to be as individuals by going against the stereotypes set forth by society. This paper will examine these roles in terms of how society sees men and women stereotypically, and how men and women view themselves and each other in terms of stereotypes that are typically ascribed, as well as their own opinions with a survey administered to ten individuals. What I hope to prove is that despite stereotypes playing a predominant role within our society, and thus influencing what people believe about each other in terms of their same and opposite genders, people within our society are able to go against these ascribed stereotypes and be who they want and it be okay. Through use of the survey and my own personal history dealing with gender stereotyping I think I can give a clear idea as to how stereotypes envelope our society, and how people and breaking free from those stereotypes to be more individualistic.
Our capacity as human beings to acquire and express complex methods of communication has been one of the biggest driving forces of humanity’s success. These complex linguistic systems are what we know as language. Language gives us a method of expressing concepts, emotions, and ideas in a varied way which sets us apart from all other animals. Language and gender is an area of sociolinguistics and related fields which attempt to define the differences in language related to gender, and what the inferences of these differences may be.