Social Meaning Of Gender Essay

Socially constructed gender roles have a large impact on the society that we are bred in. Boys and girls are told from a young age what is considered normal for each of them based on what sex they were assigned. Girls are immediately told to be shy but not rude, love the color pink, and clean and cook in preparation of the man they are inevitably going to marry. Boys are told to ‘be men’ and never cry in the presence of anyone, emotions are for girls and anything less would be seen as merely weak. Parents usually prescribe their own upbringings to how their children should be brought up; girls are constantly reminded to watch how they come off to people. Girls must clean and cook, but never show frustration, smile even if she’s scared of unfamiliar

Aaron H. Devor talks about how society places the idea of masculinity and femininity in the minds of men and women, making them everything but genetically tailored. Moreover, Devor states that no man or woman is born to fulfill a certain role, but cultural influences lead to such actions. He believes that society presents gender as “binary or permanent”, meaning that there is no room to identify with anything outside of one’s gender group. Just like race, things are taken from external attributes, as young children we assume that based on outer appearance a male would look one way and a female another way. Women who cut their hair short were considered manly and unwilling to follow ‘normal’ behavior; men who wore their hair long were considered sissies and too feminine to call themselves men. These interactions and opinions are formed from a very young age; according to Devor children acquire gender roles and begin making statements that show a separation between a boy and a girl by the wee age of 5. Gender roles are widely applied all over the world; many people are unable to grow out of old ways due to what they were taught, and then they continue to teach to their kids those same things. Some families are very unaware when they say something like, “you can be whatever you want, but you just can’t…” It happens and it is becoming an ironic phenomenon as time goes