Male vs. Male There are often many stereotypes in a society. The most common are the stereotypes that compare women and men. For example, women are thought of to cook, clean, and take care of the children in a family. On the contrary, men are supposedly the working, dominant, money-makers within a household. In a reflection titled “Guys vs. Men,” humorist, Dave Barry, strays away from those stereotypes, not completely, but to instead compare the stereotypes of “guys” and the stereotypes of “men.” Barry’s purpose is to prove that people think of men to have more of a serious, mature, and responsible nature. On the other hand, guys have a more playful nature and a less serious side to them, which shows that they are young at heart. He addresses the stereotype in a humorous tone, as well as strategically formatting it with multiple comparisons, in order to keep the atmosphere light and friendly …show more content…
As mentioned before, Barry doesn’t completely stray away from stereotyping women as well. He stereotypes women in a manner that compares them to men, and the comparisons are amusing as well as critically thought about. He correlates the paragraph about his “absurdly overqualified” (916) computer that he will soon replace with an “even more powerful one” (916) to the fact that “a woman who could cheerfully use the same computer for fifty-three years will rearrange her furniture on almost a weekly basis” (917). This is humorous because women do not care to buy the new gadgets, but would rather find enjoyment in rearranging furniture or basically making good use of something she already has. Barry is very consistent throughout this piece when generalizing these stereotypes. This was an efficient technique he used because it prevented him from targeting a certain gender group. Thus, he was able to create an entertaining piece for all types of people to
We see the use of this in the following statements, “…most men make themselves as useful around the kitchen as ill-trained Labrador retrievers (paragraph 2).” and the statement, “I would no more enter that kitchen than I would attempt to park a nuclear aircraft carrier… (paragraph 4 )” and, “I realize this is awful. I realize this sounds just like Ozzie and Harriet (paragraph 7).” All of these statements are being used to add to the stereotype about how useless men are in the kitchen and to enhance and get across his point that, well, these stereotypes are pretty much accurate and true. The main technique we find Dave Barry employing is the use of humor. Throughout this essay he focuses on keeping the tone light and humorous so as to entertain and yet still educate. We see him casually admitting his and others shortcomings as men and directing the humor at himself as he makes fun of his horrible behavior. In doing so, he makes this piece very easy for the reader to relate to; whether you are a woman who can sympathize with the other women in this essay as you, yourself, have had experience with men who have acted in much the same
The world enjoys pigeonholing both men and women. It can be exhausting living in our judgmental society, where there is an expectation for each gender to fit into a rigid box of stereotypes. That is why, when Dave Barry is given the negative stereotypical question, “‘Why do men open a drawer and say, ‘Where is the spatula?’ Instead of, you know, looking for it?’” (1), he goes into a ranting frenzy. Barry responds and challenges this negative question in his column, on February 4, 1999, by writing the essay, “From here on, let women kill their own spiders”. Dave Barry utilizes the rhetorical devices of sarcasm, anaphora, and hyperbole to prove that is is pointless and ludicrous to create platitudes and stereotypes about each gender.
In The 7 Worst Stereotypes Professional Women Face the author briefly touches on the key stereotypes mentioned in the book Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg. An important idea in the book is that girls who exude leadership qualities are oftentimes called bossy, while boys who present the same qualities are praised. The first example given is that women are expected to quit working once they have children. Women sometimes are not selected for positions due to employers not wanting their training to go to waste. The second stereotype pertains to women being the primary caregivers in the family. This idea can also affect men in that they are not given the “flexibility that would allow them to help their wives.” Third on the list is women being “judged more harshly when voicing their opinions.” In this example, women that are confident in themselves can experience backlash from the public, such as being called inappropriate names and being viewed as someone is self-centered. The fourth example is the idea that women excel in areas that
Have you ever wonder what is different between guy and man? If yes, you should read the article “Guy vs. Men” of Dave Barry. In this article, Barry mention several trails that could help you determine whether a person is a guy or a man. After reading this article, I do not agree with Barry about how he determine a guy or a man. For example, we could not determine the male characters in the novel “The Great Gatsby” are a guy or a man just because of how they act in a specific situation because there will always have other time that they will act differently. As same as a real life person, when a person act like a guy in a specific situation does not mean that they will also act like a guy in all other situation. In my opinion, Tom, Gatsby,
“Women have been taught that, for us, the earth is flat, and that if we venture out, we will fall off the edge,” verbalizes Andrea Dworkin. Gender-roles have been ingrained in the every-day life of people all around the world since the beginnings of civilization. Both One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Hamlet portray typical female stereotypes in different time periods. Due to the representation of women in literature like Hamlet by William Shakespeare and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kessey, and pop-culture, evidence of classic gender-based stereotypes in a consistently patriarchal world are still blatantly obvious in today’s societies.
Society stereotypes women in almost all social situations, including in the family, media, and the workplace. Women are often regarded as being in, “Second place” behind men. However, these stereotypes are not typically met by the modern day woman....
Barry uses a humorous tone to show the different subjects that make men and women totally forget their surroundings and focus solely on that subject alone. Barry humoredly describes a woman’s view on cleaning that results in a light hearted subject matter: “I just windexed...and she is seeing dirt everywhere” (Barry 249)! The purpose of using humor in this essay is to point out the foolishness of mankind in a gentle way. Barry takes a perfectly ordinary situation and uses exaggeration in order to make his point very clear. From the very first sentence Berry uses exaggeration by stating “women can see extremely small quantities of dirt… at the level of molecules” (Berry 248). Similarly Barry goes further talking about men's’ infatuation with sports which Barry exaggerates by saying “[he] could feel the World Series television and radio broadcast rays zinging through the air, penetrating right into [his] body, causing [his] dental fillings to vibrate” (Berry 250). The reader senses Berry’s exaggeration since it is impossible for a human to see at the level of molecules and for sports to cause dental fillings to vibrate. Throughout the essay, Berry is unbiased and expresses both men and women fairly. Berry anticipates an objection and states he gets “letters from women… sensitive to sports to the point where they could crush [his] skull like a ripe grape, but [he] feels these women are the exception” (Berry 249). He also describes men in a negative light since they cannot see dirt is why “to this very day, men tend to do extremely little in the way of useful housework” (Barry 249). Barry goes back and forth describing men and women in both negative and positive ways. However, he does this in a fair and honest
Early feminist studies of gender often depicted the expression of masculinity as solely meant to subordinate women. Upon further research and understanding of gender and its role in society, gender theorists have realized that masculinity is not only a patriarchal regulation against women, but that it also has negative effects against men. Masculinity has different characteristics in different cultures, but masculinity in general presents a hierarchy of traits, with femininity as the lowest, least desirable trait. In American culture, masculinity is defined within multiple structures, such as race, class, and sexuality, where a man’s masculinity can be lessened by his traits as well as these identities. Often, normative expressions of masculinity
Brannon, Linda. "Chapter 7 Gender Stereotypes: Masculinity and Femininity." Gender: Psychological Perspectives. 4th ed. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon, 2005. 159-83. Print.
This article was written to bring attention to the way men and women act because of how they were thought to think of themselves. Shaw and Lee explain how biology determines what sex a person is but a persons cultures determines how that person should act according to their gender(Shaw, Lee 124). The article brings up the point that, “a persons gender is something that a person performs daily, it is what we do rather than what we have” (Shaw, Lee 126). They ...
Over time, the image of men has changed. This is due mostly to the relaxation of rigid stereotypical roles of the two genders. In different pieces of literature, however, men have been presented as the traditional dominate figure, the provider and rule maker or non-traditional figure that is almost useless and unimportant unless needed for sexual intercourse. This dramatic difference can either perpetuate the already existing stereotype or challenge it. Regardless of the differences, both seem to put men into a negative connotation.
First we need to examine the cases where this is present. Less obvious stereotypes are those of women. Women?s roles in society have changed throughout the times. Are the...
A stereotype is a over-exaggerated view of someone or something. The exaggerations are often not even realistic. In this case it has led to the creation of two different movements. These movements are called the feminine and masculine movements. In these movements the one that is mainly focused on is the feminist movement. This is because throughout history
Masculinity and femininity are two terms, which have been interpreted differently throughout history. Both the males and the females have responsibilities and duties but these duties differ based on one’s gender. Gender has played a prodigious role in the economy, politics, and the society. Everyone starts making interpretations of the strengths and weaknesses based on one’s gender. These interpretations are not always based on his or her ability but is usually based on his or her gender. Males tend to be judged as extremely strong and unfashionable in terms of appearance. Whereas, females are judged as expensive and very fashionable. Males and females both differ in their abilities and their enjoyments. Fashion, entertainment, and strength are three topics, which are used to define masculinity and femininity in the 21st century.
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.