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More handpicked essays just for you.
Traditional role of women in a society
What defines me
Unrealistic gender expectations
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Recommended: Traditional role of women in a society
“What defines me?” is a question I've asked myself. As Oscar Wilde says, “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” So who am I?” The truth is: I don't really know. Should I already know all about myself and what defines me, being that I am a new person who is trying to figure out what defines me through experiences and more to come? Growing up in a strict and reserved environment, I didn’t get the chance to be who I am, but the idea of the type of person I should be was brainwashed into me since I was a child. I was taught to be a woman who washes your husband's feet in order to follow gender roles. I was told as a woman, you must act modestly and learn to please everyone or you will be judged by others. The way your life should be arranged
Women in today’s society seem to be having a very difficult time expressing themselves without dealing with lots of criticism. Common values are standing in the way of women’s drive toward molding themselves into whatever they desire. Our culture has made standards about how should women look, act, and conduct themselves that greatly limits what they can do, and still gain respect. Martin S. Fiebert and Mark W. Meyer state that, “[there are] more negative [gender] stereotypes for men than for women.” This idea doesn’t seem to have a great amount of validity in our present society. Society set certain standards that men are supposed to live up to such as strength and confidence, which are more behavioral characteristics. Women seem to be more trapped than men by societies standards because they are supposed to live up to standards dealing with beauty and size, which are more physical characteristics These specific guidelines have been set by society that are sometimes unattainable for a majority of women. The women that follow the specific criteria are greatly respected, and the ones that try and be innovative usually are criticized if not disliked.
As a woman in the world, I am a prisoner, trapped in an idea of how women should be and how I should force myself to be. In the allegory one prisoner had escaped, until we can put aside the standards and expectations that were forced upon us, we cannot escape the endless cycle. The shackles bind the prisoners, to only view what the captors allow; the feeling of being held back and being weighed down by invisible forces. Women are bounded by expectations, standards and limited to their success, we are always one step behind. If we speak what we think, we are threatening others and if we act the way we want, we are condemned. Even now, as a teenager when I walk the halls of Weston; I hear derogatory words being thrown mercilessly at a woman for dressing the way she wants, what is seemingly provocative in their minds. Her clothes automatically determine what type of personality or character she is, without knowing who the person really is. One can think that a high school filled with millennials, they would be more evolved in their way of thinking but still that is not the case. Why are women degraded to some type of object? Many of us feel as though, we can’t dress the way we want or a label will be put on us, we think about how we should dress in the morning and how people
From gender delegations, gender discrimination, and gender shaming the world is messed up place. From Scout, to the Flappers, to Leelah Alcorn nobody seemed to show any remorse towards the discrimination of any of them. Whether its society, the friends, or even the parents everyone seems to follows society’s gender guidelines and they beat up on who doesn’t no matter who they are, even if it drives them to the point of suicide. When society admits a gender rule everyone is pushed to follow this guideline and if they don’t well, from what it seems like they should just kill themselves unless they change. Similar to Scout, she was perfectly fine dressing like a boy, acting like a boy, and playing with boys until her Aunt installed these insecurities in her head to make her change her views and essentially herself. Society seems to always get it’s
Members of this society must learn what the appropriate way for them to behave is and what to expect of themselves and others. Growing up, gender roles were set on me as I played with fire trucks and cars, and my sisters played with Barbie's. The types of movies we watched were different and the types of books we read were also different. It would be thought of as bizarre for me, a male, to cry during Titanic, or to read Cinderella.
Each individual in this world has a distinctive identity. Even twins and triplets, who appear to be similar in their physical traits, have separate individual identities. After taking the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, I was able to affirm some of my specific personality traits that define me. I am active and curious and I never tire of adventure. I enjoy every bit of my life. Until now, I have discovered just a portion of my specific identity, but I will reveal the mystery of my identity in this exciting and adventurous journey of my life.
The view of identity seems to be defined by facial features and social constructed views. Depending on the recent look of someone it may just be more then just color but also background. In this essay I will explain how I relate to some recent views based on philosophers I may agree and disagree with in order to describe my identity. Identity is much more then just being labeled as a race, it can be based on much more.
“ Even though I taught my daughter the opposite, she still came out the same way! Maybe it is because she was born to me and she was born a girl. And I was born to my mother and I was born a girl. All of us are like stairs, one step after another, going up and down, but all going the same way.” (Tan 92)
Due to the fast-paced society that we live in, often times we tend to forget just how gendered our daily routines and activities are; we tend to accept our social norms and expectations as fact without digging a bit deeper and asking ourselves: why do we do what we do when we do what we do? Had I not asked myself that very question, I would still probably be under the impression that I have complete control over the choices I make. This is not to say that personal autonomy doesn’t exist because it most certainly does. However, after applying that question to my daily morning routine, I am shocked as to how much I’ve allowed gender shape my life.
Living in his society for eighteen years, I noticed that gender norms have impacted people in many ways. This society expects a lot from us and sometimes the pressure leads people to drastic events at some period of their life. Not only does the society already put a lot on a person's shoulder, but one's culture can be very strict with you. The older generation had to put up with these expectations, but it seems like the current generations are reaching their breaking point and it is time to teach young people how to be accepting and let people be themselves so that in the long run, we wouldn’t have so many social issues. In a speech by Audre Lorde, “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action”, the author encourages
Who am I? Where do I come from? These are repetitive questions that we ask ourselves or others in the process of finding our individuality. As a human being we all show signs of separation in our inner circle, and as time goes by we generate a self-concept about us and others. My cultural background explains a lot of who I am as person. My beliefs and morals are constructed by cultural values and will eventually remain my entire life. No one is free from cultural influence. Our background and upbringing plays a vital role when it comes to the realization of discovering our identity. My identity wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for my cultural and the values I have acquire along the way.
Who we are? This is the basic question to find out. What we think about ourselves, how we look at ourselves and our relationship to the world? all these things help us to examine ourselves that who we are and what we want to be?
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.
When people are born they are taught at an early age to be either feminine or masculine. Society has instilled in an individual’s brain that they have to live by these certain gender stereotypes. Society has made stereotypes that resulted in the world thinking women come second to men in every aspect of life. Women have been taught to be feeble to men and depend on them for social and economic happiness; meanwhile men have been taught to be “macho” and to take care of their households (Well, Kolk & Arrindell, 2005). For the individuals who dare to be different and choose to form their own identity, whether that is a man or woman are out casted and secluded from their community (Beller, Brattebø, Lavik, Reigstad & Bender, 2015). These particular stereotypes that society has mounted onto people have been a massive burden for men and especially women because they are the ones who have been negatively taught to be the inferior individual, unlike the men who are stereotyped as the superior
Hi, my name is Rob Geis and I am currently in grade 12. I have been at County High School for a year now; I joined at the start of 11th grade, and have thoroughly enjoyed myself here. The school is great, the people are fantastic and the atmosphere is one that makes you actually want to go to school. Before I joined ASB I was studying at the Singapore American School for two years and prior to that I was at the International School of Kuala Lumpur for two years. I was born and raised here in Bombay city and grew up here.
“Perhaps it’s impossible to wear an identity without becoming what you pretend to be” (Card). This quote from Ender’s Game gives the reader the impression that identity is just something they can wear and that they will become the identity that the impersonate. A definition of identity from the Oxford English Dictionary states, “The fact of being who or what a person or thing is” (Identity). This old definition entails that a person’s identity is just who they are. It is also heard that people say anybody can be anything they want to be. These two ideas put together create a definition of identity that means a person’s identity can be whatever they choose it to be. However, a person's true identity cannot simply be worn as a mask, so this definition cannot be true and must be changed. A person's true