Gender Identity and Expression

1022 Words3 Pages

According to the text, self-presentation is “acting out a self in response to expectations of others (Crawford, 2006, p.32). Self-presentation is adapted to fit the attitudes and expectations that an individual perceives an audience to hold. For example, one study by Rosell and Hartman (2001) found that men had a tendency to endorse more positive and “politically correct” attitudes towards feminism when their opinions were perceived to be more public (Crawford, 2006, p.32). In essence a person’s self-presentation is dictated by the environment they’re in and their perceived “audience”. In the Bernie Mac Show, both Bryana and Jordan engage in self-presentation. Bryana is a member of a girl’s soccer team, were her audience is composed of her teammates, her coach, and her mother who expect her to do well and play aggressively. On the show we watch Bryana act accordingly and exhibit behavior that promotes a positive reaction from her audience, such as aggression, physical strength and stamina, perseverance, and confidence; all the while this self-presentation is supported by her mother’s encouragement and success of the team. Jordan’s audience as depicted on the show is his Uncle Bernie, who expects Jordan to follow in his footsteps and play basketball. When Jordan realizes that his uncle disapproves of his participation in such a “sissy” sport such as rhythmic gymnastics, he quits the team in order to practice a more “masculine” sport such as basketball to earn his uncle’s approval. In this way Jordan and Bryana both participate in self-presentation because it will influence others to respond positively to them (Crawford, 2006).
Through their behavior and presentation, both Jordan and Bryana are actively “doing gender”. Withi...

... middle of paper ...

...of bullying and abuse (Roberts et al., 2013). Roberts et al. (2013) also found that gender nonconforming children were at greater risk for depressive and anxiety symptoms. This is discouraging for both Bryana and Jordan if they continue to reject gender appropriate behaviors; however based on the video, Bernie should primarily be focused on his own treatment of the children as Jordan only faced “bullying” from his uncle and his uncle’s friends. When Bernie reevaluated his behavior and attitude towards Jordan for his participation in rhythmic gymnastics and began supporting him, he removed some of the elevated risk of depressive symptoms because he decreased the prevalence of abuse and bullying. Jordan in the meantime does not to worry about bullying from his peers as his friends support him and Bryana never faced negative attention for her gender nonconforming.

More about Gender Identity and Expression

Open Document