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Social constructionism gender roles
Are gender roles a social construction
How does gender play a part in education
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Does the development of Make Believe play lead to guys cross dressing and does this mean masculinity studies are inherently sexist? From ages 2 to 7, many children are doing make-believe-paly, a type of play in which children act out everyday and imaginary activities: such as pretending to be a doctor to help sick patients, playing house, or dressing up. The benefits of make believe play are, it helps the child reflects on thinking, it help controls behavior, and it helps the child gain in social, lingual and literacy skills. From recent videos masculinity is inherently sexist, because a child knows which gender role does what. For an example, the child knows which gender role goes to work and which gender role stays home to cook, clean and take care of the children. Make believe plays leads to cross-dressing and cross-dressing leads to being called mean names, being misunderstood and suicide.
In America, your gender is based on stereotypes, roles, and intensification, meaning stereotyping of attitudes and behavior movement toward a more traditional gender identity. In a matter of nature vs. nurture, your gender is based on what you are supposed to learn from your parents, school, and what the outside world teaches you. Men are supposed to have masculine traits, such as being strong, aggressive, tough, and non-emotional, and women are supposed to have feminine traits, such as being emotional, sensitive, nurturing, and weak.
In many masculinity and femininity studies it is said that males are generally masculine and women are generally feminine, and both men and women are supposed to have a gender role. A gender role is a “theoretical construct in the social sciences and humanities that refers to a set of social and behavioral n...
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...y to commit suicide. Bobby’s mother thought that he could be cured and when she told him she did not want a homosexual son he went and committed suicide by jumping off a bridge.
As a final point, masculinity and femininity is views as what the worlds sees you as. For example women are suppose to be feminine and men a re suppose to be masculine, but if a man is feminine and a woman is masculine than they are being judge. When being masculine a man is suppose to be strong and non-emotional, he is not suppose to have any feminine aspect to him or he would be called homophobic. Growing up many parents does not want their son to play with dolls but they let their daughters play with cars or fire trucks. Parents should let their children explore and not judging them. Anyway being too masculine or too feminine leads to being called names, being misunderstood and suicide.
In order to fully comprehend the how gender stereotypes perpetuate children’s toys, one must understand gender socialization. According to Santrock, the term gender refers to the, “characteristics of people as males and females” (p.163). An individual is certainly not brought into the world with pre-existing knowledge of the world. However, what is certain is the belief that the individual has regarding him- or herself and life stems from socialization—the development of gender through social mechanisms. For instance, when a baby is brought into this world, his or her first encounter to gender socialization arises when the nurse places a blue or pink cap on the baby’s head. This act symbolizes the gender of the baby, whether it is a boy (blue cap) or a girl (pink cap). At the age of four, the child becomes acquai...
Mathur and Parameswaran (2015) posed many of the questions that early-childhood educators have regarding the role of play in child development. The questions primarily focused on how play amongst children is affected by development, biology, nurture, gender and culture. The authors cite other research, which concludes that though play is universal and cross-cultural, theoretical and empirical evidence support the notion that there are gender differences in the play of children. Citing the social learning theory, Mathur and Parameswaran (2015) argue that children learn gender roles at a very young age due to the positive reinforcement they receive from their parents. The positive reinforcement is indicative of the parents rewarding their children’s
From this research of examining how gender socialization is projection through toys to children, have led to conclusion that in order to prevent children from living by these stereotypes portrayed through toys, parents should encourage gender-neutral and cross-gender play in children at an early age. Just for the mere that their brain is so receptive to knowledge into creating to become the person they are to be in life. Give children a chance to not only have fun while playing with their toys and that there aren’t any pressures on them that this what they should be and that there a mind full options that they can choose from.
Gender roles are based on the norms and standards in different societies (Flores 2012). Each societies has their own set of social norms, and the identities that fit those norms. In the United States masculine roles are associated with strength, dominance, and aggression. Women in the US are expected to be more passive, nurturing and subordinate (Flores 2012).
MASCULINITY. In this article Watzlawik (2009) examines what elements go into gender constructs and what factors cause masculinity and femininity within ourselves. Thought the article three definitions are explored and examined for pros and cons. The first definition implies “A feminine woman is one who is, and strives to be, attractive to men, and a masculine man is one who is attractive
In this article, Shaw and Lee describe how the action of labels on being “feminine” or “masculine” affect society. Shaw and Lee describe how gender is, “the social organization of sexual difference” (124). In biology gender is what sex a person is and in culture gender is how a person should act and portray themselves. They mention how gender is what we were taught to do in our daily lives from a young age so that it can become natural(Shaw, Lee 126). They speak on the process of gender socialization that teaches us how to act and think in accordance to what sex a person is. Shaw and Lee state that many people identify themselves as being transgendered, which involves a person, “resisting the social construction of gender into two distinct, categories, masculinity and femininity and working to break down these constraining and polarized categories” ( 129). They write about how in mainstream America masculinity and femininity are described with the masculine trait being the more dominant of the two. They define how this contributes to putting a higher value of one gender over the other gender called gender ranking (Shaw, Lee 137). They also speak about how in order for femininity to be viewed that other systems of inequality also need to be looked at first(Shaw,Lee 139).
Gender roles are the roles an individual associates being, which is either male or female. An individual’s gender role is heavily influenced by the gender roles they were exposed to when growing up (Gender & Gender Identity). In some cultures, men portray a female gender role and vise versa. Gender roles are given to an individual because they start as early as childbirth. In modern society, those who display the opposite gender role are usually frowned upon as they do not “fit” into societies expected behaviour. In Cinderella’s society, men were expected to work while the women were expected to take care of children, cook and cl...
The genre of analyzation in this paper is masculinity. More in depth, the societal perpetuation of the concept of masculinity and its effects on individuals. Masculinity is a concept defined as a category of attributes, social behaviors and roles generally associated only with individuals of the male sex. It is rarely associated with females unless they are butch lesbian, and even if they are not, society will portray them as so. The concept of masculinity is a social construct – most often seen in patriarchal cultures and societies and identified mainly with gender roles. Gender roles are the acceptable or appropriate societal norms dictating
As a child develops, their surroundings have a major influence on the rest of their lives; if boys are taught to “man up” or never to do something “like a girl”, they will become men in constant fear of not being masculine enough. Through elementary and middle school ages, boys are taught that a tough, violent, strong, in-control man is the ideal in society and they beat themselves up until they reach that ideal. They have to fit into the “man box” (Men and Masculinity) and if they do not fulfill the expectations, they could experience physical and verbal bullying from others. Not only are friends and family influencing the definition of masculine, but marketing and toys stretch the difference between a “boy’s toy” and a “girl’s toy”. Even as early as 2 years old, children learn to play and prefer their gender’s toys over the other gender’s (Putnam). When children grow up hearing gender stereotypes from everyone around them, especially those they love and trust like their parents, they begin to submit themselves and experience a loss of individuality trying to become society’s ideal. If everyone is becoming the same ideal, no one has a sense of self or uniqueness anymore and the culture suffers from
In conclusion, we see that gender roles, as specific as they are in our culture, vary from culture to culture. And the variation of gender roles, in a global perspective, demonstrates that they are learned through socialization as oppose to stemming from nature, instinct and drive.
Gender Roles in a certain culture are different from one another. A gender role is a theoretical construct in the social sciences and humanities that refers to a set of social and behavioral norms that, within a specific culture, are widely considered to be socially appropriate for individuals of a specific gender (Spock & Parker, 1998). The answer to what is...
Human beings have been, and always will be, dichotomized into either male or female. When determining a person’s sex we often look for differences in facial features, body shape or mannerism’s, but another promising way to determine a persons sex and one that is most often used today, is through gender roles. Gender roles are behaviors that portray masculinity or femininity. The theory behind gender roles through multidisciplinary viewpoints is the focus of this paper. Throughout history and in every culture these roles have shifted and transformed into what society says is expectable. In this analysis, gender roles will be examined through a sociological, biological and evolutionary scope.
Society is comprised of two different sexes and they are “men” and “women.” A person’s “sex” is determined when they are conceived and whether they are male or female will attribute to their upbringing. Women are known as the “reproductive” ones and therefore, are more nurturing and usually tend to the home. In contrast, a man exhibits different qualities such as masculinity, strength, and in most cases, superior to women. The two articles written by Joan Scott and Alice Kessler define the gender roles of women (and men) and elaborate on the differences that these two “sexes” have to endure in every aspect of their lives.
In order to bring change, the myths of Gender have to be altered. Believing that the world consists of only two genders has been a cultural invention which does not accommodate the vast number of experiences humans are capable of living. According to the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network in 2009, “86% of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students experienced harassment at school; one in three skipped a day of school in the past month because they felt unsafe there” (Colombo 376). Their gender preference is not accommodated in society, and as a result, they are being discriminated, judged, mentally affected and not allowed expression of their social identity. There are many cultures that have three or more gender categories.
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.