Personal Narrative: My Experience with Gender Roles

638 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: role of environment in child development

Personal Narrative: My Experience with Gender Roles A secret agent. A professional football player. A fire fighter. These would have been my responses when asked that inevitable question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Family, Media and Peers are said to have influenced my views concerning the role I am to play society. All of these factors had one thing in common. They all were influencing me to behave according to my gender. Everything from the clothes I wore to the toys I played with contributed to this. Even now as a young adult my dreams and aspirations are built around the gender roles that were placed on me. There were several instances in my childhood when my Family had a direct influence on me according to my gender. Right from birth my role as an individual was predestined. The gifts I was to receive at a baby shower were all based around my gender. It would have been unheard of for someone to give me pink clothes or flowery decorations at my baby shower. Young boys have always been told not to cry when they fall and scrape their knees. Comments like these from family members definitely had an impact on my aspirations. My dream to be a fire fighter was most likely related to those comments to not cry. Being a fire fighter would definitely be an occupation where stress would be high. If I could be a fire fighter I would definitely have the opportunity to prove to my parents that I could be strong and not cry. The media was also a factor that had a large impact on my childhood ambitions. Television is a great example of this. In almost all Television shows the gender roles are very prominent. Things such as male characters being strong or in positions of authority are prevalent. Even th... ... middle of paper ... ... It is fair to say that my current aspirations to succeed in college and become successful in life, are still results of the gender roles that were taught to me as a child and are still being showed to me now. Gender roles are unavoidable at any stage of your life. They are taught to you by parents, conveyed in the media, practiced and honored in organizations and supported by our government. No matter how many feminist groups attempt to bring the two sets of gender roles for males and females together, there will always be the unwritten expectations that males and females are taught. Boys will always play with guns and girls will always play with dolls. As long as this occurs, the ambitions for boys and girls will be directly related to the stereotypical form we are taught. It is up to the families, media and peers to use the gender roles appropriately.

Show More
Related

  • But I M A Cheerleader: Movie Analysis

    318 Words  | 1 Pages

    What are gender roles? Where did they come from? Who decides which actions are masculine, and which ones are feminine? The short answer would be that gender roles are a byproduct of heteronormative thinking that has been passed down through countless generations of patriarchal society. When a young boy plays with tools or toy cars, he is performing his gender role in accordance with the Patriarchal society in which he lives, but if the same young boy were to play with dolls, he would be stepping outside of the social construct of heteronormative activities. Since the advent of queer film, more individuals are expressing themselves openly, creating a new norm. The movie ‘But I’m a cheerleader,’ is about a teenage girl, Megan. It is about discovering

    Read More

  • Gender Stereotypes In Modern Society, By C. Wright Mills

    659 Words  | 2 Pages

    Modern society is typically split into a strict gender dichotomy of males and females. Each gender has a set of socially constructed roles and stereotypes that determine how each individual is viewed and treated in society. As I have progressed through school, I have noticed that expectations for females differed from their male counterparts. In school and at home, girls are typically expected to be more well-behaved and studious than boys. Since girls are beginning to attend college more than boys, society expects more girls than boys to pursue a college education. I have probably internalized these expectations and inadvertently used them as motivation for success. In some ways, my gender has also put me at a disadvantage in school. From a young age, many girls are coddled and encouraged to act nicely (Conley 130). They are expected to be caring, loving, and quiet. Being raised as a female has ingrained these tendencies into my personality and behavior patterns. Therefore, in

    Read More

  • To Kill A Mockingbird Identity Analysis

    1166 Words  | 3 Pages

    One’s gender has a great influence on their identity. Their actions, opportunities, and most commonly, roles in society. I identify as a female and thus by preset standards should have certain talents and interests. I am a huge hockey

    Read More

  • Analysis: Pizza Rolls Not Gender Roles

    891 Words  | 2 Pages

    When I was four I was called bossy for wanting to be the construction manager on our lego build site, my leadership was discouraged while my male counterparts were encouraged. When I was eight my second grade teacher discouraged me from being a surgeon, saying that a nurse is a more ladylike job. When I was 14 my parents discouraged me from going to a robotics summer camp, in their efforts they made the claim “You 'll be the only girl”. When I was 16 when my teacher asked me what i wanted to be when I grow up, when I responded Biomedical Engineer, I heard snickering the the back of the room. The back row teenage boys seemed to laugh at any female responding

    Read More

  • What Are Gender Roles In Butler's Dawn?

    1087 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gender roles are often used in our own society to tie people to a certain representation for what is socially acceptable. These roles perpetuate gender inequalities because they often make the female end of the spectrum worth less than the male. One example is equating masculinity with strength and femininity with weakness. Because of this sayings such as “You run like a girl” become negative. Gender roles create a system where people are set to a different standard based off gender alone. In trying to follow what is socially acceptable based on gender people are forced into roles. There is a lower percentage of women in science than men because girls are taught at a young age that being smart isn’t feminine. These roles harm boys too, teaching them that they have to be hyper-masculine to be considered

    Read More

  • Differences in Gender Identity of Children with Same Sex Parents

    1989 Words  | 4 Pages

    Gender roles and gender identity are comparable measures of how an individual views the gender they belong to and how they fit into that gender. Gender roles are observable or qualitative measures or behaviors that mirror the broad gender stereotypes held by society. Gender identity is an internal reflection of how one views their own specific gender independently (Berk, 2006). Some common gender stereotypes associated with masculine traits include playing more aggressively, exceling at math and science related school subjects and leading groups. On the feminine side of stereotypes, girls are thought to play in pairs, portray a calmer demeanor and express more emotions than boys (Berk, 2006). In general children move from a rigid and strict construct of gender and begin to adopt a more fluid model as they age and develop cognitively and socially. Until preschool age, most children adhere so tightly to their gender that they refuse to break gender stereotyped rules, such as boys wearing dresses or gir...

    Read More

  • Gender Identity Theory Essay

    1387 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Gender schema theory proposes that children develop a gender schema as a means of organizing their perceptions of the world. Once children acquire a gender schema, they begin to judge themselves according to traits considered appropriate to their sex.” (Rathus, Jeffrey, & Fichner-Rathus, 2014) The children who are successful in developing self-concepts that in line with the assigned gender will generally have higher self-esteem and are happier and healthier, mentally and emotionally speaking, when they are living in accordance with their assigned gender norms. Reversely, when children are raised in households that do not recognize gender norms, then children are at a deficit for learning how to be masculine men and feminine women and are at great risk of being mentally and emotionally unhappy and

    Read More

  • The Impact Of Sexualization And Objectification Of Women In Society

    1471 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to Oxford Dictionary, gender role is defined as “set of social and behavioral norms that are considered to be socially appropriate for individuals of a specific sex in the context of a specific culture”. Gender role created an expectation of how each individual should act, talk, dress etc., based on their biological sex. Over many years, the issue of gender equality has tried to be eradicated but till now this issue still exists. Women, specifically are looked down upon in our society, while men are seen more powerful. Some individuals will argue that women are better off taking the traditional role and being inferior towards men. In this society, there are few women who have proven and destroyed views and perception of all females

    Read More

  • What Is Being Ethnicly Ambiguous

    461 Words  | 1 Pages

    One factor that has shaped me and influenced my hopes and dreams is being ethnically ambiguous. Being ethnically ambiguous has led me to many awkward situations such as having to explain to an entire classroom that I am not Mexican or Hispanic at all and that I was born in the United States along with the rest of my family. I have always been told that as long as I am smart enough and try hard enough, I have the ability to make it into any field I choose because I am a female and I would broaden the diversity of the field I choose. This has caused me to think more about what it is that I want to do in life. Another thing I am influenced greatly by is my mother having a child before graduating from high school and the results of those actions.

    Read More

  • Difference Between Feminism And Feminism

    803 Words  | 2 Pages

    The definition of gender roles are the suitable behavior of men and women that are seen by society. Furthermore, these traditional roles is what shaped our thoughts on how we see men and women. Men are raised to be strong and refrain from showing too many emotions while women were more emotional than men and more opened about their feelings. “This comes, I think, from the insecurity triggered by how boys are brought up, how they think their sense of self-worth is diminished if they are not “naturally” in charge as men”(Adichie #461). This has to do when a men don’t think about how gender issues are real and believe that. Furthermore, gender being an uneasy topic people always try to change up the conversations. Women are faced with inequalities socially, politically and economically it’s just how it's been. What is worse is that society chooses to ignore it all together or even lessen the problem from what it really is. “Because gender can be uncomfortable, there are easy ways to close this conversation. Some people will bring up evolutionary biology and apes, how females apes bow down to male apes- that sort of thing. But the point is this: that we are not apes”(Adichie #462). Being phsically strong was a need to survive in this world thousand of years ago but today things are changing it isnt about being strong it is about being the most intelligent, the most

    Read More

  • Personal Narrative: Gender Identity

    599 Words  | 2 Pages

    Imagining if I transformed into the opposite sex for a week, my experiences of truth and reality would be quite different, yet strikingly similar to my life as a woman. Although my peers would accept me the same and know nothing altered, my mindset would have done a complete 180 degree flip. Although it is the expectation that humans identify with a single gender, multitudes of modern Americans refuse to succumb to this idea and prefer to identify with a sense gender fluidity. “The term "gender identity” . . . refers to a person's innate, deeply felt psychological identification as a man, woman or some other gender, which may or may not correspond to the sex assigned to them at birth” (par. 2). Some refuse to accept that gender is as one may say black or white, male or female. However, if I transfigured into a man, I would need to adjust my sense of reality in regards to the new expectations that come with the given gender.

    Read More

  • Personal Narrative: My Gender Identity

    327 Words  | 1 Pages

    When growing up with diagnoses such as autism spectrum disorder and depression, my gender identity was the least of my problems for a long time.

    Read More

  • Sex Roles and Gender Bias in Early Childhood Education

    2170 Words  | 5 Pages

    Although most of the research seems to indicate that sex role stereotyping permeates our society and our schools, there are ways to discourage children from falling into the stereotypical roles. It will take the voices of everyone to make a change in the way that society portrays boys and men, girls and women. We are doing an injustice to our children by encouraging these roles. Educators need to become increasingly aware of their practices in their classrooms. It is very easy to fall into the trap of segregating the sexes; all of us have to support and encourage our children that they can do and be anything. When enough people believe that the sex roles can be diminished, then society, the media and the government will follow.

    Read More

  • Narrative Essay On Gender Stereotypes

    568 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Differences Between Masculinity And Femininity

    1091 Words  | 3 Pages

    My parents did not raise my brother and I to behave in a certain way based on our biological sex. I played with dolls, like many girls do, but I also played with toy trucks. I loved playing in the dirt and was impossible to keep clean, while my brother hated getting dirty. We both learned to cook and do laundry and we also both learned how to use tools. These experiences have a very big effect on my perception and make me view the concepts very differently than a person that was raised with traditional gender roles.

    Read More

More about Personal Narrative: My Experience with Gender Roles

Open Document