Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Gender roles - what is the impact of gender roles that society creates and enforces?f

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gender roles are, unfortunately, extremely prevalent in today's society. Whether it is in the form of a stereotype or a specific profession, all people are affected by the ongoing issue of gender inequalitites. While one could argue that women are the most affected by this, men are victimized almost as badly. Men's issues, however, go much more unnoticed than womens issues. This could possibly be due to the history of struggle for women's rights and equality. Women are always the frail ones. The sensitive, emotional, homemaker type. They are commonly referred to as coming in second behind men. Men have always had this certain cultural superiority. Women, however, as I newly discovered, are excelling greatly in the classroom and carrer-wise at a higher rate than men. In David Brook's essay "Mind Over Muscle," there is evidence to show that there is certainly a noticeable difference in grades between the two genders. So, are women becoming the superior gender? It may be so, though not on monumental levels yet. The male gender, on the other hand, is stereotyped as "tough" and "masculine" and "big and strong." Males at a young age are pressured to fit the bill for a husky, brave, careless boy, among many other unrealistic superlatives. As a result of these pressures, the boys tend to fall behind academically and their success in their career suffers a fatal blow. It is all cause and effect: one thing causes a perpetual system of stereotypes and differences between the genders amd leads to outcomes that are potentially harmful to any person reguardless of gender. I believe it is fit to concede that women have always been classified as homemakers and emotional ones, while men have always excelled in their careers and been the superior ones. There is support to lead one to believe that these gender roles and constraints are shifting and becoming like we'd never expected.

Unknown said...

Gender roles in today's society still conform to the standard stereotypes we've been dealing with for years. Despite notable progress toward the goal of gender equality, the stereotypes of the "masculine brute" and the "emotional female" persist. People who break the stereotypes (whether males or females) are either ignored or glorified. The latter issue is something I thought about when watching our 3 movies. The "strong female" archetype is very present, a cartoonish overcompensation for its classic "emotional" counterpart. I do think that men have had an unfair cultural advantage for far too long, but the goal is equality, not complete reversal. While aiming for that goal, the advances of the times need to be considered. Gender roles in the traditional sense still exist, but as Nenah said, there is ample evidence, like the grades that Brooks cites, that these roles are changing in ways people can't predict. Today we have many more female breadwinners, and society's expectations regarding the role of women as homemakers have changed as well. The stereotypes and prejudices are still there however, buried deep within years of traditions turned to instinct. People are slowly beginning to accept "nontraditional" gender roles. My hope is that deviations from tradition will eventually be considered acceptable for both men and women.

Unknown said...

When asked about the idea of gender roles in our society, originally the first thing that came to mind was primarily the roles that were expected of women. As Nenah commented, women are usually thought of as frail, emotional, obedient and the caretaker or housewife. Yet, i've come to realize that the idea of specific characteristics that people are supposed to embrace is just as prominent for boys as well girls. On the boys side, it is believed that they are supposed to be "macho," show little to no emotion, be tough and embrace the "bad-boy" image. Both of these stereotypical roles are enforced within our society through movies, books, magazines, video games and advertisements. For young women, the message that is conveyed to them through the media is that everything the do is to support or attract a man. Even in the movie, Ella Enchanted, her motivation to undo her spell was so she wouldn't kill the prince. While she did overcome women's curse of obedience, she still was looking for the love of Prince Char. The movie also signifies the roles that women are supposed to adopt. Ella's curse of obedience was, in many ways, similar to the idea of the Angel in the House. It symbolized the constrictions of our society that hold women back; the idea that we must be subservient to men, and that we must not speak our minds. Thanks to the media, boys are also expected to be masculine and tough. In order to conform to this, they must be physically appealing, athletic, confident and emotionless in order to attract girls. The pressure to adopt certain characteristics based on ones gender is reinforced by today's culture for young adults, both male and female.

Jack said...

The gender roles created by society reflect the way members of that society have behaved in the past, and while gender roles should not be used as a guide for how men and women should live they do reflect the way men and women have lived. These roles develop for a reason as a suggestions based on prior generations, but they were formed in a more restrictive social environment than the one we currently have. The gender roles that society acknowledges are restrictive towards both men and women in different ways. Women are looked down upon if they are not home makers, and if a man has a problem it is more appropriate for him to break someone's nose over it than cry. Men are not allowed to have emotion, just as women are not allowed to have power, it is not directly prevented by any mechanism of society, it is simply resisted by the force of social pressure. Men and women who live outside of their gender roles have a lower social rank due to the resistance of their peers to what is perceived as a psychological abnormality in the person acting outside of their gender role. Gender roles restrict the choices of both men and women, preventing them from (possibly) discovering things outside of what is appropriate for their gender. Gender roles limit and define, what a man is, what a woman is, but they restrict what people are, and what they can be.

Susan Boardman said...

Do you see any positive signs of a shift in this restrictive paradigm you describe? What might you do, think, feel differently now that your conscience is raised? Do you foresee a different world view in 10 years? 20 years? Or will a biological distinction always restrict and limit or thinking and our actions?

Susan Boardman said...

I think the central question here is why should a difference even a stereotype lead to inequality. The most extreme adherence to female stereotype (like Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blond) should not be judged inept or empty headed. In answer to your question - I would hope we can get to a place where we don't think in terms of superior and inferior. We are just different in some ways. I was wondering what you were referring to when you said "one thing causes a perpetual system of stereotypes . . ." What is the one thing?

Susan Boardman said...

I think it is good that this unit has increased your awareness of the pressures on males to fulfill role expectations. I also think we have not talked enough about the role of media gender roles. Does the media reflect, reinforce, perpetuate, or teach gender roles? Does media have the capacity to change the culture, influence it or can it merely project existing expectations?

Susan Boardman said...

I think that there are many people who have moved beyond gender stereotypes in both their private and professional lives. I see lots of men doing parenting in a much more active way, women in every profession, young people feeling less pressure to conform - boys with long hair and pink shirts, girls dominating class discussions and vigorously playing every sport. But I do Agee that there are residual and sometimes rather well masked prejudices and judgments which keep us as a culture from fully embracing the idea of an X. Is it just fear of the unknown or just a need to categorize, catalogue,and then make judgments? Is there any particular cultural need to keep these gender associations in place?