Landin 1 Irma Landin Professor Corri Ditch \ < English 113A 2B September 2015 How Gender Roles Play in Society / After reading “Becoming Members of Society: The Social meaning of Gender” by Aaron Devor and “Night to His Day “, The Social Construction of Gender by Judith Lorber, it has made me acknowledge how society manipulates gender. These two author's argue about how baw “society” being the parents and those who judge everyone's gender roles manipulate the gender roles. Although gender roles have changed over time, male and females still have \ J tty certain behaviors that still exist today, such as inequalities between men and women today. \ rN Females are considered to be the weaker sex not only mentally but also physically. !wouldn’t © force my children to be somethit ‘they are not just so society will accept them. guclt Many Adults/Students always thought gender was the sex of a person which is not the case. Gender is not biological, it is more Sociological. if gender has nothing to do with one's sex, \ then what is gender? Gender is the performance of one being more masculine or feminine. Females can be masculine and males can be feminine but in the worlds eye it doesn’t seem to be the correct thing, Society expects males to be masculine and females to be feminine/Men +r ‘can dress up as a women, but are they considered more feminine than masculine?4n- many ‘cases some men do consider themselves more feminine than masculine because they feel like performance is more towards feminine. For example Bruce Jenner “Olympic Winner”. He gdLandin 2 lived 65 years of his life not being comfortable with his own body. Jenner stated “My brain is much more female than it is male, it’s hard for people to understand but that’s what my soul is.” (ABC news). He meant that being masculine was something he didn’t feel comfortable with, but being more feminine made him feel better inside an out. Society is not in favor of Jenner transitioning into a female because society expects Jenner to be masculine since he was born 2 male. Gender is sometimes easily determined by gestures, appearance, and cleracshcastios an tell when someone is female because they tend to use small hand gestures when they talk, have a higher voice, wear pastel colors, etc. While men are more serious, have deeper voices, dress in darker colors, ete. For instance, if you see someone wearing a light pink dress and has long hair you automatically think he/sh a female. Posture is another way to determine ones gender because men tend to sit with their legs open and tend to slouch when they sit. WI av, / he oye women sit straight with their legs closed. 2 of 4 Lyf s Male/female and girls/boys have similar roles. Men are considered to be macho man. {| / / V \ q while women are referred to as the fragile ones. In “Rethinking Women’s Biology” by Ruth —_{} Hubbard it says “In the 19" century, when women tried to get access to higher education, scientist claimed we couldn’t be educated because our brains are too small.”(46). Women are always being criticized because er they are not smart enough, strong enough, or capable of doing things. Society also discriminates jobs. Women are only seen as seeking care of children, working in offices, and being teachers etc. Society should recognize that women are capable of accomplishing anything if they set their mind to it. Not only are women discriminated but also males. Society sees men’s working in construction and other manly jobs. If men decide to work as a nurse, it is considered to be something abnormal because society says being nurses is @Landin 3 women job and not a men’s job. Women and men shouldn't be judged by society just because they want to do something unique. Many parents manipulate gender such as not letting their boys play with dolis or not letting them wear certain colors of clothes. Parents dress their girls with pastel colors while boys wear darker colors. Some parents are against their boys wearing pink because it's not a manly color. It's fine for a girl to wear a light shade of blue, but not for a boy to wear pink. Boys and girls have their own section of toys at the store because society doesn’t want boy/girls \ playing with the opposite sex toys. One can easily determine a boys and a girls toys. Boys tend to play with trucks, cars, superheroes, and robots while they little girls play with dolls, kitchen centers, makeup, and dress up. Society says that little boys are not allowed to play with dolls because dolls are not considered to be masculine. However doll, later in life will help thelittle / boy become a parent. It shouldn't be a bad thing if a little boy wants to play with dolls. Dolls are X i not only made for girls but now they even have dolls for boys, Barbie Ken. Some parents say it’s \ not bad for their son to play with dolls, where as other parents do. Emily Kane4n “No way my : . ih boys are going to be like that “states, “How then are they going to learn to take care of their children if they don’t play with dolls.” White, middle class, heterosexual father (91). This ‘means that the father of the little boy is in favor of son playing with dolls because it will benefit him later on. | agree with the father because not only playing with dolls will help his son i in the future but also playing with kitchen centers will help him too. Society has to see that it's not a bad thing for boys to play or own a doll. If it doesn’t matter to the parents, then why A should it matter to society? Society expects us all to be the same but it shouldn't be that way. Everyone one should be unique in their own way.landin 4 I remember one of my friends told me | shouldn't be playing softball because it was considered to be a masculine sport. She told me that | was a tomboy just because | played | softball. Softball is not considered a masculine sport in my opinion because that’s why they have baseball for males and softball for females. Many females play softball that doesn’t mean ¢ they are more masculine than feminine. Male and females are also critized by what sport they | play or what sport they fin ‘eresting. Many will say that females shouldn’t be playing sports. because females are not strong enough. If females want to play sports, society shouldn't stop them from playing. It only should matter to the person not to no one else. In the future, if my ty little boy wants to play with dolls | wll let him. For me there is nothing wrong with a little oy (\ | playing with dolls because | know it will benefit them in the future. Pl with kitchen centers \ will help him learn how to cook and playing with dolls will help him become a father. If he \ \ wants to go Into the gil toy section to get a toy twill not stop him. twill not force my children \S to be something they're not. if | ever forced my kid to be something they're not, not only will! { feel guilty but | would also be ruining their way of living their life. 1 would introduce him/her to femininity/masculinity, but it will be their decision if they want to be feminine of masculine. | will support their decision 100%, = \ Reading the two articles “Becoming Member of Society: The Social Meanings of Gender” by Aaron Devor and “Night to His Day”: The Social Construction of Gender by Judith Lorber, it has made me release how society manipulates the gender roles. The main idea after reading these two articles is how society effects gender. It effects the children, parents, and others. Gender roles have made a huge change over time but females and males still have certain behaviors that still exist today. Many are judge by society by the way they dress, by theirLandin 5 Bender, or by their race. We should all be equal in our own ways without feeling left out in the world. Society needs to accept the fact that not everyone is going to be the same, everyone is a different in the ‘own way. Gender plays a huge role in our everyday lives even if we are not aware of it.landin 6 Works Cited Page “Bruce Jenner, Im a Woman”, ABC News, ABC News, 24 Apr. 2015. Web. 29 Sept. 2015 Devor, Aaron, “Becoming Members of Society: The Social Meaning of Gender” Eds. Racheal Groner and John F O" Hara. Composing Gender: A BedFord Spotlight Reader. Boston:BedFord/St Martin’s,2014. 35-43.Print. Hubbard, Ruth, “Rethinking Women’s Biology” Eds. Racheal Groner and John F O'Hara. Composing Gender: A BedFord Spotlight Reader. Boston: BedFord/St Martin's, 2014. 46-2 Print Kane,Emily, “No way my boys are going to be like that” Eds. Racheal Groner and John F O'Hara. Composing Gender: A BedFord Spotlight Reader. Boston: BedFord/St Martin’s, 2014. 91-98.Print. Lorber, Judith, “Night to his day: The Social Construction of Gender” Eds. Racheal Groner and John F O’Hara. Composing Gender: A BedFord Spotlight Reader. Boston: BedFord/St Martin’s, 2014.19-30.Print.etecvenoae of Tesla 'Sudd ddrat hse The lumninan eeay essay should comin & evpanalcns andesaries, Slut vot {urn nw ena. siodent wot ture i an eeoy siesta wa tum an assy, (Sader at ineneseay, pupose pian wot Chipley