Gender Stereotypes

Ashley

Gender Stereotypes

The way people are brought up has a lot to say about the way they conduct themselves in every aspect of life, including communication. From the time they are born, children have already been assigned a gender. Blue blankets are used for baby boys, and pink ones for girls. It is difficult for a child to grow up without experiencing some form of gender bias or stereotyping. Children learn at a very early age what it means to be a boy or girl in our society. During childhood children are exposed to many factors which influence their attitudes and behaviors regarding gender roles. These attitudes are learned in the home, in schools, and even at the playground where children play among their peers. Gender roles are taught not only from our homes and schools, but also from common media, television, magazines, books, etc. Almost every part of our lives has some sort of outside influence, showing the 'norm' of behavior and thinking styles. Men are to provide for a family, insuring the basic food and shelter needs. Women take care of the family, providing emotional support and nurturing qualities which sustain the family unit and ensures that the household runs smoothly.

Unfortunately, Gender stereotypes set impossible standards for men and women that can lead to unhappiness, loneliness and/or depression. Stereotypes affect relationships between a man and a woman. Moreover, stereotypes can dictate the behavior of boys and girls. Rather than combating gender stereotypes, our society reinforces stereotypes by passing them to the next generation and giving labels and names to the people who do not conform to the stereotypes. Traditional female stereotypes rigidly emphasize the belief that women must perform the specific roles that are assigned to them. From a traditional perspective, femininity is characterized by passivity and submission. Stereotypical masculinity is portrayed as natural, normal and universal.

Early childhood socialization plays a major role in a person's life. Socialization is best described as "a process by which a society's values and norms, including those pertaining to gender, are taught and learned". Socialization is perhaps the first thing that a child experiences. While I was growing up, gender roles were highly defined by my parents and teachers as well as all other societal influences. Boys were taught to do "boy" things and girls were taught to do "girly" things. The toys that children play with and the activities that are encouraged by adults demonstrate the influence of gender roles on today's youth. As soon as a child is old enough to play with toys, they're taught that the boys play with the big and strong action figures, while the girls play with the Barbie's.

Perhaps it has become second nature for the human race to associate certain traits with specific genders. Moreover, maybe because society has taught us that this practice is okay, mankind does not bother questioning its validity. However, it is my opinion that this practice certainly does need to be questioned. Why is it that what is right for a man is not necessarily right for a woman? And to the same effect, what is acceptable for a woman is not always acceptable for a man. I spent my life surrounded by people who accepted these values and attempted to pass them onto me, and although some of them may have found their way into my subconscious, I must say that I tend to disagree with most gender stereotyping.

You would never know it to look at her now, but at a young age my older sister refused to leave the house in anything other than a dress. And without ever asking me, my mother decided that it was practical, considering she had two girls in the house, for me to wear those dresses once my sister had outgrown them. The only problem being that I didn't like to wear dresses, I preferred to wear jeans.

Looking back, I wonder what they would have done if I had been a boy. Would they have still made me wear my sister's dresses, or was it simply because of my gender that I was forced to wear dresses until my sister grew out of her faze.

Although not a big deal, this type of gender stereotyping was only the first of many similar situations I was to experience late in life. I remember when I was about the age of ten and I was at the peak of my sports career. I was the only girl in my camp group that wanted to play baseball instead of arts and crafts. The first couple days of camp none of the boys wanted to pick me for their team...for what they said were 'obvious' reasons. However given a few days I was able to prove to my male peers that being a girl was not a handicap, but my problems didn't end there. Once they were finally willing to admit that I could hit a baseball, the warm weather kicked in and they found another reason to leave me as last picked. Since it was practically an all boys league they played "shirts and skins", and because of the heat, being on the "skins" team was preferable. However, having me - the girl - on your team automatically made that impossible. Once again this left me the undesirable teammate.

Fortunately I only seemed to mind being a girl during my earlier years. Once I reached the age of thirteen I started seeing things in a whole new light. Although I still preferred guys as friends, I began to look at them as more than that. Unfortunately, it seemed apparent that I was still not very desirable to them. My mother and even some of my