Summary:
Gender comes into effect on a person first when parents give them gender-specific clothes and toys when they are babies. When in elementary school, boys and girls split into separate peer cultures, in those peer cultures, they begin to compete for popularity. The determinants of popularity are based on gender appropriate models, which are basically what children have grown up to learn as masculine or feminine. It is here when children put themselves into gender roles. Some determinants for popularity with girls are appearance, social skills and academic success. Determinants for the boys are athleticism, coolness, toughness, social skills, and having relationships with girls.Where kids learn what is gender appropriate is any form of media ranging from magazines to commercials.
Once they have established themselves in gender roles, boys and girls start to start playing with toys and doing activities that are "appropriate". Girls' toys tend to focus on activities that include,
housework, cooking, caring for children, and personal grooming. Boys' toys tend to focus on activities that include,
handiwork, building things, competitiveness, fighting, and being outdoors. There are also similarities in games that boys and girls play. Boys games are more complex, competitive, rule infused, large in size, and goal
directed. Girls games are mostly in small groups, the participants are engaged in similar
independent activities, and they are more concerned with enjoying themselves
rather than winning. These similarities transition as they get older and start doing extra-curricular activities. Boys activities are more focused on achievement, toughness, endurance, competitiveness, and aggression, such as football. Girls activities are more focused on emotional management, glamour, and concern with appearance, such as cheer leading.
Gender roles are reinforced by media and peers, but usually originate with parents. It can be unintentional, because it's usually reinforced by small things such as differences in toys at a young age (e.g. boys get trucks,
girls get dolls) or differences in chores when they’re older (boys mow the lawn,
girls do the laundry). But, it can also be intentional, such as when parents encourage boys to be aggressive, not to play with feminine toys, not show their emotions or to be sexually promiscuous. These influences result with standards for men and women. The standards for women are they need to be passive, should be seen and not heard, must
keep up physical appearances at all times, cannot be too masculine because then
they are considered unattractive, do not belong in the work place and should stay
at home and take care of the house and children, are overly dramatic and
emotional so they are incapable of running important positions in business and
in politics, and cannot play sports or do other physical activities. Men's standards are they must not show any emotions that involve vulnerability, have to
be the providers in the home, must be physically stronger than women, and inspire
fear in order to assert dominance.
An adequate way to fight these stereotypes is to address and dispel them. One person who is proficient in such is Kate Bornstein. Kate is an author, playwright, performance artist, and gender
studies theorist. She has written many books and plays on gender theories. Some of her books are
“Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us”, “My
Gender Workbook: How to Become a Real Man, a Real Woman, the Real You, or
Something Else Entirely”, and “Hello, Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide for
Teens, Freaks, and Other Outlaws”. Some of her plays are Kate Bornstein Is a
Queer and Pleasant Danger, The
Opposite Sex Is Neither, and Hidden:
A Gender. Here is a quote from "Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us":
Given any binary, it's fun to look for some hidden third,
and the reason why the third was hidden says a lot about culture. The choice
between two of something is not a choice at all, but rather the opportunity to
subscribe to the value system which holds the two presented choices as mutually
exclusive alternatives. Once we choose one or the other, we've bought into the
system that perpetuates the binary.
There is also an organization that spans the globe with goal of gender equality called HeforShe. You can join there website and learn how to help the cause.
Discussion questions:
How do stereotypes effect boys as well as girls?
What are some ways stereotypes are reinforced?
How have stereotypes affected your lives?
referenced articles: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2112807?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
HeforShe website:
By: Stephanie Bautista and Warren Ball
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