I read the essay “Learning to be Gendered” and in this
article it talks about what gender roles are and why we have them. Sally McConnell-Ginet and Penelope Eckert believe
that we as babies are taught how to be male or female as we grow up. I disagree
with them because sex is determined by our biological features and gendering
comes from our traits as individuals. I think the word “norm” comes from what
males and females do commonly but that’s not always the case. Although a great
influence comes from how we are raised and what we learn from society as we get
older, people should have a choice in who they want to be and what role they
want to play. If a woman wants to go out and bring the goods home as a man
normally would, so be it. If a man wants to stay home and take care of the
children and house, then that’s fine too. Men are taught to be strong and not
show feelings which a lot of men present themselves to be, but there are some
out there who are emotional and come off as sensitive. Parents dress their
children as boy or girl yet people grow up to be cross dressers and style
themselves differently. I think gender roles are a big thing for us when we are
young, but as we grow up we learn to identify ourselves how we want to be
portrayed. I don’t think it’s necessarily bad that we are raised to be what
people think boys are supposed to be like and how girls are supposed to be
like. I think it’s a problem that people don’t want to grow from that and make
their own decisions as well as others looking down on them for it.
I agree with a few of the points and disagree with others you make. I do agree that children make there own personal choices on which gender they will eventually identify with, however I believe they don’t begin to make these choices once they reach a certain age where they begin to act as a social individual. Where I agree with the author is that parents do point their children into one role or another with the clothes they dress them in and the toys they provide their children with. In the passage I feel like the author had a bit of a problem with this but I see no issue with giving a boy a shirt with trucks on it or a putting a fluffy dress on a baby girl. I do feel like however once children reach the point they can begin to think for themselves that parents should allow that and encourage it no matter if its in the norm or not. I do feel like society pushes children one way or another but I do think were slowly becoming more accepting and open minded as a whole with the lgbt movement that’s been taking place here in the past few years. I don’t think parents starting there children off in ine way or another will ever start but I do think parents will continue to get more supportive of their childrens choices.
ReplyDeleteHello, I like a lot of the things you wrote in your blog. There are a vastly large about of gender norms in our society but I think its honestly a little crazy that e as a society are putting a title on weather a new born baby has the gender norm or not. I don’t think that there is any problem with dressing your infant in pink or blue when they are new to this world because that’s just what they are at that age, male or female. Growing up I do agree that we tend to make our own decisions and go this way and that way but I don’t think someone is going to disown their parents because they put a pink or blue hat on them when they were 3 days old. I think gender norms are helpful at this age, I personally would go all out on my child when they are infants and if that’s not what they want when they are older I support that. But I don’t think gender norms should even be an argument at such a small age. In the article it is stated that “it has become increasingly clear that children play a very active role in their own development,” and I couldn’t agree more.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, Sally McConnell-Ginet and Penelope Eckert agree that as a child grows it is taught the rights and wrongs of being a male or female. I am not going to agree or disagree, but I would say that these “gender norms” are in a way, helpful in an environment like such. Our world is largely populated by people who like the sense of a light segregation, we like to know our do’s and our don’ts, especially with gender. Men are meant for this, and women for this, there’s no confusion there but remember it was just recently that society started to accept the interchanging of genders and began to support to the LBGT community. Growing up, I feel like a child needs the guidance of his or her society because that’s is what they will call home. If a child is born with a dick and society says “He’s a boy!” then so be it, give him all the toy trucks in the world! That’s just the way things are taken care of until one is capable to think and feel on their own. If you were to have a new born infant live it’s first 5 years of life without any direction/influence to who they are, what they’re capable of, or even it’s rightful place here in today’s harsh society, you would have one confused ass kid.
ReplyDeleteI agree with some points that you made but the one I agree with the most is when you say “Although a great influence comes from how we are raised and what we learn from society as we get older, people should have a choice in who they want to be and what role they want to play.” If it wasn’t for the way my parents brought me up, I wouldn’t have certain personal beliefs, but then again it is important for people to have a choice and decide what roles they want to play throughout life. However, I disagree when you say that people learn to identify ourselves as they grow up. In some instances as people mature, they become more and more confused on how to identify themselves. For instance, you say “Men are taught to be strong…” and “…there are some out there who are emotional and come off as sensitive.” Say a man grew up in a feminine household where sensitivity is valued more than masculinity and never learned that “men are strong.” The more this man grows and learns that men are supposed to be muscular and strong, he starts to question his identity and might leave him confused.
ReplyDeleteI agree that gender is not specified by the color of your cloths or by the name tags. Males especially are being very careful with what they were according to the society they live in and if they are not, they might be called gay! just for the color of their cloths or even how tight they are or how big. The women are suppose to look very feminine to be be considered women. other wise, she is lesbian or bi! Some rolls in our society are judging and changing the way we want our life to be. The fact that mean are suppose to be strong and very muscular is a very unfair judgment for men. Also, the fact that women are suppose to be weak and feminine, is unfair as well. People should look, feel and do what they want and how they want to look.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that gender roles are a big thing for us when we are young, but as we grow up we learn to identify ourselves how we want to be portrayed. But the things is that it is not easy to come out of a circle in which you have been your life. In my culture every girl is taught to be delicate and every guy is taught to be a tough man. when either of them try to change the way they are, friends and family come crashing in to their thoughts and ask questions and tell them how wrong is for a guy to be in kitchen helping girl, or how wrong is it for a girl to be out in the world helping her family financially. Because of everyone around them its hard for them to actually be what they want to be. I think having gender rolls as calling someone he or she is fine to a limit, if a guy wants to cry don't tell him that girls cry, you are not a girl be strong and all that. God made all of us and he gave the same heart to everyone,everyone feels pain and everyone feel strong enough to be out there for their family or for themselves.
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