So he’s a “man’s man” or she’s “the girl next door.” It never seemed to faze me before, but recently it came to my attention the pressure put on gender roles in today’s society. It seems that there will always be that stereotypical male and female persona that we will never be able to erase whether we want to or not. There will always be the idea of the stereotypical woman, who likes pink, shopping, dresses and makeup. Who does not like to get dirty, has an amazing body, and usually is incredible with children. She adores the male species and is a caring, nurturing person. However, most girls… are not that girl. Whether it is just one aspect that sets them apart, or one million the majority of women do not fall under the “Barbie doll” stereotype created years ago. Likewise, the male stereotype is not much better; the stereotypical male cares very little about feelings or children. He knows how to fix anything mechanical and can at least point you in the right direction when you are lost. He never believes that he is wrong even in the cases when it is as plain as day. He’s tall, dark and handsome and very muscular. He takes any amount of pain, without even shedding a tear. And just like women, few men actually seem to fulfill every standard of the “man’s man.”
In the article http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntucat/fighting-gender-role-boundaries/ Ubuntucat argues that we should learn how to fight these stereotypes. She says:
“While there is a difference between sexism and the reaffirmation of gender roles, the two are certainly linked. I realize, as most feminists have to concede, that there are inherent differences in trends between males and females. The question, though, is whether we should exacerbate and exaggerate such differences or just allow the “natural” ones and allow people to be who they are. In other words, if the majority of men (let’s say 80% or so) fit into a male stereotype (overly preoccupied with sex, weight-lifting, making money, using their “masculine” voices, etc.) and the minority of men do not fit into that stereotype (say 20%), why should we force that 20% minority to adopt the majority behavior?”
I agree with the fact that society should not force the “20%” to conform to the other standards. However I often question if it is possible to break the boundaries of stereotypes. If the majority of society delegates the stereotypes and at the same time falls under parts of the stereotypes, would it be possible to rule against them?
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I ask for directions, though I'm humiliated when I do. I don't really have a choice though, since I'm horrible with them. It's refreshing to see feminists admitting a certain measure of innate behavioral differences in males and females. I don't know how some deny the innateness altogether and attribute it entirely to social norms.
ReplyDeleteGood stuff this week--right along the lines of identity. You might find the work of Judith Bulter interesting. Butler develops a notion of performativity--the idea that gender and identity are developed/learned through activity (specifically, discursive activity). Read narrowly, discourse just means written language--but understood in a broader register, it signals any communicative act (including, of course, the way we talk, the music we listen to, the way we dress, etc). Here's a link to the wikipedia entry on Butler and performativity, scroll down to the section on "Performance theory and gender perspectives."
ReplyDeletegender guidelines and stereotypes exist for a reason. Call me old-fashioned, but typically if one mate does not concede to the other, the family fails, becomes dysfunctional, and the children become delinquents. Whoever says to avoid these stereotypes has no idea what they are talking about, they just dont like being told that they are naturally better at something then the other sex and dont want to "conform."
ReplyDeleteBane
I definately agree with you. There are tons of stereotypes not only of how a certain gender should act and look, but what we should be attracted to in the opposite sex. Although I do think we're evolving away from it as much as possible, to say men and women will ever be free of stereotypes is probably a stretch.
ReplyDeleteIn today's society, people should have learned over time that although yes some of those stereotypes still exist the lines are bring broken and people are becoming their own individuals. Women have shown a long time ago they no longer belong in the stereotype made for them 50, 40 even 20 years ago. Women have surpassed many men and shown they are equal and stronger after all these years of working to break the mold. Great Blog!!!
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