Ch. 5: Gender Similarities and Differences

Most of America's population thinks that men and women are very much different when it comes to how they show emotion and function in every-day life. Men are usually described as aggressive where as if a woman was aggressive then she would be acting absurd. Through the stereotype, men are classified with the adjective strong and woman with weak. It's just the way society views things in America. I feel as though this is what makes up the way we think about gender roles. Naturally when someone thinks about a boy then the first thought that follows is sports. When someone thinks of a girl then the first thought that follows is dolls and mascara. In my opinion somethings are socially unwritten roles or rules that society lays out for people. On page 106 in the book there are a list of how society would view a certain act between a man and a woman. they are as follows: "He's firm, but she's stubborn", "He's careful about details, but she's picky", "He's honest, but she's", "He's raising good points, but she's 'bitching'", and "He's a man of the world, but she's 'been around'". All of these phrases look like unwritten rules for women. It seems as though men basically can do whatever except cross the line of being feminine, while women have to walk on egg shells when they try and do something. One example is when a dude sleeps with a lot of girls. He is looked at by society as a man with experience. If a woman sleeps around with a lot of men then she is looked at by society as a "whore" or "slut". In the eyes of many this is unfair because at the end of the day we are all human beings. Something called sex (not intercourse) and gender is what alters us just being human beings.
Sex refers to the biological characteristics with which we are born; our chromosomal, anatomical, hormonal, and other physical and physiological attributes. These attributes tells us whether we will have male or female genitalia, when and where we will grow hair, and even bare children. Sex influences behavior but gender plays a more pivotal role in the behavior of a female or male. Gender refers to learned attributes and behaviors that characterize people of one sex or the other. Gender is based on social and cultural expectations rather than on physical traits. Most people are born either male or female, but we learn to be either a man or a woman because we associate conventional patterns of behavior with each sex. In my opinion I do not feel that people are born into homosexuality but that's a topic for another day. Gender roles of course goes hand and hand with gender but this is solely based on the expectations of society. This just ties in to what we have been talking about in the past lectures about roles in the family and things of that nature.

Question: Do you as a male/female feel obligated to act a certain way because of society?