Crossing Gender Lines Essay Research Paper Corrie

Traversing Gender Lines Essay, Research Paper

Corrie Molenaar

11.16.01

Engl. 1210 Sec. 001

Joy Ellen Parker

Essay # 2

Traversing Gender Lines

Writer and feminist Alix Kates Shulman said one time: & # 8220 ; Sexism goes so deep that at first it & # 8217 ; s difficult to see, you think it & # 8217 ; s merely world & # 8221 ; ( McEneany ) . That quotation mark sums up absolutely the manner our society runs. There is no category learning kids how to move harmonizing the their gender. Yet small male childs and small misss learn at a really immature age what is expected of them. They get thoughts about their gender functions from their parents, their school instructors and subconsciously from the plaything they play with and the telecasting shows they watch.

Even before the kids are born, parents begin taking vesture and ornaments by colour based on the sex of the babe. The stereotype of pink, pastels, xanthous and white for misss and bright or dark colourss like green, bluish and ruddy for male childs has long been a portion of out civilization. How many times have you heard childs argue over playthings because the misss don & # 8217 ; t want the crappy male child colour or the male childs don & # 8217 ; t want the gross miss colour? The issue of colour may travel deeper than merely contending for playthings. Surveies have been done demoing that school schoolrooms, particularly for younger classs, are typically decorated in & # 8220 ; boy & # 8221 ; colourss and reflect an environment that is most comfy for male childs ( Bruning 23 ) . Parents and instructors may be able to assist change by reversal this thought by purchasing playthings in gender impersonal colourss and by utilizing the same colourss for male childs and misss.

Children start to specify their gender individuality in early preschool ( Zhumkhawala 47 ) . This means that the toys kids are given travel a long manner to farther ( or assist alteration ) gender stereotypes and inequality. In general, boys are given trucks, blocks and physician & # 8217 ; s kits, promoting them to construct, research how things work and be active. Girls on the other manus are given dolls, kitchen sets, and play makeup. This is basically stating that all that is expected of misss is that they become good female parents and married womans and they look reasonably. Basically, misss toys learn them to accept things as they are, and be ladylike and inactive while male childs toys promote them to make and research, ne’er giving them the thought that there are bounds to what they can make.

Parents normally encourage these thoughts without even recognizing it. For illustration, misss are praised for playing with dolls but male childs are frequently ignored for exposing nurturing behaviour. Likewise, boys acquire attending for being good at athleticss while misss don & # 8217 ; t frequently receive encouragement for being active. As Bruning points out in his article & # 8220 ; Separating the Sexes in Toyland & # 8221 ; , these sorts of stereotypes are destructive because they limit our possible ( 22 ) . It is non hard to detect that in general small male childs are more spatially and mathematically inclined and small misss are more verbal ( Arbetter 16 ) . However, a survey done in 1992 called & # 8220 ; How Schools Shortchange Girls & # 8221 ; found that immature male childs who play with dolls develop better motor accomplishments and misss who play with blocks develop better math and scientific discipline accomplishments ( Zhumkhawala, 48 )

Besides the plaything they buy, parents affect their kids & # 8217 ; s construct of gender functions in the manner they interact with them and by illustration. For one, parents tend to play rougher with male childs than with misss, implementing the thought that boys should be tough and misss should non move out. Besides, Girls normally spend more clip with their female parents and male childs with their male parents. Therefore, misss end up making & # 8220 ; girlie & # 8221 ; things like playing with makeup and assisting Mommy brand dinner. Boys do & # 8220 ; manfully & # 8221 ; things like playing gimmick or assisting Daddy in the garage. It wouldn & # 8217 ; t take much for parents to alter this. A male parent and boy could include the girl while practising athleticss. A boy could assist his female parent in the kitchen or even take attention of a younger sibling. Parents should seek to avoid stating male childs to & # 8220 ; halt

weeping and act like a large boy” because hearing that plenty over clip could do them believe that it’s non approve for male childs to demo emotion. They should besides maneuver clear of stating misss repeatedly to “mind their manners and act like a lady” or a miss may non experience that it is of all time all right for her to talk her head or stand up for herself.

Teachers excessively, can be biased, normally prefering male childs. Research has shown that instructors typically wait longer for boys than for misss to reply a inquiry. This subtly reinforces the thought that less is expected of female pupils. In add-on, Zhumkhawala says & # 8220 ; most instructors & # 8211 ; even in preschools & # 8211 ; pay more attending to boys than misss. Boys acquire more opportunities to talk, more congratulations and suggestions, more clinchs & # 8221 ; ( 48 ) . When confronted instructors explained that this is because misss seem to be making good without so much attending. Trudy Hamner, writer of The Gender Gap in Schools: Girls Fring Out suggests that we separate instruction to do it more equal ( 86 ) . Of class, really few households can afford to direct their kids to private male childs and misss schools. But late several public schools have been test-driving separate schoolrooms for misss in math and scientific discipline. Some critics believe that separate schoolrooms give the feeling that misss aren & # 8217 ; t every bit smart as male childs and hence need particular attending. The misss who participate in these plans, nevertheless, love it. They say that non holding guys around makes it easier to concentrate on larning instead than worrying about viing or being made merriment of for a incorrect reply ( Hamner, 88-90 ) .

Parents and instructors are non the lone 1s who influence a kid & # 8217 ; s position of gender functions. Television plans further stereotypes, once more by demoing kids how they are & # 8220 ; supposed & # 8221 ; to move. For starting motors, there are more work forces than adult females in kids & # 8217 ; s plans and the adult females are portrayed most frequently in household functions. Males on Television are shown as knowing, independent and aggressive. Females are shown as romantic, submissive, emotional and timid ( Morgan, 951 ) . Harmonizing to Nancy Signorielli & # 8220 ; surveies have found that sing is related to giving more sexist responses to inquiries about the nature of work forces and adult females, how they are treated and their functions in society ( 104 ) . In add-on, commercials geared toward male childs tend to be fast paced and action filled ; for misss, quiet and feminine with soft background music. To battle this, parents merely necessitate to pay attending to what their kids ticker and restrict the plans that contain blazing gender prejudices or stereotypes.

As we & # 8217 ; ve seen, there are a assortment of things that influence kids as they develop constructs of how their gender should move. At first, it & # 8217 ; s hard to see the job. Our society runs swimmingly as it is, with most of it & # 8217 ; s need being met by one gender or the other. But imagine if some of the barriers between work forces and adult females were erased. What would be possible if more adult females were physicians and politicians and more work forces were primary child-care suppliers? The reply could be a simple as altering the manner our kids play with their playthings.

Arbetter, Sandra R. & # 8220 ; Boys and Girls: Equal but non the Same. & # 8221 ; Current Health 2. Dec.

1991: 16.

Bruning, F. & # 8220 ; Separating the Sexes in Toyland. & # 8221 ; Newsday. 27 Nov. 1973: 21-24.

Hanmer, Trudy J. The Gender Gap in Schools: Girls Fring Out. Springfield, N.J.

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McEneany, Colleen. Feminist Utopia. 10 Oct. 2001.

www.amazoncastle.com/feminist.html.

Morgan, M. & # 8220 ; Television and Adolescent Sex Role Stereotypes: A Longitudinal Study. & # 8221 ; Journal

of Personality and Social Psychology. 43.5 ( 1982 ) : 947-955.

Signorielli, Nancy. & # 8220 ; Television and the Perpetuation of Gender Role Stereotypes. & # 8221 ; AAP

News. Feb. 1998: 103-104.

Zuhmkhawala, Sehba. & # 8220 ; Dolls, Trucks and Identity. & # 8221 ; Children & # 8217 ; s Advocate. Nov.-Dec.

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