Gender, Stereotyping and Ranking

Schools absolutely play a role in gender ranking. Starting from a young age, children are taught to act a particular way because "boys don't cry" and "little girls must be dainty and clean." I remember my second grade class that I worked with for my high school senior project. During recess time the children would disperse and play amongst their group of friends. A particular incident lingers in my mind. A girl wanted to play a game of "war" with the rest of the boys who were playing and shooting invisible guns at each other around the swings. However she was prevented from joining the escapade because one boy made a remark like "you can't play war because you're a girl and you would die right away." A group of girls standing nearby mocked her and asked her why she couldn't be normal and play jacks for once. It is ridiculous how children are teaching each other how they should fit a certain gender stereotype.

Throughout middle and high school I have encountered teachers who were sexist, racist, supremist, you mention it. These are the individuals who either enhance your educational mentality, or deteriorate it with personal knacks and opinions that were if only taught a thing or two about gender equity. I hope that in the future teachers will be required to take courses on gender and social equity. It is important to make veryone feel included and welcomed.

The case of Baby X can only be accomplished in the most objective of all environments. Throughout the story I wondered when Baby X would turn and give into the peer pressure. We as people are naturally so concerned with what our peers think, that it is virtually impossible to be pleased with who we are like Baby X. Strides are being made, but it will take more than just a few years to allow such objectivity to prevail, if so ever.

As we all read in WVFV stereotypes come from our society. They are rules we have made that define the way men and women are aloud to act in our culture. For women those rules have changed; we now can be "superwomen" and work with men while still having the same feminine qualities society expects from us too. However, for men I think its harder. If a man wants to act more like a woman, society looks down on him in most cases. He will be ridiculed and many people will question his sexuality. Of course schools play a role in gender stereo typing. Boys' belonging's are color coded to be blue and girls' are pink. Children are separated into lines according to gender. There is a place for girls' toys and boys' toys. Children learn gender from a very young age especially in school. Eventually, I believe steps will be taken to change the way schools teach children gender, but only in certain ways. I think someday it will be ok for a woman to play lacrosse without her gender being questioned and for men to be cheerleaders. However, basic ideals that society have about men and women will always stay. Most men will always be stronger than women its a scientific fact. We may change minds about people thinking men are superior to women because of that fact. However, I just think some things will never change. Personally, as a woman I don't want some of those things to change. I like the fact that I have a big strong man to protect me and take care of things for me.

I think the stereotypes were brought upon us by ourselves. We as a people just starting choosing blue for boys and pink for girls, and things of that nature. Some affects of it are that from birth kids are taught that they have to be the perfect ideal "boy" or "girl." Schools definately play a role in the gender game because I know when I was in grade school, we always had a boy's line and a girl's line. Girls got to get their coats before we did, and things like that. I don't think teachers will ever be required to take gender equality courses, but it could happen. I also do not think that there will be a time where boys can be on the cheer-leadign team and not get made fun of, at least not in my lifetime. I think the idea that masculinity is superior to feminity came from history, where the man would go work and the woman would just have babies and take care of the house. Times have changed though, and we have to realize that women are just as capable if not more capable, to do the things we do. I think that the roles that women and men play on TV shows is starting to even out. It's not completely equal but now there are alot mroe star roles played by women. More ads have been targeted towards women because maybe society is starting to realize that women are equal to me.....Maybe...

First off, possibly way off topic, i just want to say that I don't know how I feel about this Baby X and what it's parents did to it. This child had no name basically replied as I am X and that wast X was called. Why not give X a name that can be associated as male of female such as Kelly or Ashley? On the other hand, this child got to experience more than any of us will ever have a chance to. It got to see both sides of the spectrum without being criticized by the other (eventually). No matter how we try we will still to an extent be held to gender roles that lots of times we don't want to fit into...but back to topic.

Stereotypes come from our ideology that things have to be a certain way, that males act on way and females another. Even writing this blog the word male is easier to write first in a sentence than the word female because that's how its always been and feel unnatural and out of order with female coming first. Do I think schools play a part in gender stereotyping? To an extent yes, how could they not? They are run by individuals who have the same ideology built into their being as we. I would however say that more and more girls are being recognized for their abilities in schools but the stereotyping is still there. I think we have come a ways from these stereotypes although they exist with judging sexuality as suggested in the blog a boy who cheers or a girl who plays lacrosse but more and more men are cheering and girls are becoming strong atheletes some stronger than their male counterpart. Changes still need to be made in our way of thinking and women need to be judged less for wanting to do something "masculine" instead of falling into the "female" roles they are supposed to. Men still have more power over females and until we are equal I don't know how much will change.

In today's world we as a society go with what everyone else does. Stereotypes come from us, the ones who created them. We see one thing happen on a particular person and we automatically believe that its the same for everyone else. The affect can be tremendous because if you establish these habits it can cause future tendencies. If we prejudge someone, we are putting a label on them. Labels lead to racism and other things.
The masculinity of males came from the past. Males were offered jobs that were considerd "tough" jobs and the women did not have the same opportunities. They were left to be at home and tend to needs around the house. Recently society had become more open to females allowing them to have equal opportunities as men. This is partly due to feminism and how strong it can truley be. Do you think this will continue, and will women ever be equal in our society? What will it take for this happen?

These stereotypes come from a long history with our socil environment. Gender is a huge issue to begin with and when brought into the publics attention many people have many different views about it. It is a very sensitive issue because many people deal with gender issues. I think that even with the strides presented it will be a long time before we can ever think of gender equality. I know we came a long way from back in the day, but there are many things that still need to be worked on. I think that we also need to have more parent teacher meetings in school and have discussions between teachers to teach people about gender inequality and how we can make it better. In the bible people say that there are instances of gender inequality and show how men are proven to be more superrior than women. Women usually play the housewive or the caregiver, she rarely has a strong role. I think that we have some how come over that a little bit because there are many roles that have been given to women that show their strngths and give them more credit for their abilities. Men play the breadwinner and the man of the house. They are seen as strong and the decision maker in the house. I think that just recently we have come to think about women more because there are more women who are out in the workforce nowadays.

Schools definitley play a role in gender stereotyping, but I would have to say I think it is slowly fading...I'm not sure if there will ever be a time when it is totally gone, but I think it is getting less and less. Teachers should definitely be required to take a course involving gender equity, and to be honest, I find it kind of surprising if they don't already. This is an issue that we face every day in some way and I think those who are leading the children, teenagers, young adults of our society in educational means should be adequately prepared to address and deal with any situation that could arise. After all, we are to listen to our teachers and learn from them...good and bad alike is taken in and processed by the minds.

Girls play lacrosse. Girls lacrosse is steadily on the rise and is becoming "the popular sport" for girls. Girls want to play and guys dig chicks who play. I think a large part of that is the fact that girls lacrosse is played in short skirts, which still is kinda funny to me. Who ever thought running around on an athletic field, bending over to pick up ground balls, and getting knocked over would be best in an almost mini skirt is beyond me. Why skirts?! What happened to shorts?! I mean it was a conscious decision to choose skirts over the standard athletic uniform of shorts as the lacrosse uniform. Maybe it was an attempt to make it unmistakeable that this was in fact GIRLS playing. To make a statement regarding gender and sports. But, take another girls' sport, such as softball or volleyball for example. These are the sports I feel bring about questions of sexuality. I have never been able to figure out why though...it truly is a mystery to me. Does anyone have any idea?!

Boy cheerleaers...yes there might be some and I have absolutely no problems what-so-ever with that...but I do not think there will really ever be a point where a guy isn't ridiculed if he is a cheerleader. I have no real reason as to why besides the fact that I just don't think other guys will ever fully, totally, 100% think of cheerleading as something a guy should do, let alone think of it as a sport (which it technically is). Maybe I am totally off here, but I don't think so. In my experiences at sporting events, guy cheerleaders are called "fag", "loser", "queer", "douche"...pretty sad really.

I think gender ranking and stereotypes are becoming obselescent due to many guys and girls incorporating "ungender like" characteristics and activities into their lives. Just the other day I saw a man getting a pedicure at my salon. I overheard him talking and he was not ashamed of being there, in fact he loved how much attention he got from the predominatly female environment. Guys get gross feet and need pampering too. Girls can prevail in a male orientented activity, as well. In my first grade class I assist in, there is this precious little girl who also happens to be a National karate Champion. I think some of the boys are a little intimidated by her. It's fun to watch.
Also, I think gender equity in schools is a big deal. Just as it mentioned in the book, schools play a big role in defining and providing confidence in gender. As an education student I did learn about gender equity in the classroom. We watched a video on different classrooms and it pointed out everytime the teacher unintentionally favored girls over boys or boys over girls depending on the subject they were learning. Although it seems unimportant, many girls are guys are permantly affected by this. Girls are "supposed" to be better at reading and writing so they get called on in those situations, diminishing the boys confidence in those areas. Boys are better at math and science, therefore girls feel they cannot compete with boys and can even reverse the math and science skills they have accquired.

I believe that the typical gender stereotypes are greatly diminishing. In my high school there was a boy on the field hockey team, a girl on the football team, and a couple boy cheerleaders. The boy on my field hockey team was our best player, although this was only because he was stronger and faster than us girls. The girl on the football team did get made fun of a lot but for a lot of things, not just being on the football team. Our male cheerleaders were some of the most popular boys in our school. I think this shows how far we have come. Look at Penn State, we have many male cheerleaders, we have a woman’s lacrosse team, and even a woman’s ice hockey team. I definitely agree that there is more progress to be made, but I believe that will come with time.

I agree with the previous comment that the media has changed a lot and now has many shows that portray non typical lifestyles. Think of Will and Grace, Grey's Anatomy, and Desperate Housewives. We now have many options instead of shows where the man goes out to make the money and the woman stays like The Brady Bunch. I think that the media is now trying to create more ads that target women because now women have higher paying jobs and can afford more luxuries for themselves.

I think there are several television shows that portray women as "wearing the pants in the family". For example, Rosanne, Everybody Loves Raymond, King of Queens and probably more. In both King of Queens and Rosanne the women are working outside of the home. Television is not like it used to be. Many more shows are displaying women having more power and lives outside the homes and children. So currently I would have to say that men and women's roles in television are shifting. I do however find it disturbing that the women have to be drop dead gorgeous and the guys can be the most normal, average looking people ever. As far as teachers having an effect on career choice I don't think they are that powerful. Maybe a close college professor, but honestly I don't think high school teachers are the influential. At least not the teacher I went to school with.

While reading the other comments I was reminded of drama that went on during my high school years. One of our math teachers was promoted to assistant principal and became power hungry and all the power went right to his head. Pretty much if you wore shorts to school they were either too short (if you were a girl) or too long (if you were a boy) why the difference? The shorts should have simply been too short or too long for either gender. It never went the other way...we all wondered what length of shorts we were supposed to wear.

Perhaps the physical strength of men over women in some areas is what started the gender construction and ranking. THe fact the in early civilization pregnant women needed help and suport for survival. THis gave men the idea that they were some how more important so they gave themselves a higher ranking than women. Obviously, men and women were ment to work in teams but somehow this was lost along the way and it became men working above women.
From an early age boys and girls are treated very differntly and expected to like things that little boys or girls are supposed to like respectively. But why can't boys play with dolls or girls play with guns? It almost seems as though these toys are made to put girls in their "place"as caregivers and "boys"in their place as masters. THese thoughts are so engrained in children that they often ridicule and harrass others throught their school careers becasue they have been brainwashed by the current standerd of gender roles. Instead of being free to explore what ever makes them happy, children are encouraged only to find happiness in what is appropriate for their gender. While parents may want their children to be truely happy, they refuse to do anything about changing gender roles because they do not want their child to be ridiculed, which will inevitably happen.
Mainstream social gender roles make childrens'lives miserable so then children in turn spend the rest of their lives making each others'live miserable. How can this be any good??
The media simly encourages the "norms"by portraying them on every tv show. The house wife, the hardworking father, the clueless teenage girl, and the horny mid-puberty boy. These characters are staples. BOys are involved in sports while girls are stressing over boys and mom is loading the mini van. Gender roles on tv closely follow gender roles of society, almost always. And only recently has it been realized that woman can consume things other than makeup and cleaning products. Till recently, these are the most common products advertised to women, but as some gender roles change, the world begins to change as well. Wow...the power of gender and the roll it plays in so many aspects of society is amazing.

In the first discussion for week four I commented on the Baby X situation. I think that there are plenty of options out there for nongendered toys (paints, toy instruments, etc) but dont be afraid to buy children toys that arent of "their gender." So what if your daughter plays with blocks, one day she may be a terrific architect. And if your son plays with a kitchen set? He could be a gourmet chef one day. Dont limit your children because of your own fears of what our gender roles imply. We can only move past this if we are willing to break the mold. And we can break that mold in two ways. First we can change personally. Lead by example. Dont be afraid to do things differently, things that you like that are looked down upon. Why do we justify ourselves to society? Look at it! Its a mess! But because of insecurity, we fall into the patterns. I still think we need to try, try hard to really be yourself. And if your a boy and you feel the need to grunt and burp and lift weights or something else "manly" and thats what you LIKE to do, great. Just enjoy it, but dont impose it on others. Same for women, if you want to be Suzie homemaker or if you want to be the Superwoman ideal that is brought up, awesome. Again, lets not force our children into these roles. Second way to change the system. OPTIONS. Give them to your children. Dont push them in one way or another. Be there for guidance, when they like something encourage it (in a healthy way, with moderation). IF/when they change their minds, great! Let them explore something new. THey will fill their OWN shoes, not society's idea of what they should be.

Gender ranking is prevalent because people feel the need to categorize making life easier. In regards to where these genders and ranks come into play is from the society itself. Society defines the roles and acceptable behaviors and attitudes for “men” and “women” to have. By defining the roles a society is then able to create “them” and “us” and further help to maintain an understandable relationship between people. When either sex displays the wrong gender they are looked down upon and picked on because their visual sex disagrees with their gender perception. This fact strongly shows that society focuses on the outward appearance of things and that is how they are classified. Society does not want to go deeper and understand something that may contradict their belief systems. By avoiding dissonance people make themselves happy, and rather than a society trying to change itself and would rather rely on assigning gender and ignoring the variables.

I think that things have definately improved at times throughout the years concerning what is masculine and feminine. However, i also believe that there is still a lot of room for improvement. In addition, i believe that some of the improvements have been including girls in shop classes and including boys in home economics classes. But, i think both of those classes were wastes of time in middle school and high school. Depsite these changes though, i still believe that you can see the unequality in gym classes. I admit that some gym classes were held coed but the large majority of them were single sex. Often times at my high school the boys would play footbal and the girls would "jazzercise". I don't think that was too fair.

I remember back in high school I hated gym class - most girls did. We were separated from the guys and while they played football the girls walked around the track. Sometimes this was okay if you had a friend and could just walk and talk with them, but were we really getting the exercise that we needed? Even our female girl coach was content with letting us walk around for the entire time. That was until one coach decided we needed to know something about football and took the girls and tried to teach us how the game was played. It seemed silly at the time, but at least he was giving us the chance to decide for ourselves whether or not we wanted to play the game. The few females in the class that were very athletic also hated gym class since they were bored. Would it be such a terrible thing for guys and girls to have gym class together? Maybe it'd be great for guys and girls to learn to play and work as a team. If they strip the idea that guys play football and girls walk around and give the girls a chance to play - will they rise to the occassion? I think gym class is a good example of where the stereotypes of gender are enforced.

The older I get, the more gender neutral gifts I find myself buying to celebrate the birth of a child.

Recently, I bought a set of windchimes as a baby gift. Unusual, you might think, yes, but wind chimes are so soothing. They are also a gift that continues to give -- to the parents on the night when the baby is colicky and can't get to sleep, to the small child as the chimes catch the merest whisper of a breeze on a summer evening, and to the neighbors and passers by on the street. Isn't it an African proverb that says, "It takes an entire village to raise a child?" Are we as a culture not taking our part in the life of the child being born? It's not conscious, but we need to evaluate even the unconscious things we do and begin to question WHY we do them.

I've also purchased a fabric growth chart to be hung in the young person's room so their development can be a tangible presence in their lives.

Marketing of baby gifts by manufacturers influences what we buy for boys and girls. Who can resist some of the gorgeous and unique gifts we see that are gender specific.

However, we can't let the marketers do our thinking for us. If more gender neutral gifts are purchased, will the supply of gender neutral gifts increase? Maybe ...

What are your thoughts?

I am not 100% where these stereotypes come from. Let me rephrase, I do not know all the places that these stereotypes come from. Yes, I think by surrounding a child with a baby girl with all pink things or "girlie" things, she will be influenced. Yet I also feel a child is influenced on the way they are raised (spoken to, taught about life, how their parents are available to their needs) which is a big indication of a lot of things. Depending on what you mean by "schools," I think the people inside of these schools play a role in gender stereotyping. With all the cliques that schools have, a lot of young people are bond to become influenced by them. Affects that come from this are low self esteem, the need to be perfect according to your gender, and basically - misery if you cannot fit the mold of your gender. No, I can't predict the future with all of your gender questions, but I do say that I have hope. The hope that a boy could be a cheerleader without being ridiculed helps me see that things can change if people are fearless enough to let them.

Firstly, I'd like to just mention that in recent years, there has been a step taken in the right direction in the issue of buying gender neutral baby gifts. Yellows and greens have become much more popular colors to purchase for babies, because they are very neutral. A boy or girl could wear yellow or green, no questions asked. (The only question asked might be whether the child is a boy or girl, because those colors could be worn by either sex.)

In response to the statement about how companies have recently been creating more ads that target women, I think that this is the perfect use of a stereotype in action. Women are viewed as the ones who do the shopping and housework for the family, so it would make sense that more ads would be targeted towards them. They are the ones who will need to be convinced to buy a product. I also think that this has to do with the fact that women have become more materialistic over the years. I don't mean this as a stereotype, and I certainly know this doesn't apply to all women, but it does apply to some. With all the horrible things going on in the world today, war, famine, natural disasters, etc, everyone is still looking out for themselves. This applies to men, too.