Gender stereotyping

Ronni

The motormouth ;)
Location
Nashville TN
The thread about the boy with long hair who wasn't allowed to attend the school of his choice spawned this thread.

Gender stereotyping, or assigning a gender role to each sex, is a social role encompassing a range of behaviors and attitudes that are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for people based on their biological or perceived sex. It dictates clothing choices and colors, he use of makeup or not, the acceptable toys, the choice of career and on and on.

Many people still judge others based on how they think males and females ‘should’ act, and be, and dress, and there's an expectation about how people will act based on the gender group to which they belong. Many children grow up identifying certain characteristics as belonging only to boys or girls because it's the way they've been raised, or because they see the gender typing when they're out in stores or at parties or gathered with friends for playdates etc.

Gender stereotyping is SO damaging. I mean, things like Real Men Don't Cry, Real Men Are The Bread Winners, Women Are Passive Not Dominant, Women Should Have Barbie Bodies. Etc., and on and on ad nauseam.

We are taught expectations of how men and women should be based on their gender. There have been many improvements in this issue, but even so, gendered expectations are still ingrained into our culture and it is so subtle sometimes that we hardly even notice, but it's time to TAKE notice of things like this, and for society to stop dictating male and female roles based on a wholly outdated set of criteria that has no validity other than personal opinion.
 

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All I can say, and I say it quite a bit...……...welcome to 2020! This "stereotyping" has been going on and won't stop. For years, people, including wife and I, have judged folks by how they look, act and speak. In that way, we don't associate with the wrong crowd or people we see inappropriate to associate with. At least that's the way we feel.

Heck, there are those on this forum that do the exact same thing we do and it shows in their threads and replies.
 
Sad to say, reinforcement also comes from unexpected places. For instance the Superbowl halftime performances by Shakira and J-Lo.

These women are powerful in the entertainment field and have been around for a long time. Shakira is 42 and J-Lo 50. Not kids, by any means. Yes they were singing, but the focus was on dancing that was little more than gyrations. To say they were scantily clad would be an understatement. (Congratulations, you spend every spare moment in the gym or dance class.)

By treating themselves as sex objects, what messages are they sending to girls AND boys of future generations? Could they possibly do a better job of encouraging along future Harvey Weinsteins and setting up young girls to hate their own bodies?

If I ever hear J-Lo or Shakira moan about sexism or not being taken seriously, I'll be laughing my head off.

I am far from a prude, ditto my husband, daughter & SIL, with whom I watched the SB last night. Also my 5 year old granddaughter and 7 year old grandson, both watching wide-eyed. We adults were deeply dismayed and outraged by the overt messages sent by the performances.
 
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I don't think the guys in this forum would agree with the women about gender discrimination. It's not that we want to keep the status quo, it's that we aren't confronted with gender discrimination. So, it's hard for us to understand. I remember years ago, going with my girlfriend to my family reunion. At home my G. F. would say " your dishes aren't getting to the sink by themselves", etc. At the reunion, I couldn't believe how their wives waited on their husbands. Men had no problem asking their wives to get a beer. I couldn't try that crap at home. And what got me was how the women jumped to wait on men.???? They seemed happy to do it. As a guy, we are getting mixed messages.
 
Well, wife and I "jump" to get each other something. That's the way our marriage is. Since I'm retired, I have no problem being Molly Maid (aka tv's Mabel). I do the laundry, load/wash/unload dishwasher, help my wife sweep/mop apartment floors and strip our bed and put on new linens. She loves going to the range and shooting her rifle and handgun. Our boat doesn't go on the water without her on it. We always shop together.

I've never been the "mancho" type of guy. I once met a woman bull rider and she was wearing her World Champion buckle. I've seen woman working livestock and have met a woman who was a ranch foreman in-charge of all of the ranch hands. There were no women onboard any ships when I was in the Navy, but there sure is now. "Great" to me. I once knew a woman who was a cement truck driver. She was only tough when she was working.

So, IOW...…….ladies, bring it on!
 
What I got that girls didn't get was my draft notice. On the other hand I would not like for my granddaughter to be put in a combat situation.
 
Sorry Girl's.....I liked the whole show....This was not any other show on the Super Bowl....I've watched many Super Bowl's....
It was the same thng, gyrating their bodies and putting on a show....Shut the TV if you don't like it....It's a free Country...HOPEFULLY
FOR NOW...….You never know what is in our future......Ugh!!
 
What I got that girls didn't get was my draft notice. On the other hand I would not like for my granddaughter to be put in a combat situation.
If the draft is ever brought back, you know females will be drafted. Did you know, bet you didn't, that it was your first sentence that restarted the women's movement in the 1960's? It's true. I was in the room at the time.
 
I was around 12 when this song came out on the radio. :) I don't go by any stereotypes, I've always liked guys with long hair (grew up in the 60s), and still do. My husband had long hair when we first met, but ended up cutting it for employment reasons, still keeps it short, fine for me either way.

I often wear men's clothes and shoes, they just fit me better and are more comfortable. Mostly Levi jeans, cargo pants and tee shirts, doesn't make me any less of a woman. I've done blue collar work most of my life, in a male dominated arena. I did heavy lifting, ran heavy machinery, drove forklifts and pallet jacks and got paid equally, just as the men. I rarely put on a dress, paint my nails or wear jewelry.

I say if a man wants to wear his hair long, wear light pastel colors, have an earring or two, that's their business, I don't judge anyone. Be kind to others, live and let live. ☮

 
The thread about the boy with long hair who wasn't allowed to attend the school of his choice spawned this thread.

Gender stereotyping, or assigning a gender role to each sex, is a social role encompassing a range of behaviors and attitudes that are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for people based on their biological or perceived sex. It dictates clothing choices and colors, he use of makeup or not, the acceptable toys, the choice of career and on and on.

Many people still judge others based on how they think males and females ‘should’ act, and be, and dress, and there's an expectation about how people will act based on the gender group to which they belong. Many children grow up identifying certain characteristics as belonging only to boys or girls because it's the way they've been raised, or because they see the gender typing when they're out in stores or at parties or gathered with friends for playdates etc.

Gender stereotyping is SO damaging. I mean, things like Real Men Don't Cry, Real Men Are The Bread Winners, Women Are Passive Not Dominant, Women Should Have Barbie Bodies. Etc., and on and on ad nauseam.

We are taught expectations of how men and women should be based on their gender. There have been many improvements in this issue, but even so, gendered expectations are still ingrained into our culture and it is so subtle sometimes that we hardly even notice, but it's time to TAKE notice of things like this, and for society to stop dictating male and female roles based on a wholly outdated set of criteria that has no validity other than personal opinion.

I suppose I'm a product of gender stereo-typing as are most of us in this age group, but frankly I don't see the problem. "SO" damaging in what way? I'm not damaged, and neither are my sons, who were raised with masculine role models and taught to respect women. Honestly, people are desperate for something to be offended about nowadays.
 
If the draft ever comes back, women better damn well be drafted too and in service they should not get preferential treatment as they did during my Navy years.

When I was in training to go out to the fleet, I was at a base in San Diego that had a large number of Waves assigned. They had their own barracks group. At night, there was a perimeter patrol around the Wave complex that provided security every night - all night. Who provided that security? Not the Waves. They we're secure in their beds getting their beauty sleep. It was the male sailors who lost their sleep for the precious darlings. thats only one example of how female sailors were given special treatment.

Never heard a Wave complain about that.
 
I still remember many years ago, I shared my home with a female housemate. She held many stereotypes about gender, race and sexuality.
she could not get over the fact that I enjoyed things like mowing the lawn and did not mind shoveling snow.
once the pilot light on the water heater went out. So got down on the floor, took off the cover and re lot it. She watched and said that this was why it would be good to have a man around to do that kind of stuff.
 
IMO it's one of those things that is wrong but we are all guilty of it in some way.

It's not unusual to hear someone say he screamed like a girl, he runs like a girl, throws like a girl, etc...

We still send the message that girls are second to boys in many ways and nothing could be further from the truth.
I didn't have a brother, just one sister, so I never had to compete with a boy for attention or parental encouragement. I had friends whose education was sacrificed in favour of their brothers because the girls would just marry and have children and would have no use for education. It was expected that girls would leave school at 14 or 15 and work until marriage.

For this and other reasons girls were encouraged to marry a nice boy, from a good family, who would be a good breadwinner. Physical attractiveness was everything and the standard we had before us was Hollywood starlets like Sandra Dee. I wanted to be like Marilyn Monroe but had no chance of ever making it. No wonder we became self conscious and lacking as females.

But getting back to gender stereotyping. I attended an all girls high school. I was interested in science subjects but was not permitted to study physics for matriculation because "girls can't do physics". These were the words of the principal who was herself a BSc graduate. She had absorbed the stereotype and was passing it on to us.

It is not possible to bring up boys and girls in an environment where they are not influenced by stereotypes but we can make them aware of the pressures and empower them to think about them, question them and resist them.

My only son was a boy who didn't much like sport, was not competitive and shunned fighting. He was a deep thinker and very mathematical. Everyone liked him so he was not a misfit. However, given that he was never going to be a jock I kept his hair cut short and dressed him in shorts and plaid shirts. Protective camouflage to confuse the bullies.

He was inexplicably terrified of water. When he was five years old I knew that the school would offer a learn to swim program at the end of the year but he was nowhere ready for this. I had tried to enrol him in private lessons but they could do nothing with him. So all Winter I took him to a heated pool and handed him over to the instructor with a brief to get him ready for learn to swim. This meant just getting him in the water and having him relax enough to co-operate. I then retreated to the other side of the pool and ignored all the screaming. She succeeded and he was able to attend learn to swim class. Eventually he earned his bronze medallion.

What has this to do with gender stereotyping? Not a lot. IMO every child needs to learn to swim. Boys and girls, no difference. We never said anything like don't cry like a girl or boys don't cry. No-one ever told me that boys don't cry but I heard it often enough. Boys ridiculed other boys for crying all the time. I internalised this as boys don't cry because they are superior to girls. Girls can cry because they are weak. The result was that I suppressed my feelings to avoid being seen as a weak overemotional girl. I found it just as hard to talk about my feelings and many men do. All gender stereotyping has the potential to damage both boys and girls.

These are just a few random thoughts and are not meant to be arguments for or against traditional stereotypes but if I were to quantify my thoughts on the matter I would probably say I am 80% opposed to gender stereotypes and 100% against racial stereotypes because the latter are the most damaging.
 
All very interesting reading As a teacher I might add that media and advertising play a significant role in moulding younger stereotypes Just a thought 😊
So very true, saintdave. Do you feel its for the betterment for the younger generation also adults of all age groups across the general spectrum?
 
I cant stand the womens lib bit at all - I have a dil who thinks men should do nearly everything even down to
cooking -my roll is a wife /mother that's why I married ' all this stupidity of WHY'' should I do it - beats me '
I mow the lawns -paint - rooms- change plugs just because I can' not that i am told to do it …

I wonder sometimes about whats coming next from women ' I ask hubby to fetch and carry -same as I do for him !
maybe its the reason marriages only last a very short time , and I do agree who said tv and advertising plays a big part
in it .
 
Gender is out-of-hand here, children think that
they should the opposite and adults supporting
their choice.

This to me is ver strange, I only ever heard of two
male and female and none were stereotyped to my
knowledge.

A few months ago I got a call when the lady asked
for me by name: "are you Mr.*****", then proceeded
to question me one question was "What is your gender",
I suggested that she knew, but she said that she didn't
and offered me about 7 variations, this was when I told
her that he questions were a joke, she was asking about
what I thought about the local airport, London Gatwick.

Mike.
 
In terms of advertising - It is a question of pressure and repetition. Many younger will be swayed by what they see, hear and observe of others. There is no real starting point, but fashion and gadgets are a start. I observe definite gender specific advertising. No question what gender is being targeted. Then you have the non gender specific jeans/sportswear/big brand name. This, ironically, is where the real pressure starts for both kids and parents. This brand of shoes, this type of jeans, a gps sports watch Big dollars I’ve seen kids ridiculed for not being cool.

I think the same pressure applies to adults, I was the same up until my 50s. We still carry this concept of dolls for girls and soldiers for boys. However, clinical tests have proved this to be basically true. All I know is that the big brand names are laughing at their huge profit margins and I should have known better. Sorry to veer off topic 🤓
 

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