Gender stereotyping

[Old Salt]

Firefighter....

LOL. I should have known, seeing that my son-in-law is a firefighter! I am at an age where I am starting to grope for the right words and expressions.
P.S. I noticed that in a previous post I had mentioned "firefighter" and had forgotten five minutes later.

 

[Old Salt]

Old Salt....many of us ladies, including me, still want to be seen as the 'gentler sex'. We ARE still warm, caring and soft-hearted. It's just that there are some women who think that being equal to men means being the same as men. This is where it gets confusing. Women are not inferior to men, but we are different. The genders should compliment each other.
How many women do you see on building sites? I've never seen any. Why? Because women don't have the physique of men and cannot do the same manual work.
I say again...men and women are equal but they are not the same and we should stop pretending that they are.

Please see the post above, Rosemarie. I took out the "quote" by mistake!!

 

[Keesha]

Ron’s two daughters are on building sites all the time. They’re his very accomplished carpenters. They do all the carpentry on any of his jobs.
I do agree though men and woman are equal but different.

I’m not a carpenter but consider myself a competent woodworker.

 

[C'est Moi]

Nothing wrong with women as carpenters, mechanics, Physicists, Surgeons, Lawyers, Entrepreneurs etc. I would cheer them on. My only problem is with jobs that present a certain danger, like fireman (fire person?), or front line soldier. My protective instincts kick in and I can't help it.

I don't consider the danger of firefighting to be an issue for women. But if I'm trapped in a burning building I don't want some 5'2", 100-lb woman coming to rescue me. (Send the big burly man, please.)

 

[Warrigal]

Nothing wrong with women as carpenters, mechanics, Physicists, Surgeons, Lawyers, Entrepreneurs etc. I would cheer them on. My only problem is with jobs that present a certain danger, like fireman (fire person?), or front line soldier. My protective instincts kick in and I can't help it.

Your instincts are good Old Salt and any society that does not value the lives of women, especially younger women, the mothers and potential mothers, will certainly weaken over time and fall into decay. However the real problem is not female firefighters and soldiers - it is in the home where women are most at risk, from domestic violence.

During the recent fires in Australia some women have had to battle fire trying to save their own properties, others are regular members of the all volunteer Rural Fire Service and they work as part of a team - some on the front line on the fire trucks and manning the fire hoses with the men. Other women are part of the support team manning the radios or making sure that the volunteers get food and rest. Not every woman, or man for that matter, can fulfill every role but to exclude a whole gender from any occupation is to ignore a valuable talent pool. It's just plain dumb.

 

[Rosemarie]

I have no idea what any of you people are talking about.

Could some of you women make me a sandwich and bring me my slippers, draw my bath and get my pipe and newspaper.......




......runs for cover.

..and when I've done that, will you change the wheel on my car, mow the lawn, dig a trench for my potatoes, carry my exercise bike upstairs....?

 

[Old Salt]

Your instincts are good Old Salt and any society that does not value the lives of women, especially younger women, the mothers and potential mothers, will certainly weaken over time and fall into decay. However the real problem is not female firefighters and soldiers - it is in the home where women are most at risk, from domestic violence.

During the recent fires in Australia some women have had to battle fire trying to save their own properties, others are regular members of the all volunteer Rural Fire Service and they work as part of a team - some on the front line on the fire trucks and manning the fire hoses with the men. Other women are part of the support team manning the radios or making sure that the volunteers get food and rest. Not every woman, or man for that matter, can fulfill every role but to exclude a whole gender from any occupation is to ignore a valuable talent pool. It's just plain dumb.

I have no problem with women in any occupation. My heart aches when I see them in danger and it definitely aches in connection with women who have to put up with domestic abuse. I wholeheartedly agree with everything you wrote, warrigal! I also recognize that it is usually a woman's desire to serve in a front line role and that she is not being forced into it. But my 83 year old Neanderthal brain screams in connection with front line military service: Mothers, or potential mothers, as killers, or targets of a sniper! That's just wrong!

 

[CarolfromTX]

While I think gender stereotypes still exist (and Dave often reminds me that there's a reason for stereotypes) I do think they're rather easily crossed these days. I know I'm more willing, for instance, to pick up a hammer than my mother would have been. And Dave does all the cooking now that he's retired. I really don't think my grandkids think about it at all. What I object to is when people claim victim status because they think someone has an incorrect perception of them. If you can't overcome stereotyping these days, you lack gumption, IMO.

 

[MarciKS]

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 think people should be allowed to be who they are or who they want to be without people wiggin out because they think they don't look right. Now I will be the first to admit that I find the man bun particularly humorous because I'm only used to seeing it on girls.