Attacking destructive gender role stereotypes
January 20, 2011
Hang on for a minute...we're trying to find some more stories you might like.
Email This Story
Enough is enough: It’s time to confront the most common gender misconceptions. More than likely, you’re guilty of condoning at least one or two of the many stereotypes that incorrectly define a man or a woman.
The evidence may literally be sitting next to you in the form of a magazine or on the average sitcom. I guarantee you will come across a variety of scenarios portraying beautiful women as pestering, spendthrift or superficial who demand to be pampered and men as lazy, uninvolved or immature.
Granted, there are women and men who fit these characteristics to a T, but you have to ask yourself why these personality traits have become an acceptable part of our culture.
It’s no secret the tolerance of these less-than-admirable qualities can seriously affect the way we perceive a normal and healthy relationship. It’s time to begin our ascent toward the elimination of these destructive social habits.
For every weepy Hollywood movie and word-of-mouth perpetrator who exposed and promoted these ridiculous ideas, know that you are responsible for wreaking much of the havoc in the present-day dating world. Unfortunately, these are just a few of the many stereotypes running rampantly about, but at least we can move forward and agree, for the sake of progress, that both women and men have taken full advantage of these social stereotypes and are equally to blame.
I can tell you from a female’s perspective that the ideal “real” woman — or at least how one is portrayed in our society — cares extensively about her appearance, taking superficiality to a whole new level. Just take a peek at a British survey taken last year, which revealed that every year, the average American woman spends $160 on daily hair care products such as shampoos and conditioners, $120 on styling products, $260 for coloring services and $195 on haircuts. The damage? Tens upon tens of thousands of dollars spent toward hair in a lifetime.
Furthermore, a study conducted by the Pew Research Center about gender roles revealed, “… women are somewhat more likely than men to manage household finances,” which makes a person wonder what effect a woman’s spendthrift habits can have on her family if she’s solely in control. Most unsettling is how this type of frivolous spending is actually excused — and dare I say, acceptable — in our society because, hey, it’s a girl thing, right? Wrong — and this is precisely the attitude we need to change.
Let’s be real.
Women aren’t born vain nor are we born with detrimental spending tendencies. We are simply enforcing a habit we believe comes naturally to us because we’ve been led to believe thoughtless purchases, vanity and superficiality are rooted within us as women. The fact that there are many women who hate shopping, spending money or getting pampered is proof that those actions have nothing to do with genes but everything to do with how well we are able to withstand social pressures.
Men are just as guilty of enforcing their own social stereotypes.
One of the most common misconceptions of men is they are naturally lazy or disinclined to help around the house, as if there is a gene preventing them from comprehending household chores. Of course, not all men are the same, they come in a vast array of varieties, as do all people.
But on the other hand, when a woman tells her friends her boyfriend is the one who does the laundry in the household, her friends shouldn’t be covering their agape mouths in shock and fascination.
Let’s face it: Men have also fallen victim to society’s subtle programming and as a result, both men and women alike have failed to challenge the issue any further.
Opposition to cook and clean has become a part of what makes a man and a woman, in turn, often feel they have no choice but to accept their significant others as they are. After all, men will be men right? Wrong again. This tired, age-old concept that people instinctively engage in certain social behaviors based solely on their gender is absolutely ludicrous. Enforcing these baseless stereotypes by using our genders as excuses only ensures the continuance of these ridiculous misconceptions.
– Stacey Oparnica is a journalism sophomore.
–The views expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Daily Aztec.
I love this article for bringing to attention the need for our society to change its views concerning gender stereotypes. I don’t know if this was published on the print version and if it wasn’t I hope it is in the future because this message is probably one of the few articles that truly spoke to me and probably many others whom don’t conform to society’s gender stereotypes.
One reason why the gender role also permeates our society is because the institutionalization of it occurs right when we’re born. The first questions parents are bombarded with is whether their upcoming child is a boy or a girl. Based on this answer, the parents’ friends buy clothing and items that are associated with a girl or boy. As they age, girls are given nurturing activities (cooking playsets, baby dolls, etc) while boys are given more job-oriented activities (Tonka trucks, workshop tool-sets, etc). Isles of girl toys and clothes are colored pink while boys are in blue. To see a boy perusing the pink isles is treated almost like a taboo while girls in the blue isles are often redirected to the pink isles. Girls wear dresses and, recently, clothing of teenage girls shrunk to their age’s size (despite age inappropriate designs) while boys are expected to wear pants and t-shirts. Most kids whom don’t follow these are either perceived as queer, tomboy, sissy or someone with a psychological problem, especially if the kids continue to dress and act outside their gender roles as they get older. Because of this, parents spend years, hundreds of dollars and time to fix a young child with no problem at all if society didn’t have such a rigid gender stereotype.
Hopefully this practice changes as more adults deviate from their expected gender roles, bringing attention to the fact that no one wants to be pigeon-holed into a gender role just because of the sex they’re born with. And hopefully parents start letting their kids chose their own clothing styles and play things, whether or not it is in the appropriate gender isles. Not only would parental support foster a kid’s confidence, it would also create better family relationships as well as prevent the hundreds of suicides happening every year due to many factors including gender (or gender role) related unhappiness.
This article spoke to me because I am one of those girls whom don’t like the thought of spending hundreds of dollars on haircare, make-up, and clothes. Every time my mom goes shopping and buys me something to wear, be it clothes or purses, she says it’s because I’m her only daughter despite my outcry of not needing or asking for more stuff. I buy my clothes and bags for comfort, not because it makes me fashionable. The thought of wearing gender specific and expected clothes irritates me and seeing women wearing stilettos/high heels for hours on end because it makes them more attractive despite the pain… I think is dumb. That alone makes me outside the perceived notion of being a girl. But the fact that I don’t like doing house chores other than laundry and fixing electronics, am a gamer and can’t cook… well that just puts me right into the “one of the guys” zone because of our rigid gender roles.
I am not and will probably never be a girly girl but in our current society, every day I wish I was because life would be so much easier. If the gender roles weren’t so ingrained into our society, I would not need to force myself to wear a dress just to get a job.
The picture used in this article made me so happy because that type of guy is what I’m looking for to be in my life while I focus on a career.
tl;dr – parents need to stop implementing the gender roles right from the start as well as tell their kids that being different from what is “girl” or “boy” is okay.