Society And Gender Roles | Teen Ink

Society And Gender Roles

May 30, 2023
By Merazhia BRONZE, Manchester, Connecticut
Merazhia BRONZE, Manchester, Connecticut
1 article 0 photos 0 comments


Society and Gender Roles 


Society has made it the norm for men to be less emotionally wired and teaches them as they grow up how to feel and act. Growing up, men continue to follow these restrictive tendencies throughout their whole life from youth into their adulthood. 

In addition, society acts like there are certain gender roles that need to be followed. These gender roles describe how people should act depending on gender and age. This affects behavior, attitude, and our actions. In this instance, women and men are complete opposites. 

Society has made gender norms, the norm for men is to be less emotionally wired. Men are taught not to express their emotions because they’ll be seen as weak or less of a man. Men aren’t as emotionally vulnerable because growing up they were taught to mask their feelings, in an article titled,  Teaching Men To Be More Emotionally Honest, by Katie M, she states “Young men are conditioned to become tough, strong, and stoic in all circumstances. They are repeatedly told that they shouldn't cry or show any weaknesses, yet these expectations weigh heavy on their shoulders and follow them like a bad odor into adulthood.”For men, these restrictive tendencies usually follow them throughout their whole lives. It's like a bad habit you continue doing subconsciously. They’ve been taught to hide their emotions and not be seen as anything but strong and nonchalant. 

Gender roles for women look very different from the gender roles of men that are expected to be followed, women are expected to dress in a feminine way, to be polite, accommodating, and nurturing, there are standards each gender is expected to reach. An article published by Planned Parenthood, titled, Gender Roles For Women In Society, explains that “Stereotypes about gender can cause unequal and unfair treatment because of a person’s gender. This is called sexism.” I agree with this because it’s true, women have been treated unfairly and less than, constantly compared to men what we can and can't do, and what we are worse or better at. This article explains the 4 different types of gender stereotypes that are the following - Personality traits, Domestic behaviors, Occupations, and Physical appearance, they go more into depth and explain as well as give the usual examples. This article also explains hyper-femininity and hypermasculinity, meaning an over-exaggeration of stereotypes for men and women. For a woman that looks like being soft, sexually inexperienced, graceful, etc those are only some examples, for men it looks like being competitive, dominant, aggressive, insensitive, and demanding. 

We need to have these societal gender roles and expectations changed. People have been fighting gender stereotypes for a long time, people have brought attention to it through Magazines, TV, films social media platforms, and the internet, speaking up and speaking your mind means if someone makes sexist jokes or comments don't let it slide. It’s important to be what you preach so if you preaching that these societal norms need to change be the change, be respectful to everyone, and leave gender expectations behind, as a women we can do what men can and we have proved it for many generations we fought to work and much more, as for men you don't need to feed into societal norms, you can feel free to express yourselves and understand your feelings matter and are valid. 


The author's comments:

This topic is important for people to understand, the struggles each gender goes through and the standards they feel they need to reach, and how it causes them to act and feel on a daily basis. 


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