Gender Roles

@siantastic, I’d just like to say that I’ve seen your posts on most of these gender topics, and I wanna let you know that I love and agree with them all.

@stellasong, As for the double standards of gender roles, it’s like this because–for a woman–taking on a “man’s job” is a step up for her in society. When a man takes on a “woman’s job,” though, society sees it as a step down since, again, masculinity tends to be the focus of our culture. So these double standards basically imply that men are better than a “woman’s job” and they should stick to “manly things.”

This even applies to commercializing. Dove makes products, in their words, for men. There is nothing special about these products that differentiates them from their (by default) feminine products. But, because many men aren’t comfortable with or even aware that they can buy “women’s products” that companies have to masculinize (this isn’t a word, lol) products to get male consumers. Companies who sell “men’s products” don’t have this problem because many women are comfortable and even admired for using them anyway.

It’s a gross double standard that hurts both sexes and, quite frankly, I think people worry too much about gender. Yes, men and women different and there’s nothing wrong with that. But people emphasize these differences way too much to the point that some people see the opposite gender dehumanized (as either more or less than human) and then feel ashamed when they don’t match their assigned role to the tee.

@stellasong, being a woman I am automatically biased to my own gender. However, from my half of a perspective I would share that both men and women are restricted by conventional gender roles; it is the way that those roles are expressed through out society that make the difference. On a large scale women are more embellished with sex, beauty, and submission (to others) as this can be seen through any magazine read, television viewed, or heck a Friday night out of observance. Society plays on the historic insecurity of women as sex objects/idols and weak bodies/minds. Men are not as displayed per say as women are in society. Men are presumed to having a silent stature type of mentality. The natural role of the man is to be forth right in all that he does (ego) and to be more consumed with simple status fixtures such as mental ability, intellectual ability, and physical ability.
Not to take offense, but even through this website it can be observed that more men are willing to propagate the proving of their point or to win out another’s idea; rather than collaborating. It is the linear mentality that is shown through the behaviors of men in society. Generally (Generally), men are not encouraged to communicate qualities of ‘feminism’ which are qualities of emotion, creativity, and abstract thinking which caps a large portion of the man’s soul to feeling; this causes a large dysfunctional problem within the man. He succumbs to the non-feeling of numbness and encourages the stereotype of man being domineering and resilient; not allowing human sensitivity to be embraced. Truly a devastating thing..
The roles of both men and women are embedded in actions, thoughts, and emotions that we have yet to fully grasp cognitively; the effects of such short comings can be seen (and unseen) through the restrictions we give our selves within our lives. Some generic examples of blatant gender roles/oppression is the fact the U.S. has yet to allow (or trust) a woman to be president. However, we fail to care enough to change such a matter, yes? That up until the early 1900′s the woman orgasm was better known as a medical condition in the U.S. That statement holds enough validity of female roles in itself. Similar aspects, men are made as models for war; which solidifies the self-representation of what a man’s potential is. Now, these are general generalizations of concepts which expand over and inside ourselves in a complexity that can not be truly touched. The other concepts of social status such as sexual orientation, race, and class are also intertwined within male and female roles.
Inevitability, I hope that we can all be conscious of the spinning strings of social rule that move us through our lives and cut them to the best of our ability. To continuously raise ourselves above these limitations so that we can not only grow for ourselves but so that these misconceptions of ‘roles’ may not hurt the others ahead as they have us. Ultimately, we are discussing this matter because societies past have not had the strength to break through the glass ceiling so to speak. Lets begin now shall we?

In terms of biology men and women differ substantially. Back in the day, at the beginnings of our species, men would do the hunting while women the gathering. This was probably down to the much higher level of testosterone production in males which made them stronger, more sturdier and braver. The roles of men and women have evolved directly from those original roles and now, finding ourselves in a world where those original roles have become irrelevant, men are struggling.

The problem is that society’s view on masculinity and femininity hasn’t changed while the views that we have of traditional male jobs have. Much of today’s western society, in particular urban areas, seem to throw their noses up at the farming community and other trade jobs almost viewing them as backward.

@kidd, Yeah as you can probably tell it’s something I feel pretty passionate about.

@stellasong, Ah ok, that explains it. Good luck with your assignment!

@generaltitsvonchodehoffen, Just out of interest, what gender roles do you think are positive?

@stellasong, Sorry for spamming but I can’t edit my posts. It just occurred to me that you could possibly look at the high rates of suicide amongst men. I think quite a high number are due to men feeling as though they have failed at being men. It’s a worrying sign that things need to change.

@everymorningbornfromtheashes, my apologies for the abrupt and late reply. aha I tend to use that little known fact when discussing topics to do with gender roles/sexism (not that I’m some passionate feminist of course! :D). It puts into perspective how far off we still are from embracing each gender. Imagine going into a doctor’s office and being treated for female hysteria (orgasm) with a vibrator. Intriguing yet sad at the same time!