November 24, 2012
Dear Congressman:
We live in a society that is trying to become more equal. We are trying to eliminate discrimination, give equal pay, and ensure that everyone has equal rights. While this push for equality is great, it also leaves out an important issue. This issue is our culture. We can have a society that insures equal rights but that doesn't mean that individuals don't face discrimination based on their gender or race in day to day interactions. In order to gain full equality we need to see a change in the way we raise our children and how we teach them about our differences, whether that is the color of our skin or the biological variations between our sexes. In this essay I'm going to explore our preconceptions regarding gender and how, as a society, we can strive to be more equal.
I feel that I am a progressive person. I don't feel that I discriminate against people based on their gender or hold preconceived notions about them. But that is the nature of having cultural norms. We never see the boxes we put people in because it hasn't been challenged before. This because from a young age we are bombarded with media, teachers, and parents that instruct us on the differences between boys and girls and how they should act. These lessons aren't always explicit, in fact most often they are not. Think about what toys you played with as a child. You could have played with barbie dolls and played house and pretend kitchen. Or you could have played with a construction set, GI Joe action figures and toy race cars. In the first scenario you probably thought I was talking about a girl, and in the second a boy. If I told you that it was the other way around you probably would be shocked. This is part of having cultural norms.
We accept these things because they are familiar to us. Toys often times represent real jobs and things that children see adults doing. With the first set of toys, intended for girls, the barbies show a women that is absorbed in the way she looks and is portrayed as very skinny and tall with blond hair, thus reinforcing the idea that these are positive traits for a girl to have. Also the house and the kitchen represent domestic chores and duties that a housewife would take care of. With the second set of toys, intended for boys, the construction set represents the physical jobs that our society believes that men should have. The action figure also gives a physical body image that men should strive to achieve. In the media this portrayal of men and women as tall and skinny is also seen. With children growing up playing with dolls and watching TV shows that only show one body type no wonder there were "over 9 million surgical and nonsurgical cosmetic procedures performed in the United States in 2011" (American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery), with the majority of these procedures being for women. It seems that even though this issue affects both women and men, women are affected more because of the bombardment that they see every day in magazines and newspapers that are directed towards them talking about how to stay thin and lose weight. Men don't see this as often.
There are certain gender attributes that we have in our culture. For men these include being "active, aggressive, ambitious, competitive, dominant, superior, independent, self confident". For women some are; being "considerate, emotional, gentle, home oriented, kind, passive" (flinders.edu.au). The important thing to understand is that these are purely socially constructed. By recognizing these, we can start to see how society has shaped our perceptions.
The reason we live in a society that values men as being dominant and independent is because we live in a patriarchy. Women make up 49.1% of our country according to the 2000 census, yet, in 1996, women only made up 33.1% of our government according to the United Nations, with only 14.3% having ministerial jobs. No wonder we live in a society that favors being a man when they are the ones running it.
Due to the recent election we now have more women in the senate than ever before, 20. That is 20 out of 100. Only 20% versus the 49.2% (U.S. Census 2010) of women that actually make up this country. We have a long way to go until we proportionally represent the gender demographics of our country but we are getting closer.
There are other ways that we see men's power affect culture. It is seen in our language. He is used to describe both male and female. If you were to use She it would be exclusively for a women. It is also shown in our media and I saw it over this election news cycle. They always talked about the women voters as if they were a minority even though women make up almost 50% of the population.
Gender roles restrict us in many ways. Think about what you wear on a day to day basis. As a man, if I was to put on a dress and make-up and come to class I would be looked at differently. Some people might think that I was strange or weird and I'm sure no one would accept it as normal. When we break out of our gender roles we take the risk of being labeled by others. It doesn't have to be as extreme as the example above either. For both men and women if they dress or act in a certain way they could be labeled as gay, goth, emo, hippie, surfer, stoner, partyer, or any other stereotype.
In order to change our society to be less restrictive around gender we first need to see a balance of power. With more women in government and with more women in high corporate jobs I feel that we would see a shift in our culture. Until then the men in power won't try and change what is already working in their favor.
Sincerely,
Jayden N.
No comments:
Post a Comment