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Hannah Zeleznick
Professor Ditch
English 114A
9 December 2014
Which View is Right
Many things in the society that Americans live in today are characterized through media
and girls and boys wanting to just simply fit in. In Judith Lorbers article Night to His Day:
The Social Construction of Gender, and Claire Renzetti and Daniel Currans collaboration
article, From Women, Men, and Society, they both bring up the social construction of gender
and how they are influenced into who they are today. The social construction of gendering,
which means that females are to be feminine and males are masculine, means that is part of their
everyday lives, people in the American society does it without even realizing it. Parents try to
keep the idea of the typical boy and girl alive today by treating them differently. I, myself do
fit in with the times, but for many others, they do not want to conform to the social
construction that has been set in this society which has been created over so many years. These
created gender norms need to change in order for the American society to move on and prosper
into a better society.
Boys and girls are often, stereotyped and set to certain standards. Girls are supposed to
look and act a certain way, and the same goes to boys. In Claire Renzetti and Daniel Currans
collaboration article From Women, Men, and Society, they bring up many items and ways that
girls and boys are different and how they are compared to be different. When children are
younger, mothers react differently if the child is a girl or a boy. In the article, Renzetti and

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Curran mention that the mothers of girls were more sensitive to their children, while the
mothers of boys were more restrictive of their children (78). The mothers think that since boys
are stronger than girls, which they need to be taught to be strong at a young age. Boys are told
that when they fall to get back up and wipe it off and not to cry because boys dont cry. Whereas
girls are comforted and told its okay to cry, this teaches girls that it is okay to be sensitive and to
show feelings. Boys are taught to hold back their feelings which can, and will, affect them later
in their life when they try to make relationships. Boys and girls should be taught the same and to
have the same feelings on the same issues. Boys are not given the okay to be sensitive because it
is not masculine, and by showing their sensitive side it shows that they then give into an emotion
in which is not normal for boys to show.
When I was younger, my parents, mainly my mother, encouraged us to show our true
feelings and to be true to ourselves. My father was not exactly on the same page as my mom. My
dad was not around as much as my mom was so my brother, sister, and I adapted to the ways she
taught us. I was never much of a crier until recently, but my brother and my sister were the more
sensitive ones. When my brother would cry, my mom would comfort him just like she would do
with my sister and I. I would not say that my brother is a wossey, he is just more sensitive than
most of the boys his age. My brother is twenty years-old and lives in San Francisco to go to
college. He is still trying to find his way and figure out who he is. But he will always be very
sensitive because thats how he was raised. Just a few weeks ago, my brother calls up my mom
and is very upset because he has caught a cold and does not know what to do. My mom would
always take care of him, but now that he is away, he has to take care of himself which he is not
used too. Sooner or later, he will figure out to do things on his own, but for now, he is still that
little, sensitive boy who I grew up with. My own life experiences can be related to Lorbers

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article because my brother was not one of those boys who conforms to what is shown and taught
is right to be accepted by his own society. He gave into his own feelings and did what was best
for him.
Where people grow up plays a big part in how people turn out in life. Judith Lorber
mentions in her article that in most Western societies have only two genders, man, and
woman. Some societies have three genders. American society is very determined to make
sure that we only have to genders, male and female, when others know that there can be more
than just two. Many people of the American society are very hard-headed when it comes to
this topic because they do not want to accept a new way of life. They want to grow old and know
that when they are gone, that things will be the same as when they were alive. They do not take
into consideration that as the years go on, many people create new ways to live, such as
transgenders, gays, lesbians, asexuals, and many others as these. It is more of the older
generation now that grew up with these set traditions, and they feel as though they should be
carried out. They cannot except the fact that time does change things and ways to live as long as
the people in that time. Until everyone accepts what our society is turning into and the people as
well, change will never happen or be accepted.
Although this topic of gender is not talked about regularly, it is a big issue in American
society today. Lorber, Renzetti, and Curran speak of right of this topic and choose to make an
argument about it because it is a big issue. Men and women are not just men and women
anymore. There are men trying to be women, and women trying to be men. Most of them are not
accepted by many people because many think of that way of life as wrong. But in order to live a
happy life, you must do what makes you happy. People nowadays think it is important to state
their opinion about every topic that is circulating in the media and news. This topic is important

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because many people do live this type of life style. It may not be accepted by many, but it is not
stopping anyone from living how they want to live. These people who choose to live a different
way of life, meaning that men can be feminine and females can be masculine, lead the way for
younger generations by showing them that it is okay to be something different than what the
society in which they live tells them to be. Its people like these who change societies everywhere
for the better.
Many people, in order to fit in, play roles to show that they are with the times and can
be accepted just by what is on the outside. Gender roles are all performed differently. Girls who
want to fit in, play the role of a girl who dresses up every day with many layers of makeup and
nice smelling perfumes and wearing all different types of high heels. Boys who want to fit in
play the role by sagging their pants so that their underwear shows, also wearing good smelling
colognes and wearing socks that go up past their ankles, and many also wear hats with different
logos on them. But what would happen if a woman tried to sag her pants or dress like a boy, and
likewise for a male to wear female clothes. These brave souls who switch roles are just acting
and playing a role, when in reality it is who they really are. Everyone today plays a role at who
they really want to be. So why does it matter if the roles are changed? Thats who they are on the
inside and they are just trying to prove it on the outside and not lie about who they really are.
Todays American society does not allow many people to act and be who they really
want to be. These issues and the topic are explained in Judith Lorbers article Night to His
Day: The Social Construction of Gender, and also in Claire Renzetti and Daniel Currans
collaboration article, From Women, Men, and Society. The topic of gender in todays society
can become a heated debate. Not everyone is accepted at who they really are on the inside and
out. People of the older generations do not accept what is becoming of this generation and do not

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approve because we are not the same way they were when they were younger. Boys and girls are
also treated differently based in the social construction of what a girl should be treated as when
she is younger, and same for the boys. Conforming to the way American society is now is not
giving up completely; it is just giving up who you really want to be and giving up a happy life
that should be happening instead of one trying to please the people of this society. The social
construction of gender will always be there, but when will a society learn to let it go and just be
happy with the people they have no matter what gender or sex they may be?

Works Cited
Judith Lorber, Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender from Paradoxes of
Gender. 1991. Print.
Claire M. Renzetti, Daniel J. Curran and Shana L. Maier, Growing Up Feminine or Masculine,
from Women, Men, and Society, 6th Edition. Copyright. 2011. Print.