Lomeli 1

Erin Lomeli
Professor Corri Ditch
English 113A
28 September 2015
Americans Take on Gender Norms
Gender norms are the ideas some societies have in order to control the way both women
and men are supposed to dress and act. Gender norms have mostly been a problem hidden in
American society and American parents often do not recognize that they are the teachers that
continue gender norms onto their children. Children grow into a society that tells them how to
look and act and if the child does otherwise then those children are non-conformists. A nonconformist is a female who is acting and dressing masculine and the same applies to males but
they are acting and dressing feminine. Parents, American society, and the media teach the
younger generation that there are only two categories they can fit in; the two articles Becoming
Members of Society by Aaron Devor and From Women, Men, and Society by Claire Renzetti and
Daniel Curran teach readers that parenting influences their childs mind towards gender norms,
which tell Americans who to be and what is appropriate to wear and act like, these authors are
trying to show readers what gender norms are doing to the people of America and tells them that
perfect is in what society says.
Once gender norms started parents have be the ones to keep teaching them to their
children and have not stopped; some do not recognize that they are the ones causing it to keep
happening. Devor states Very young children learn their cultures social definitions of gender
and gender identity at the same time that they learn what gender behaviors are appropriate for
them. (36) His point is that parents are the ones causing gender norms such as dressing their

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girls in pink or their boys in blue or giving them a truck or Barbie just because of the childs sex.
He also states that as children are growing up they know how to act and dress as society sees as
normal because of the parents ways of teaching them. Renzetti and Curran explain in their article
that parents teach their children how to act by the activities they do with the children. Renzetti
and Curran argue Thus, clothing usually provides a reliable clue for sex labeling, although
mistakes do still occur, which often anger parents. (77) Renzetti and Curran explain that parents
only follow gender norms because they do not want people to think of their children as the other
sex because supposedly it is a bad thing that a child chooses to act or dress as the opposite
category because it is not right. The reason parents continue gender norms are because they are
use to boys being aggressive and playing sport while their daughters are in dresses playing
house. If children do not play with the right toys or dress in the right clothes they are going to be
bullied by the other children or the other childrens parents are going to see that and will not
want their children around them because they are afraid soon their child will act the same way.
The world is changing, but it still tells children who they are suppose or expected to be rather
than whom they want to be.
Masculine and feminine are two gender performances American society assigns to males
to masculine, powerful, and independent and females to feminine, weak, and dependent, but if
the opposite sex acts as the opposite gender then American and other societies frown upon that
and call that person a non-conformist. Parents did not just random think they should tell their
children who to be, but society is the one who taught parents to think that way. Devor argues
As we move through our lives, society demands different gender performances from us and
rewards, tolerates, or punishes us differently for conformity to, or digression from, social

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norms. (35) Devors shows the readers that society tells us how to act throughout our lives and
most Americans do not notice it, but just go along with it, the ones that do notice it are the nonconformists. Society does not just teach American children about gender norms through their
parents, but also with what is put on television and commercial ads.
The media teams up with society and throws gender norms out more in advertisement to
show people how they should act and have a certain body figure for both males and females and
if they do not have that figure they are not beautiful. An example of advertisement that make
Americans think they are not attractive are the models on the covers on magazines, but the real
truth is the models do not even look like how they do on the cover it is a thing called Photoshop
to trick people into thinking they have to buy a certain product to be attractive in the eyes of
gender norms. Advertising, particularly for fashion and cosmetics, has a powerful effect on how
we see ourselves and how we think we should look. (Mediasmart.ca) Media smart explains that
most teenage girls look at magazines and feel as though they are suppose to look like how the
models look like in the magazines, and when they feel like they cannot look like that then their
self-esteem lowers and it is the same for males as well. Photoshop makes Americans feel that if
they do not follow the gender norms and they are just non-conformists, some people do not want
to be called a non-conformist because they are so use to the gender norms they want to just be
considered as normal by society.
Children grow up with the gender norms, there is a 50/50 chance it is a positive or
negative affect on a childs life or maybe it is both like it was for me. Renzetti and Curran
explain in their article From Women, Men, and Society that Barbies figure has translated into
proportions of 36-20-32 (that is, the bust of an adult woman, the waist of a child, and the hips of

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a teenager.) (38) Barbies let little girls leave out their fantasies through them, but they also
show unrealistic figures of the body that every little girl is going to want to look like that when
they grow up. Gender norms are my friends and enemies at the same time. The only female
figures that were in my life were my mom and my grandma, but they would both be at work so I
did not see them as much as I did my three uncles, grandpa, and my two brothers, and my dad,
which are male figures. I learned some gender norms from my mom, but I was not a girly girl I
would play with dolls but I would also play sports outside with my brother and uncles. Since I
was more into sports I would be able to make friends with boys much easier. Devor states
Persons who perform the activities considered appropriate for another gender will be expected to
perform them poorly; if they succeed adequately, or even well, at their endeavors, they may be
rewarded with ridicule or scorn for blurring the gender dividing line. (40) Devor says if a sex is
able to do the opposite genders activities they will be laughed at, but if they cannot then that was
expected. When I started playing with just the boys in elementary some of the boys did not think
I was good at sports so they let me play because they thought I was going to give up in the end,
well I surprised them and they were calling me a tomboy after that so I stopped play for a while.
After that I told myself that I should not stop playing sports just because I am a girl I will just
show the boys I am as good or better than they are and I did as I said, after that the boys
respected me and treated me as their friend. The good thing gender norms did for me was show
me that I can make friends with the people who have the same interest as me, but the bad thing
was girls thought I was weird for wanting to play with the boys and the boys made fun of me in
the beginning because I was a girl. In the end I took a positive affect out if my experience
because it made me who I am today and I am not ashamed of whom I have become.

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Everyone contributes to a childs life and how they grow up learning about gender norms.
The younger generation is taught by parents, American society, and the media that there are and
will only be two categories to fit in and each sex already has the category set for them, American
society does not see they are causing gender norms to keep happen but Devor, Renzetti, and
Curran show us that society has no plan to stop gender norms anytime soon. This topic will still
not be a big headline but will still be an underground topic some people will question. Gender
norms are ideas that show people how they should look and act. Children will grow up with
being told what category they should be in until someone speaks up; otherwise, anyone or
everyone that does not fit the two categories will be considered a non-conformist.

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Works Cited
Body Image- Advertising and Magazines. Body Image- Advertising and Magazine.
Mark Sikstorm, n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2015.
Devor, Aaron. Becoming Members of Society: The Social Meanings of Gender.
Composing Gender. Ed. Rachael Groner and John F. OHara. Boston: Bedford/ St.
Martins, 2014. 35-45. Print.
Renzetti, Claire and Curran, Daniel. From Women, Men, and Society. Composing
Gender. Ed. Rachael Groner and John F. OHara. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martins,
2014. 76-84. Print.