Alvarez 1

Briana Alvarez
Professor Ditch
English 113A
08 December 2015
Stereotypes in gender
The definition of freedom is the quality or state of being free. The United States is known
for providing Freedom in this country, so one would think a person can be free in who they want
to be. However, what restricts that is social control. In America people arent free to be
themselves in todays society. People are constantly being judged for being who they want to be.
People also being stereotyped just by their sex and are automatically being put in a gender. A lot
of people dont understand that ones sex has no relation to ones gender. In relation to gender
and stereotypes, Claire Renzetti and Daniel Curran in from Women, Men and Society and Aaron
Devors, Becoming Members of Society: The Social Meanings of Gender, discuss these topics
together and sync them into one topic on how parents stereotypes on gender roles on the basis of
persons sex. By having socially constructed gender norms in American society, it makes it
difficult for one to be the gender they choose to be. This is a big issue because this topic applies
to everyone and especially to me, as a girl who grew with boys and was told to not be masculine
because my sex has the expectation that I be feminine.
According to social construction, ones sex indicates ones gender and how they are
supposed to perform that gender role. Lorber says, Gender is so persuasive that our society we
assume it is bred into our genes (19). Because one is female that doesnt mean she has to feminine
or because one is male, he does not have to be masculine. This is where stereotypes fall into play

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with sex and gender. Devor says , femininity must be expressed through modes of dress,
movement, speech, and action which communicate weakness, dependency, ineffectualness,
availability for sexual or emotional service, and sensitivity to the needs of others (40). Females
are stereotyped as dependent, emotional, maternal, caring and sensitive. These labels that are
attached to women can affect their personal lives and future. For an example if they want job like
a police officer, they would be less likely to be chosen for the job because woman are known to
be labeled weak physically and emotionally. Whereas, men, they are expected to be
independent, domineering, superior, and aggressive in society. However, men are mostly stuck
into their gender role more because of their labels. It wouldnt be manly if a man wanted to
become a registered nurse because its known as a womans job. However, the American society
will suggest that its okay for a little girl to be masculine and call her a tomboy. But, if it was a
male who was feminine, the society would mistakenly consider him a homosexual. Thus, ones
gender and sexuality are not the equivalent. In social control, when the people go against the
norms of their society they are often punished or bullied.
Furthermore, stereotypes begin before ones born and who begins stereotypes first, are
the parents of the child. Renzetti and Curran say Even though American parents do not express
a strong sex preference, research shows that parents do have different expectations of their
babies and treat them differently, simply on the basis of the sex (76). Boys are given less
attention when they are crying and are often told to stop crying and be a man. Rather than when a
girl is crying she becomes the star of attention and its okay for her to cry and express her
feelings. The boys are being taught and shaped to become independent and therefore displays

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that girls are more dependent on people, because they arent being taught to become independent
at a young age as boys are. Boys and girls are taught to learn how, when, where and with whom
they express their emotions to. So that displays the results how children are being taught and are
also be shaped into a gender on basis of their physiology. Lorber states Individuals are born
sexed but not gendered, and they have to be taught to be masculine or feminine (24). Thus,
parents emphasize these gender roles through clothing and toys. Clothing and toys play an
important role, when it comes to children and how they develop a sense of gender. Renzetti and
Curran state, First, as children become mobile, certain types of clothing encourage or
discourage particular behaviors or activities Second, by informing others about the sex of the
child, clothing sends implicit messages about how the child should be treated (77). At birth
children are put in color coded clothes; blue for boys and pink for girls. The first thing we look to
identify ones gender is simply by clothing. As toys are separated from male and female, most
parents wouldnt buy their son a girls toy, like a Barbie. Emily W. Kane explains that one might
think a parent who is homosexual will be more understanding but however, they still wont their
son wear a pink shirt or paint their nails and explained to their son that its a girl thing not a boy
thing (93). A lot of people believe that liking things that are made for the opposite sex can make
a person homosexual and the parents fear that their children will come out homosexual. Lober
says, the hormonal input will not create gender or sexuality but will only establish secondary
sex characteristics; breasts, beards, and menstruation alone do not produce social manhood or
womanhood (25). However, its incorrect because not only does one genitalia does not
determine ones gender, but neither does ones genders preference determine ones sexuality.
As for a girl growing up with a house full of boys, it wasnt hard for me to along with

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them because I was very masculine. Devor states, Persons who display success and high status
in their social group, who exhibit a manly air of toughness, confidence, and self-reliance and
the aura of aggression, violence, and daring, and who conscientiously avoid anything
associated with femininity are seen exuding masculinity (42). I as a child displayed those
characteristic and was very tom-boy. Thus, my brothers would let me play soccer or basketball
with them, sometimes even wrestle them. However, as I started to grow up, my mom would tell
not to play with anymore. My mom had a talk with me and told me that now that I am big girl
I need to act as a big girl and not a boy. As a girl Im supposed to be feminine and playing rough
with the boys isnt. Being feminine was domestic and passive. I have no problem being feminine,
but I just wished that I lived in a life where I wasnt told how to behave on the basis of my sex.
Growing up in the Mexican culture and society; it is slightly different than the American
culture and society. Being born in the United States and being raised into the Mexican-American
culture has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that I get a diversity experience
and see the differences between the two and I can still be a member of either culture. However,
the disadvantage is that sometimes the differences between the norms clash into each other. I
come from and old traditional family and so does my ex-boyfriend Daniel. In our culture, mostly
people use their sex to identify their gender. Womens are always to be submissive to male. For
an example women are supposed to serve their husbands and treat them like Kings. In the
American culture, men and women are growing to be independent from each other. Men can
serve themselves, cook for themselves, clean. However in the Mexican culture, the norm still
applies; to serve your husband or any man in your family. So when I use visit Daniels house, we
would watch the television and his mom would be cooking and when she was cooking, she

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would call me to the kitchen to help her. I didnt mind helping her but there were times were she
would leave and tell Daniel, that if he was hungry, he can tell me to make sandwich for him and
his dad. Men have the same abilities I as women do; they can make their food themselves. I took
it as an offense because Im the guest of their home and just because Im a woman, it doesnt
mean I cant be I cant be superior like men and it doesnt give her son the ability to tell me what
to do. Being biologically a female, does not ascribed me my gender or the gender roles I should
perform. Therefore, I am not going to make the same mistakes my culture has done and have
men become dominant over the women. When I go grow up, I will refuse to be belittled by men
and I will not raise my kids that boys are more in control than women and my girls arent. All
my life, I have been told to behave as women and feminine, and I have chosen to stay like that,
but however, I will still be masculine, whenever I please.
As gender might not seem a complex topic just because we do not put too much thought
into it. There is no law, saying a female cant be masculine, but however they cant live
comfortably because society punishes people for disapproving the norms. It might seem hard to
change society with norms, they had for years, but it can happen within time, it can change. The
Western society should be more accepting and not try to fit the whole world in 2 categories;
rather than they should get rid of labels in gender.
Imagine a world without having stereotypes, would people be more accepting and treated
more equally? I believe so; I believe we can slowly change bias on gender with more gender
neutral things. Instead of following old customs, we should improve them by changing society
way of thinking about gender and educate them common mistakes people think about gender.

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Works cited and works consulted
Devor,Aaron. Becoming Members of Society: The Social Meanings of Gender. Composing
Gender: A Bedford Spotlight Reader. Ed. Rachael Groner and John F. OHara. Boston:
Bedford/St. Martins, 2014. 35-45. Print.
Gender Stereotypes/ Stereotyping. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Office
of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. n.d. Web.14 Sept. 2015
Kane, Emily. No Way My Boys Are Going To Be Like That: Parents Responses to Childrens
Gender Nonconformity. Composing Gender: A Bedford Spotlight Reader. Ed. Rachael
Groner and John F. OHara. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2014. 93. Print.
Lober, Judith. Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender. . Composing Gender: A
Bedford Spotlight Reader. Ed. Rachael Groner and John F. OHara. Boston: Bedford/St.
Martins, 2014. 19. Print.
Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 14 Sept. 2015.
Renzetti, Claire and Daniell Curran. From Women, Men, and Society. Composing Gender: A
Bedford Spotlight Reader. Ed. Rachael Groner and John F. OHara. Boston: Bedford/St.
Martins, 2014. 76-87. Print.