Nicole Heredia

Wendy Crapo

FHS 2400: Family and Marriage Relationship

September 20, 2019

Question

How did your parents influence the development of your gender role? In what ways did you
model yourself after your same gender parent? In what ways are your conceptions of
appropriate gender roles similar to or different from those of your parents? During high school,
what influences did your peers have on your gender role development? How important were
your boyfriends or girlfriends in developing your sense of yourself as a woman or man? Who
are the people who most influence your gender-role concepts today? As a parent, what gender
roles will you model for your children?

Answer

Gender roles is a topic we’ve talked about for the longest time in the United States. It

causes conflict and happiness in most families. Numerous individuals keep in thought that there

are two genders without the consideration of other ones. “Gender is one of the most basic

components of who we are, how we see ourselves and how others see and treat us” (Strong &

Cohen, 2017, pg. 113). For many, gender roles are easy to discover right as their born, but it’s

difficult for others who are born in the wrong body.

When I was in elementary school, my parents and friends would call me a “tomboy”. I

loved hanging and playing with the boys; all my best friends were boys. Since I acted like a

tomboy, I also looked like one because I never cared to how I looked and would always wear the

baggiest clothes I could find. However, my mother didn’t always like the way I looked, so she

would get upset whenever I didn’t try to get ready. My father on the other hand didn’t care how I

looked as long as I was playing on sport teams. A few months before I was heading to junior

high is when I started taking my mother’s advice, so I modeled myself as my mother. She taught
me how to use makeup and how to style my hair just so I can look “pretty”. This was the biggest

change in my life because I was this girl who didn’t care what people thought of her, but I am a

girl who now does.

My conceptions of gender roles are very different compared to my parents. My parents

are okay with people who do decide to change their gender, however, they believe it’s not the

right thing to do. My parent’s belief come from the bible because they were raised as

Christianity; they trust the bible when it says that God created men and women for a reason.

Which is the opposite of what I believe because I am judgmental-free. The idea of gender roles I

consider is when you are born and you learn to discover who you are, then that’s who you are

and you shouldn’t let anybody stop you from being the real you.

During high school, my friends (that were girls and boys) encouraged me to always being

smart, while also having fun. I cheered myself when to look pretty because my friends always

said I looked pretty even without trying. Yet, they help me develop more as a woman by

increasing my maturity and how hard working I became. Boyfriends use to mean the world to me

when I first started junior high, however, during my senior year in high school I developed a

fully-grown mind to where I knew I didn’t need anybody to be happy. I even wished I never

dated so young because of how much time I think was wasted instead of putting that time to

myself only.

The people who influenced my gender-role concept today is my friend and a teacher I

had in high school. My friend influenced me so much on focusing myself and what to

accomplish throughout my life. She’s Christianity, but with her belief so strong and right, she

gave me an expansion of what the world should be instead of what it already is. As for my

teacher, he taught humanities class that my friend and I both took together. One of the topics
were about gender roles and he also was so fond of women he even made sure I was too. This

piece of mine that I wrote in his class shows the one of the experiences I’ve learned to be entitled

as a woman.

Children that expand their awareness of the different gender roles the world contains,

society could end up being more welcoming and form less hatred. Once I become a parent, I

would teach my children the different gender roles there are out there when their curiosity

increases. I will also tell them to never disrespect anybody for the gender, life, or ethnicity they

are or choose to become.

Word Count: 691

Reference

Strong, B, & Cohen, T. F. (2017). The marriage and family experience: Intimate relationships in
a changing society (13th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.