Femininity and Masculinity are cultural definitions. They change, depending on what part of the world you're from, your family background, and what social group you associate with. People are often born with the character and physical traits considered 'masculine' or 'feminine', but it is actually near-sighted to label them as such because the traits surface regularly in BOTH genders.
The socially accepted gender roles appear to have a reflection in sexual orientation on the surface, but in reality it is merely the social projection of the appearances of sexual orientations. Gay men are associated with loving fashion, or preferring 'girly' subjects, when in actuality, their preferences and personalities are just as varied as anyone else's. It is merely more socially acceptable for gay men to express the aspects of themselves considered 'feminine', because part of the reason gay men are often less respected than straight men is that they are considered more 'feminine' by their very sexual preference.
When straight men decided to be hair dressers or doll makers, they're immediately labelled 'gay' as an insult, because their occupation is 'feminine'.
Women who work construction, mechanics, and other 'tough' male-dominated fields are often taunted as 'butch' and their sexuality is also questioned. Not because there is any real correlation between them, but because, in social culture, a woman who takes on 'masculine' traits must be filling the 'masculine' aspect of a relationship, and a straight man wouldn't be the 'woman', so a 'real' woman must be added.
Of course, for every girl who owns more tools than her boyfriend that enjoys sewing, this suggests there is something somehow wrong with them or that they are not hardwired correctly. Which just isn't true.
Children are able to recognize themselves as being a boy or a girl by age 3. This is also the age range when you see toys created for children changing from being relatively gender neutral to being girl- and boy-specific.
They are taught gender stereotypes in a number of different ways:
1. Parents
- praise/discipline for things may vary depending on the child's sex
- imitating their parents (they're taught that they're a boy "like daddy" or a girl "like mommy' and will imitate the parent of the same sex more (so if a child is raised by parents who have strong gender roles, they might see that cleaning is a girl's role and fixing things is a boy's role)
- the things that their parents expect from them, the chores they give them, etc.
- comments that their parents make, i.e. "Those are girls' toys" or "That's daddy's job."
2. Siblings
- children model their siblings of the same sex, or their siblings may also explain male and female roles during play (like when they play house, for example)
3. Friends/Peers
- Kids are more likely to play with kids of the same sex as them and their friends also act as models and may behave or say things according to the way their parents have taught them gender roles
4. Media
- movies and television shows tend to go along with gender stereotypes, commercials market "girl toys" (girls playing with dolls or an easy bake oven) versus "boy toys" (construction kit or cars).
Do gender roles play a part in sexual orientation? No, I don't think so.
I was taught the very same socializing agents. Though I'd like to add that gender roles are greatly instilled in other aspects. Girls are given pink clothes, boys blue. Girls have dolls, houses, and hair accessories; boys are mostly given toys like trucks and cars. They're encourage to rough house more than girls. Gender roles have nothing to do with orientation. It occurs during lateralization. People are so hateful that I don't believe that gay/bi people would want to be that way.
I have to tell you that when my nephew was a toddler, he refered to His mum, his dad, his grandma and his granddad as MALES, and everyone else as females, and we believe the reason behind this was because he didn't associate it with a gender necessarily, but with AUTHORITY.
I like this question, you've got the stereotype don't we
female: stays at home, has the babies, cleans the house, does the washing, ironing etc etc
Male: Goes out to work, puts up sheds (that we females don't need :P ), gives the sperm etc etc.
And lets face it, put your hands up girls if as a infant you were ever brought a dolly and a pram, or both, or just one?...and even, a kitchen play set, ironing board that comes with an iron..etc
And boys, put your hands up if you have had any of these as an infant: tool kit, cars, fireman's truck, police truck,...list can go on.
Through toys, the world has decided what is suitable for a girl, and what is suitable for a boy.
The thing is, is that it goes back generations, women remember almost had no rights, until they fought for them. They couldn't vote, they couldn't be actresses, females role was basically in the home, and if you had a daughter and a son, the son would go and be educated, and the girl would stay at home with mum to learn how to cook etc.
Now, in present time, these things still stand, but may have differed slightly, girls do educate themselves, but they still have their mums teach them how to cook.
I have to tell you, that as a teenager, I refused to become domesticated, I totally refused, I didn't want to be like my mum, slaving away for hours over a hot stove, I didn't want to iron...nothing.
And yet here I am living in my own place, cooking,cleaning,ironing,washing,...you name it, all those things I never wanted, I am now doing.
so you think it has to do completely with society ?
Yeah in a way, I think despite how times change, women and men still 'stereotypically' have a 'role'. the difference with my case is that I had to learn these things in the end to survive, cause my partner couldn't do them either, because his mum always did these things so he never learnt. He does clean and do washing up, and he's not completely lazy. He didn't refuse to learn like me though. I only taught myself when I no longer had a choice. Its society and traditional, it goes together.
yea I see what you're saying, but what about as children, girls tend to play more with dolls while boys tend to play more with cars? Or like the case of David Reimer, who was force to live as a girl but never felt like one.. where did his urge of not feeling like a female (even tho he was told by society he was) come from, in your opinion?
Boys and girls are nurtured different from the day they are born. For example when they reach the age of 7 or 8 they are given their first responsibilities. Generally girls are given tasks that are in the house next to their mother and boys do labor outside, weather it be mowing chopping wood, it depends where you live. If you saw something happen your entire life you'd assume it was "normal". There was a doctor who tried to change the gender role of a boy after a botched circumcision. At first it appeared to be working but it eventually failed miserably, and the patient killed himself (if you want the documentary just ask). It is really just all in our heads "hard-wired" as we say. Males tend to have more friends but interact with them less and females are more selective but interact with them a lot more. Like having 1/2 of the same puzzle.
link yea what's the name of that doc, I read the book but still lol.
Dr. Money and the Boy With No Penis
did you think maybe he killed himself because he had no penis. that's sexual. not character. how does that prove that women like to wash dishes & men like to chop wood.
Gender roles are pure social constructs; they are merely expectations societies have for different genders. They vary hugely across time and societies. They have no inherent worth or content.
Sexual orientation, by contrast, is pretty innate, and largely unrelated to gender roles. You'll notice that you'll find masculinity and femininity in both straight and gay communities, male and female. You'll also notice the social constructs preserving themselves by punishing those who choose to violate them--masculine women, feminine men.
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What's Your Opinion? Sign Up Now!'public'. its decided by public,. a 'role' is not innate. it is prescribed & learnt.
They are mainly known as social conventions. Basically what society views as "normal". You don't have to follow them though. I personally try and stand above all the stereotypes, gender roles, and what society deems as good/bad/normal/weird.
I can't stand people who don't and can't see or refuse to see a different world.
I'm pretty sure external gender roles play no part in sexual orientation. All indications are that your orientation is something you're born with.
Similarly for gender roles. It does appear that things like the maternal instinct (across almost all species) are instilled at birth. (It can be observed in individuals brought up in isolation and protected from peer influence.)
I think we are born with natural tendencies and the society moulds them. At first, society would have catered to our natural tendencies, but then as politics became involved, our gender roles change because certain acts that used to be the norm become socially unacceptable.
Think about man's domination of women. It would have originated from strong men beating the weak women. That would have happened before society and politics. Then as times have progressed and we have come to view each other correctly, as equal as persons, it is now unacceptable for a mans role to physical dominate their women.
Youngs boys have a natural tendency toward toy cars and girls babies etc. This is natural, not societal. Yet, it is encouraged nowdays for women to make their nuturing side less important and to feed their innate, yet smaller desire, to be the best business wise.
Maybe a few sexist opinions in there, I don't mean to be.
Cheers,
i think many come from religion... and media
Some of it's innate. Boys, more than girls, enjoy rough housing. And girls, more than boys, enjoy socializing. I think those could be looked at as the seeds to the entire construct.
gender roles come from cultures, your peers, the environment you were raised in, and can even be in your genetics.
not sure if it plays a role in our sexual orientation...
Combination of born and taught. For boys playing competitive sports like baseball, the feelings can whisper at maybe age 9 and we mimic adult male behaviors. Then the chemical feelings intensify and with them, masculine behaviors. Mothers often suppress these behaviors to keep their little boys and it is Dads that then develop secret societies with their boys to get around Mom, who they also love...a delicate process. Single moms do not have that check and can smother their boys, alienate them from men in authority and even turn them gay.
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