Gender and Society :: Gender Society Sexism Essays Papers

Society has stamped an image into the minds of people of how the role of each sexual urge should be played out. There are two recognized types of sexual activity, a universe and a woman, however there are many types of gender roles a man or a woman may assume or be placed into by society. The ideas of how one should act and behave are often propagation ascribed by their gender by society, but these ascribed statuses and roles are sometimes un-welcomed, and people will assume who they want to be as individuals by going against the stereotypes organize forth by society. This paper will examine these roles in impairment of how society percolates men and women stereotypically, and how men and women view themselves and each other in terms of stereotypes that are typically ascribed, as well as their own opinions with a survey administered to ten individuals. What I hope to prove is that despite stereotypes playing a predominant role indoors our society, and thus influe ncing what people believe about each other in terms of their same and opposite genders, people within our society are able to go against these ascribed stereotypes and be who they want and it be okay. Through use of the survey and my own personal history dealing with gender stereotyping I think I can give a clear idea as to how stereotypes envelope our society, and how people and breaking free from those stereotypes to be more than individualistic. The differences between women and men are not solely biological. Our societys culture has established a set of unwritten cultural laws of how each gender should act, or in other words society has ascribed a stereotype. Mens gender identity has been one of masculinity, and masculinity is defined as referring to a man or things described as manly. What does manly mean though? Is a male manly if he is Mr. Fix-it, or the jock, or if he sits on the couch on Sunday watching football? This latter statement is a stereotype of men, th at has been around for decades, and is current as well, but starting with the 1960s a mans role started to change, despite the stereotype not changing to accommodate it. For the past 40 years one can see how men have taken on roles stereotypically ascribed to women, such roles including being the stay-at-home mom, which we can find an excellent example of in the 1980s accept Mr.