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By Caroline Williams

About Male and Female Stereotypes

Hello everyone,

I plan on talking about the differences in boy's and girl's stereotypes. I have been researching for a paper that is basically about how girls and boys are raised differently and since I can't really write my opinion in the research paper I'll let you guys know about it.

Most would agree that within the majority of families in America boys are raised differently than girls. As soon as they come out of the womb it is determined what color clothes they will wear, what stuffed animals are in their room, how parents talk to them, expectations for their growth development and such. There is little expectation for girls to become aggressive because fathers never wrestle with their daughters, because only boys can. Boys are not expected to make dresses for their dolls because they are never given dolls but also mom would feel uncomfortable if he acted in a feminine way. Personally, I was given both dolls and cars and preferred the stuffed animals and games. I feel that my interest in games, puzzles, and Legos early on greatly influenced my choice in pursuing a civil engineering degree.

Of course gender roles are being reversed today with women CEOs and stay at home dads. With this, there are less rules for "girls to wear dresses and boys to play sports." But parents are still uncomfortable if their children do not loosely fit their gender stereotype.

Everyone can see that there is a feminist movement, that women are standing up and demanding to be respected equally as men. This is a great movement and I have benefited from it as an engineering major but I am not one to wear a feminist t-shirt. I rather take matters into my own hands and show people that I am a good person and work hard not because I'm a girl, but because I've worked hard as a human. I feel that overall, the feminist movement has improved the expectations for girls and has allowed girls to go outside the woman stereotype of wearing dresses, looking pretty, and having girl jobs.

I personally wish there was just as big of a push for boys to be encouraged to be teachers or nurses if that's what they choose. With today, boys are afraid to admit if they want to be nurses or teachers to their parents or advisors. If they do express their interest, many parents are afraid of their boys being feminine. And if they do suggest it, it is likely they will be encouraged to be doctors or professors instead. Nearly every action a man takes from the clothes he wears, music he listens to, how he reacts to jokes is under evaluation whether it is manly or not. If a boy is wearing tight pants, listening to Taylor Swift music, and is defensive about women-bashing jokes he is usually categorized as gay. I think it's not fair that boys have an expectation to act manly 24/7 while women are able to act both feminine and (partially) manly. Maybe if boys were allowed to act slightly feminine (cry when they're sad, have a pink backpack), gender stereotyping would be less of an issue.

Of course boys and girls are different biologically. The most obvious difference being hormones in each sex. Girls have natural highs and lows of emotions with their hormones while boys have more testosterone that builds their muscles and such.

Girls and boys are not the same, but I would hope that if a girl or boy wants to step outside of their gender norm that it wouldn't bother anyone else as long as they are not harming others. And if a girl really wants to go to fashion school and a boy wants to work towards being an NFL star then so be it. It's not about teaching girls how to act manly and boys feminine but treating everyone as a human being, and if an individual wants to act in a different way then society should let them without judging.

After all, keeping everything the same will not progress our world. I believe it is time for everyone including parents, schools, and media to accept that everyone doesn't have to fit the "cookie-cutter" personality. The world will move on and who knows...it might even be a happier place!

Thanks for reading! Comment if you would like!