What Makes Men and Women so Different?By John Hedges |
Abstract |
| There are many differences between the two genders,
male and female. The differences are created by the social conditions in
which a child is raised. How do gender roles develop? Do they make boys and
girls think differently? Do they make them enjoy different activities? Why
is one gender commonly better at some things than the other? |
Thesis
|
| Men and women are very different. They act differently,
talk differently, and even think differently. They get different jobs and
sometimes treat each other unfairly, though that’s getting better. But what
makes them this different? Is it genetics, do the DNA molecules make men
want to be doctors and women nurses? Or is it how they are raised that makes
them play different roles? This paper will focus from differences at birth
on to how the family, the school, the media, and the peer group affect socialization. |
Analysis |
| According to Farley’s textbook Sociology, all roles
that humans play are learned through socialization. This includes gender
roles, age, race, etc. There are a few genetic differences that affect behavioral
differences. For instance, Men might tend to be more aggressive than women.
This is almost the same for every culture on the planet; even newborn males
are more energetic than females. One of the reasons could be hormones. Then
again, some women are much more aggressive than some men are. And in some
cases, such as if a child is in danger, women can be very aggressive. (1998). |
| Even in the basic skills that everyone uses, men and
women differ to some extent. Biology may have something to do with that.
These minor differences consist of the fact that girls usually mature somewhat
earlier than boys, and some boys have a better visual-spatial perception.
These differences could be explained by hormones or differences in the left
or right brain’s dominance. These differences in capabilities do not include
verbal or mathematical achievement, which seem to be caused by social stereotypes.
This means that boys do better in math because everyone believes boys should
excel in math, and girls talk more because they are taught to express themselves
verbally. Despite the fact that differences such as the aforementioned are
common in American society, they are not consistent around the world. |
| It seems strange that, although men and women have
few biological behavioral differences, they behave almost as opposites. This
is because from the moment they are born, boys are treated like boys and
girls like girls, blue and pink clothes, they are being sent very different
messages. What happens is some, if one really thinks about it, minor physical
and behavioral differences are exaggerated so much. Men and women begin thinking
of themselves differently and play different roles in their lives. This process,
according to Farley’s Sociology, this process of transmitting gender roles
is called gender role socialization. |
Family |
| It is not as if parents tried to teach their boys
to be aggressive or girls to be submissive or dependent. The way that boys
and girls are expected to play, what chores they are expected to do, and
the toys parents buy for them affect how they act. Also there is a difference
in how their rooms are decorated. These kinds of parental behaviors are greater
among fathers than among mothers. Particularly in some father-dominant households,
the male children get more freedom than girls do. |
| Another important part of gender role socialization
in the family is modeling. Repeated exposure to similar behavior patterns
leads to modeling of that behavior. Children see their parents in gender
roles and behaviors. Fathers tend to have less contact with their children
on average than mothers do, and the contact they have is most likely to be
a fun activity rather than ordinary things such as brushing teeth and getting
up for school. Gender roles viewed in the home do have an effect on how children
think men and women ought to behave, and along with other inputs, contributes
to the overall development of gender roles. |
| A few effects of gender role socialization can be
seen quite early. When a child is five, he or she prefers different toys
and can classify different jobs as “men’s jobs” and “women’s jobs”. Even
as early as three, children have been known to identify stereotypical male
and female traits. |
| Some people believe that this modeling is the reason
some people become homosexuals. Carpenter’s article in the Monitor on Psychology
says that “Direct socialization into gender roles by parents doesn’t appear
to be as singular an influence on children’s sex-typed preferences and behaviors
as once was thought” (2000). Therefore parents do not seem to have as much
sway in the way a child develops. |
School |
| The process of gender role socialization persists
in school. The preference of different kinds of toys continues. These symbolize
different roles in life. Boys play with trucks and LEGOs and action figures,
girls play house, dress-up, and with dolls. Therefore girl toys come to represent
household and child oriented role, boy toys symbolize going out into the
world and doing and moving. |
| Children also see different images of male and female
roles in books and stories, which teach gender inequalities. The main characters
are most likely male, and they display creativity, bravery, and achievement,
whereas female characters show emotion, fear, and dependency. When male characters
“win”, it is because of their own actions, while women “win” because someone
saved them, most likely the man. These types of stereotypes have been found
in most every kind of book students may use. |
| Children receive similar messages from what they see
in their schools. Even though the job of teacher has historically been associated
with women, the amount of women in the profession falls as the importance
and status of the job increase. For instance, hardly any men teach kindergarten
through elementary school, there are more and more as you go through Jr.
High and High School, until there are very few women teaching at the college
or university level. The message that children hear is that the most important
and highest status jobs are for men. |
| Even though there are relatively few biological differences
in men and women, it seems that all boys do better in math, science, and
logic, and girls are expected to do well in reading, art, and music. Expectations
such as these occur in the home and at school. Parents generally think that
learning math and science is more important for boys than girls. While at
school, teachers and counselors tend to have similar views. Thus boys are
encouraged to do better in math and science and teachers expect higher achievement
from boys than girls in these areas are. A recent study by Fennema shows
that teachers attribute ability to when boys do well in math, whereas when
girls do well, they attribute it to effort. One important consequence of
such expectations is the students’ choice of a college major, which prepares
them for different jobs. (1990). |
Television |
| In 2003, most children in our country spend much more
time during the day watching television than they do either in school or
talking to their parents. This means that they start modeling behaviors they
see on TV shows more than they do their own parents. According to Kalisch
and Kalisch, “between 1950 and 1985, ninety-five percent of doctors on TV
were men, and ninety-nine percent of nurses were women”. For the most part,
any TV role that involved leadership and decision making were played by men,
whereas women’s roles are likely to be home-centered or, if at work, to entail
following more than leading. Over the decades, women have changed those stereotypes,
but they are still stereotypes. Women have appeared on TV as tough cops,
savvy lawyers, and many more “un-stereotypical” roles. Although such portrayals
are there, they are still the exception to the rule. And though women play
these roles, they play them differently than men. Female police officers
usually are portrayed as more caring than male officers who are shown as
being more aggressive and quicker to use force. One example of such behavior
is the scene where there is a locked door and the officers are trying to
get in. Either the male officer tries to force it open and the woman tries
the knob, or the woman knocks and no one answers and then the man knocks
in the door. (1984). |
| Sex stereotyping has become slightly subtler in TV
entertainment. But in TV advertising, it is anything but. Very attractive
women wearing very little clothing have been seen selling everything from
cars to non-prescription medicine. Often the commercial is more about sex
than it is about the product. When a woman is the main person in a commercial,
the advertisement is much more likely to be based on attractiveness than
when a man is the lead. In contrast, the narrator or voice of authority is
very often male. Male voice-overs are most common when the actress is an
attractive woman. The message here is that women are good looking and men
are knowledgeable and authoritative. Other than being attractive, women are
shown to be engaging in more or less mindless odd jobs, usually in the home.
In commercials, the woman becomes excited about a slight improvement in a
window cleaner or mop or about the strength and power of a new vacuum cleaner. |
| Under such circumstances as these, it is no surprise
that researchers have found that kids who watch more TV are more stereotyped
in their thinking than kids who watch less TV. This goes back to modeling
behaviors. There is no doubt that TV is a substantial means by which gender
roles are taught. |
Peer Group |
| From the peer group comes many of the strongest pressures
for gender role conformity. The group urges the principle that guys and girls
enjoy different activities and play different roles. Approval and inclusion
are the rewards for supporting such norms, while the punishment for breaking
them most likely will include rejection, ridicule, and social isolation.
These types of gender role conformity by peers are stronger among boys than
girls. It is much worse for a guy to be called a sissy than for a girl to
be called a tomboy. Mainly because the tomboy is only trying to get out of,
what society has labeled, the more inferior role into one that society views
with more favor. The sissy is only doing the reverse. In some cases, boys
are so negative toward the traditional and stereotypical female role that
even girls look down on it as a result. The message is that the traditional
role of female domesticity is subordinate to the male role and is therefore
to be avoided. |
| Pressures to conform to “boys’ play” and “girls’ play”
tend to start at a young age, the earliest being three year olds. These pressures
rise proportionally to the child’s age, and by about the third grade they
are bolstered by a system of sex segregation in play. The thought is that
boys play with boys and girls play with girls. Within all groups, strong
peer pressure for boys to be masculine and for girls to look beautiful is
the strongest in the teen years. |
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