...Sexuality It’s Complicated is a movie which depicts characters in nontraditional gender roles. A gender role is a behavior that is considered appropriate and normal for a man and a woman in their society. Some stereotypical male gender role characteristics are masculinity, assertiveness, unemotional, dominant, competitive, athletic, and confidence. On the other hand, some stereotypical female gender role characteristics are non assertive, emotional, submissive, warm and nurturing. This characters in this movie moves away from the stereotypical male and female gender roles and leans more towards the nontraditional and transcending gender roles. I focus on three characters; Jane, Jake and Adam. Jane, played by Meryl Streep is divorced, owns a successful business, and a mother of three. Jake, played by Alec Baldwin is divorced, remarried to a younger woman and an attorney. Adam, played by Steve Martin is a recently divorced architect. Jane and Jake were married but have been divorced for ten years. They have three grown children together. Jane remained single and focused on her business; Jake remarried a much younger woman, Agnes, who has a five year old son, Pedro, and is pressuring him to have more children. The unintended affair between Jane and Jake began in New York where they went to attend their son’s graduation. They stayed in the same hotel, end up in the bar together and had dinner. After lots of drinking and dancing Jane and Jake slept together. In the next...
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...Gatewood 4 December 2012 Parental Gender Roles Image this; your significant other and you are blessed with a beautiful baby boy. Because of a health reason the man in the relationship cannot partake in the work force and results with the woman bringing the family income. The man, in turn, is a stay at home father and raises his son as such while the mother is more distant. Is it safe to say that your family’s house hold will be the reason for your son being homosexual? Or is safe to say that your son’s homosexuality isn’t a result of your family’s way of life but that your family’s way of life is not of God due to the lack of gender roles? The presence of or lack of parental gender roles and stereotypes have an effect on a developing child. Concerning the debate over the necessity of parental gender roles, I support the position that parental gender roles are unnecessary while raising children. I stand against the opposing position that parental gender roles are necessary and that the child will be hindered without them. In the first section of this paper, I will explain the first opposing argument, which states that parental gender roles are a necessity in the Christian faith. I will disprove this argument by stating that the Holy Bible has not been proven to withhold un-tampered words from the Lord. In the second section, I will examine the second opposing argument, which states that the lack of parental gender roles will create sex role insecurity and homosexuality. I will...
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...Assess the view that gender roles and relationships have become more equal in the modern family life The item suggests that ‘a number of changes have taken place in gender roles and relationships within families’ so in today’s society, there are a number of sociological views, which agree that change between equality has taken place in gender roles and between the relationships within the family, making it more equal. Some argue that in modern family life there is much more equality, while others think this is just exaggerated. In this essay I will assess these views through domestic labour, domestic violence in couples and through the childcare debate, to find what extent gender roles and relationships have become more equal in modern family life. Functionalist sociologist Talcott Parsons (1955) thought that there was a biological division of labour roles within the family, and that this highly benefited the family within society. He saw gender roles being split as expressive and instrumental. This means that the gender roles were very unequal as the husband would have to play the instrumental role where he would have to provide financial stability for the family, while the wife would have to play the expressive role where she would look out for the emotional welfare of the family by socialising the children and being a housewife. In 1957 Elizabeth Bott put these divisions into joint and segregates conjugal roles’. This means that the family roles were divided between a couple...
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...Gender Roles and Disney The Disney princess has become one of the most iconic symbols of Walt’s ever growing empire. The disney Princess’ franchise first began in 1937 with the movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs making Snow White the first princess in the now infamous princess lineup. The franchise continues with the most recent disney princess movie Tangled ( Rapunzel) which came out in 2011. Disney and their filmmakers caused great controversy with their princess’ such as race. Disney broke their european tradition by adding their first African American Princess to the line up. Princess Tiana of The Princess and the Frog in 2009 which still caused controversy. Another one of Disney’s biggest controversial topics was gender roles and how women and men are portrayed in these disney films. Gender roles are separate patterns of personality traits, mannerisms, interests, attitudes, and behaviors that are regarded as either "male" or "female" by one's culture. They are what is considered the “ Norm” for the male and female sex. There are stereotypical behaviors normally associated with either gender such as Women are suppose to be more passive aggressive, overly emotional, and illogical, just to name a few characteristics. While men tend to be more tough or in control, leaders, Not crying or wimpy and a womanizer As suggested in Kimmel’s “ Bros before Hos”: The Guy Code in Language Awareness (469). These same messages are often presented to children through the media they...
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...Juno-Gender roles In Jason Reitman’s film Juno, Bleaker, who plays Juno’s love interest, undermines traditional gender roles of masculinity in that he fails to call the shots in relation to his inability to assert his opinion when being confronted with life changing news. Instead of taking on the manly traits in decision making which include taking initiative and controlling the conversations, throughout the movie, one sees how Bleaker is unsure in pressured situations and fails to make his opinion apparent. A specific time when Bleaker shows this is when Juno goes over to his house to confirm that she is in fact pregnant with his child. Juno is in a predicament where she is not quite sure what the right thing to do is and informs Bleaker, deep down hoping that he would offer a sense of guidance and stability and is in a sense let down by Bleaker’s lack of insight. When it comes to traditional gender roles of masculinity, when the guy is confronted with this type of news, he would then take a firm stand on what he thinks should be done whether it being to keep the child, to terminate the pregnancy, etc… In Bleaker’s case, he is taken back at the confirmation and instead of asserting his opinion, he instead turns to Juno for guidance and asks of her what should be done. In addition to not taking a stance, the way in which Bleaker responds is presented in an unsure, timid tone of voice. With every short word that comes out of his mouth there is an underlying quiver and nervousness...
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...Women take on traditional male roles such as factory workers, business owners, and even replacing male athletes in some circumstances. Yet all the while, they are still to support their men while they are off fighting. The Japanese version of support, much darker than what most history books let on, is that of a “comfort” woman. These women undergo horrors that many soldiers do not even dream of facing. Kkutaeh supports the war effort as a comfort woman, but she is also Doc’s first “sheep”; she is not given a choice whether she wants to be in his flock or not, but Doc cares for her nonetheless. He provides her with sufficient amounts of food, medical attention, and even protects her from most of the “predators” of the camp. Doc even goes far enough to fantasize about their future...
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...Gender Role Analysis Mindy Brown SOC/333 February 17, 2014 Erica Lloyd Gender Role Analysis Gender roles and stereotypes are often intertwined. Stereotypes can be positive or negative, and are speculations about the roles of each gender. The stereotypical female role is to marry, have children, and take care of the household duties. Stereotype of the male role is to be the family provider financially. Children learn these from adults as stereotypes and gender roles are passed from one generation to another. This paper will analyze gender roles shaped by education, norms of the government, its laws and its policies, and in the workplace. Gender Shaped by Education Gender roles and stereotypes are often reinforced in the classroom setting. Children learn these gender biases from their teachers and the materials used for learning. Some teachers have an unconscious bias toward a gender and make assumptions based on the gender's behavior and actions. Girls are expected to be polite and studious while boys are rational, unruly, and boisterous. Bias may also be social as well. Teachers may socially categorize children by race, class, and religion. For example, they may perceive African American girls to be more outspoken and louder than Caucasian girls. Teacher typically targeted boys of the Caucasian race as they asked and answered most questions (Scantlebury, 2009). Teachers may ask them more complicated questions than the girls. If they are unable to answer the question...
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...My Gendered Life A role of any gender is based on a lot of factors such as region, religion, education, language, values, beliefs, attitude and personal experience. All these factors influence the way a specific gender would approach itself and the society. Male and female have been and are still the two biggest genders of our community. For a long time we have acknowledged males as the provider and females as a receiver. Based on this principle our ancestral societies have set up some trends, regulations, responsibilities and etiquettes. I was born in India in an extremely religious family. My parents are Hindus and our family followed the rules and norms accepted by the Hindu society. Growing up I saw my father as the worker and my mom as a care giver. My role as a boy was to take care of my sister, study hard and participate in as many sports I would like whereas my sister stayed home with my mother helping her with house hold activities. During social events women in India mostly wore Saris which are long Indian dresses that cover most of your body and young girls would wear Salwar Kameez which is similar to Sari except it is considered a little more western whereas men could wear anything they liked. At fairly young age I asked my mother once that why all the girls do not wear clothes like the actresses from Hollywood movies and she quickly responded in an upsetting tone that those type of clothes are too revealing and not accepted in Hindu society even though they...
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...have balance there must be rules for people to follow. Gender roles are specific tasks or expectations assigned to a woman and a man. These roles are often characterize a single gender with specific traits. Those traits are then carried on by generation which makes people think it should be followed as a natural behavior. In the context of medieval times gender roles are key to a harmonized structured society. Men are leaders of practically everything. Women are the sensitive caretakers of children. In the playwright, lady windermere’s fan, portrays high class characters that discuss their opinions on marriage, behavior of others and morality. Within the conversation the reader discovers what the character values. Values are a part of a untied behavior of society. In other words by analyzing values of these characters one can determine their nature of society....
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...Everyone, I am sure, is familiar with gender bias. This is aimed at males and females alike. The women, in prehistoric time, were gathers while the men were hunters. In the middle ages, men were more likely to become knights than women. In more recent history, women are considered housewives and mothers while the men are considered the bread winners and career men. The women were often excited to see their husbands return after his day at a 9-5 job. The wife must make supper for the family, protect the children, instill them with values, sing good night to the baby, tuck the children in, vacuum the floors, chauffeur the children to school, wash the dog, clean the clothes, wash the floors, buy the groceries, clean the kitty litter, pack the kids lunches, and take the family to church on Sundays. This was the image of the '50s, but a very deprecating and biased image of women. The husband, on the other hand, apparently doesn't have time for this. His main priority is his job and nothing more, except continuing the traditional family name through procreation. The wife, on the other hand, is expected to obey her husband’s exact words and not disobey. She couldn't speak out, and the "be seen not heard" policy was evident. If he spoke to her, she had to say, "Yes, insert husband's name." Otherwise, if she refused to follow through, he had the right to beat or divorce or cheat on her, etc. because he's the man of the household. The wife is also expected...
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...Should We Assign Gender Roles On Children? When you think of the word gender it is usually confused with sex: being male or female. Gender, however, can be loosely defined as the way we perform our sex. Therefore gender is considered something we “do” rather than “have”. Often times at a young age we learn how to perform the appropriate behaviors related to our sex. These behaviors enforce roles on children. Boys are taught what behaviors are associated with masculine. Comparatively, woman are taught what behaviors are considered feminine. As parents we place these roles on our children without any realization of doing so. Our society is what shapes us into these traditional gender specific roles. Of course, as parents we want our children...
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...From the Internet, I know that the “family unit “means very important groups in society and it includes parents and children. No matter how society develops, the family is very important in the world. Although changing gender roles become more and more popular in modern society, the family unit will not be affected too much because everyone needs a family. No matter how the gender roles changes, if people want to have a child, the best way is getting married. Society development is always following the natural law. Although female becomes independent and capable in modern society, have a baby is a special duty for the female. According to Aaron H. Devor, author of article, “ Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meaning of Gender,” he says, “Members of both gender are believed to share many of the same human characteristics, although in different relative ……for each gender class” (388). A lot of successful females also have happy families in modern society. When gender roles change, it will not affect the female to have a baby because female can continue her career after having a baby and male can spend more time to take care of the baby. Part of result of changing gender roles is female go outside to work and male stay at home and work at home. It still can compose family no matter female or male stay at home. Male is more fit to take care of the family than female. Everyone knows that males have better physical power than female. It means that males...
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...Gender Roles How the media has affected the roles and perspectives of the different genders Amanda Luebbert 11 April 2016 Ms. Dudley Sociology People have gone through a lot trying to express themselves and who they feel they are. Having a relationship with someone of the same gender, or wanting to change the gender that a person was born as, was not looked upon with an accepting mind. The media has opened people’s minds to a whole new way of viewing people’s personal feelings and thoughts towards their gender and what gender people should have a relationship with. Media has been an way of inspiring those with different views on certain aspects of genders that many disagreed with. Many people were fully against gay marriage until the media stepped in a made people see it in a different way. Being a transgender was not the most popular thing, but media has made it more acceptable to those that were against it. People should have the right to be whatever gender they feel entitled to whether others think so or not. The media currently has several people that are into the art of makeup. Many of these artists happen to be men. Men are usually not viewed as wearing tons of makeup, but the perspective of these people are positive. People used to be a lot more judge-mental to anyone who wanted to do something that was generally done by the opposite sex. These guys that do fabulous makeup are not looked at as different they...
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...Gender Roles in Ancient Greece and Rome Mary Wright HUM/100 November25, 2013 Ryan Roark Gender Roles in Ancient Greece and Rome In ancient Greece and Rome the roles of each gender played a significant part of the history that we learn of today. Each gender had particular a different role in the ancient times of both of these empires. Men and women were valued for different reasons and had different responsibilities and duties that they were to uphold. Today those roles are not thought of as the same, the gender roles have pretty well evened out. In Athens women were looked greatly upon to not gossip amongst themselves, to keep their homes neat and tidy, for giving birth to legitimate children. This is how they were valued, based upon how well they did each of these duties. Unfortunately, women in Greece were not considered as citizens. In these times, the father had rights over his daughter. After marriage a father had the right to ask for his daughters return. Women in Greece often were kept at home and could own their own property but was not allowed to sell or dispose of her property. In Rome, women were more free as they were able to own their own property as well as sell or dispose of their property. Women also were free to go about where she liked, they were not kept at home out of sight. As to where women in ancient Greece belonged to their father, women in Rome were subject to the dominant male role in her birth house or if she was married that...
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...GENDER ROLES AND COMMUNICATION When two people join their lives together in the unity of marriage how are they to decide what roles each will take within the marriage? The role within a marriage changes not only from year to year but also between each couples own relationship. Cultural believes can also affect the role each partner will take within a marriage. What was acceptable behavior several years ago would not be considered the social norm today. The role the husband or wife plays in a marriage is one that is either subservient or dominant. Within these roles the communication within the marriage often is a key element to defining the role each partner plays. What works for one marriage may not work for another. There are also many stereotypes between genders on what should and should not be accepted. In the story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, (Clugston, 2010) we see very different roles between Mitty and his wife then that in “I’m Going”. (Clugston, 2010) One story takes the stance that the husband is more silent and subservient to his wife, pleasing her and keeping his thoughts to himself for the most part. Whereas in “I’m going” (Clugston, 2010) the husband plays a more dominant role and controls his marriage. Regardless of the role and stance taken on the representation of gender roles in marriage it is more important that the marriage have a strong foundation and good communication skills. Communication is defined as “any process in which people...
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