American housewife magazines from the 1950s through the 1970s are well-known relics of American history and continue to shape the ideals of society decades after their fall from popularity. There are many people that would disagree with that statement, arguing that society has evolved past the ideal of a docile homemaker wife and a hyper-masculine breadwinner husband, citing the large number of women in the workforce and the mass acceptance of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender, or LGBT, community. But how much of history’s widespread misogynistic and homophobic ideals have really vanished? Today, children as young as infants have gender-coded colors and language forced upon them in the form of baby clothes and toys. For example, imagine
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The other half of the store will hold toy guns and tools, robots, dark packaging, superheroes, and action figures; the clothing maintaining the darker color scheme, t-shirts with pictures of superheroes, and pants and shorts. One can already imagine which side would be more appealing for parents to take their little boy into, even if the packaging does not dictate the interests of the little boy. However, children do feel pressure from society, in the form of their peers, to play with toys coded for their half of the gender binary. The term gender binary refers to the classification of gender into two distinct, disconnected forms such as male and female (TSER). Boys are often called “sissies”, girls “tomboys”, for playing with toys that are coded outside of their gender, and these terms are often used to devalue and belittle the child’s interest and expression of those interests. These situations exhibit how American society has not evolved past the misogynistic ideals of the 20th century, instead only becoming more subtle in its influence in maintaining the gender …show more content…
If that were true, however, then why can men hold typically feminine interests, or vise versa? There are many feminist responses to this phenomenon, but the most relevant is the acceptance model. This model recognizes that there are, in fact, biological differences between the two sexes, but also that the societal differences that the two genders face has almost nothing to do with biology, and has everything to do with culture, and how to “create symmetry in all members of the community” (Littleton 37). In other words, although males and females are biologically different in reproductive functions and hormones, there are no biological indicators that require a certain sex to be attracted to a certain subset of interests. Within a professional environment, men and women should be guaranteed equal treatment with equal pay. The fact that men and women are not treated symmetrically is evidence to the fact that, largely, society still views women as homemakers and not equal partners with men. According to Linda C. McClain, there are religious factors that contribute to the continued emphasis on a strict gender binary; “nearly every religious tradition examined includes a tenant that men are to exercise authority and leadership … and that women have special duties in the home” (89). Not only does this explain the continued adherence to the gender binary in an evolving world, it also explains the origins of the
The other half of the store will hold toy guns and tools, robots, dark packaging, superheroes, and action figures; the clothing maintaining the darker color scheme, t-shirts with pictures of superheroes, and pants and shorts. One can already imagine which side would be more appealing for parents to take their little boy into, even if the packaging does not dictate the interests of the little boy. However, children do feel pressure from society, in the form of their peers, to play with toys coded for their half of the gender binary. The term gender binary refers to the classification of gender into two distinct, disconnected forms such as male and female (TSER). Boys are often called “sissies”, girls “tomboys”, for playing with toys that are coded outside of their gender, and these terms are often used to devalue and belittle the child’s interest and expression of those interests. These situations exhibit how American society has not evolved past the misogynistic ideals of the 20th century, instead only becoming more subtle in its influence in maintaining the gender …show more content…
If that were true, however, then why can men hold typically feminine interests, or vise versa? There are many feminist responses to this phenomenon, but the most relevant is the acceptance model. This model recognizes that there are, in fact, biological differences between the two sexes, but also that the societal differences that the two genders face has almost nothing to do with biology, and has everything to do with culture, and how to “create symmetry in all members of the community” (Littleton 37). In other words, although males and females are biologically different in reproductive functions and hormones, there are no biological indicators that require a certain sex to be attracted to a certain subset of interests. Within a professional environment, men and women should be guaranteed equal treatment with equal pay. The fact that men and women are not treated symmetrically is evidence to the fact that, largely, society still views women as homemakers and not equal partners with men. According to Linda C. McClain, there are religious factors that contribute to the continued emphasis on a strict gender binary; “nearly every religious tradition examined includes a tenant that men are to exercise authority and leadership … and that women have special duties in the home” (89). Not only does this explain the continued adherence to the gender binary in an evolving world, it also explains the origins of the