Gender Stereotypes

Looking back at my childhood now, I realized that my parents taught me quite a bit about how males and females should look and behave. Whenever I would go to a park with my sisters, my mother would always tell us to not play like the boys since they played “not nicely.” According to my mother, girls know how to play nicely and share, not boys. Whenever I would play in my soccer games, both my mother and father would tell me to be careful around the male players since they were stronger and bigger than me. According to my mother, girls were the ones who showed their emotions and not boys. Boys should not be crying, especially in public. However, if my sisters or I would cry in public, my mother and father would try to comfort us. I do believe …show more content…
My clothes were mostly pink, purple, white, and black. When I was younger, my mother would take me to the local play groups, where I would play and share my toys with other children. Most of these play groups consisted of only girls, but there were also some boys too. At first, my parents tried to steer me away from the “physical sports” such as soccer and basketball by enrolling me in a dance class, but eventually I decided to quit dance and only play those sports. Growing up, it seemed as though my parents, especially my father, were over-protective of me. My curfew was at ten on the weekdays and eleven on the weekends, but I still felt like I barely had any freedom. Whenever I was out, my father would text me at least three times asking me who I was with, if there were any boys there, and when I was coming home. Luckily, this sort of stopped when I was a senior in high school. Whenever I was upset, my mother would constantly ask me if I was okay and sometimes she would not leave my room until I told her what was upsetting me. My mother always encouraged my sisters and I to talk about our feelings to her and she was always our “shoulder to cry on.” By observing my parents, I was able to learn about the gender roles of females and