Gender norms, a controversial topic that is prevalent in this world today, is based on acceptable and unacceptable roles that are considered “normal” for male and female genders. Society places stereotypes on almost anything- if not everything- that has to do with gender. Roles that are done by a specific gender group that seems to be abnormal by society will be judged and will come with a cost. In her article, “Parent Keeps Child Gender Secret”, Jayme Poisson describes a family in which the parents of three allow for their children to make decisions about their preferences rather than allowing for gender norms to dictate who they are supposed to be. Their children faced bullying, criticism and rejection because they were not the same as everyone
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After gaining understanding of society and what they consider normal and abnormal of genders based on the two previous articles, “Preface”, an article that was written by Kenji Yoshino -which talks about the true self and false self- has brought to me a much better understanding of the effects stereotypes have on people and how they cope with them. As evidenced in Poisson, Levy, and Yoshino’s articles, working against gender norms can result in life changing costs, including criticism and rejection while at the same time causing for some people to cover and reject …show more content…
Covering starts with individuals as young as little children all the way up to adulthood. To define the term ‘covering’ “as Yoshino uses it, means to tone down a disfavored identity to fit into the mainstream” (p. 552). Jazz could have gone to school; “Jazz was old enough for school last September, but chose to stay home. “When we would go and visit programs, people- children and adults – would immediately react with Jazz over his gender,” says Witterick, adding the conversation would gravitate to his choice of pink or his hairstyle. That’s why he doesn’t want to go to school,” (Witterick qtd. in 368). Because of so much negativity, Jazz is hiding away from the world. Instead of assimilating with the mainstream to get along, Jazz chooses to just stay away from it. Although Jazz acknowledges what he is (girl, boy) he still in a sense covers. He does not cover himself by putting a false self, but he covers by toning away his disfavored identity by not going to school at all. He could have easily go along to get along but because Jazz was raised in a type of way to be confident about who he is (he still covers by not going to school), he does not feel that it is a necessity to put a false self on to please society. Jazz is not the only one who covers, but the women in raunch culture also. While Jazz toned down his disfavored behavior for society, the women in raunch culture tone down their disfavored behavior for themselves. “If I told you that I’d met someone
After gaining understanding of society and what they consider normal and abnormal of genders based on the two previous articles, “Preface”, an article that was written by Kenji Yoshino -which talks about the true self and false self- has brought to me a much better understanding of the effects stereotypes have on people and how they cope with them. As evidenced in Poisson, Levy, and Yoshino’s articles, working against gender norms can result in life changing costs, including criticism and rejection while at the same time causing for some people to cover and reject …show more content…
Covering starts with individuals as young as little children all the way up to adulthood. To define the term ‘covering’ “as Yoshino uses it, means to tone down a disfavored identity to fit into the mainstream” (p. 552). Jazz could have gone to school; “Jazz was old enough for school last September, but chose to stay home. “When we would go and visit programs, people- children and adults – would immediately react with Jazz over his gender,” says Witterick, adding the conversation would gravitate to his choice of pink or his hairstyle. That’s why he doesn’t want to go to school,” (Witterick qtd. in 368). Because of so much negativity, Jazz is hiding away from the world. Instead of assimilating with the mainstream to get along, Jazz chooses to just stay away from it. Although Jazz acknowledges what he is (girl, boy) he still in a sense covers. He does not cover himself by putting a false self, but he covers by toning away his disfavored identity by not going to school at all. He could have easily go along to get along but because Jazz was raised in a type of way to be confident about who he is (he still covers by not going to school), he does not feel that it is a necessity to put a false self on to please society. Jazz is not the only one who covers, but the women in raunch culture also. While Jazz toned down his disfavored behavior for society, the women in raunch culture tone down their disfavored behavior for themselves. “If I told you that I’d met someone