Peggy Sanday Our Guys Summary

Improved Essays
2. Identify and discuss the specific (a) ideals and expectations of masculinity and femininity that were valued in the town of Glen Ridge and (b) the specific sex-gender roles that accompanied those ideals.
According to anthropologist Peggy Sanday, the ideology of male supremacy is built on a foundation of rigid sex-gender roles for males and for females. The ideal of being a male in our society grants superiority over the other gender, female. Gender is the cultural definition of behavior defined as appropriate to the sexes in a given time. Gender is a set of culturally endorsed scripts/roles (The Definitions of Sex and Gender, Blackboard). As explained in Our Guys, athletic activity for girls was healthy, casual recreation, and one element in a well-rounded childhood. However, for the boys showing athletic potential was the first stage to enduring in power. In the town of Glen Ridge, being athletic was a trait the parents wanted from their boys.
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In Western dualistic (dichotomous) thinking: we see two discrete (meaning separate or distinct) sexes and two distinguishable genders because our society is built on two classes of people; “women” and “men” (The Definitions of Sex and Gender, Blackboard). While women are categorized as weak, fragile, and emotional. Men are persuaded as strong, rational and the protector. When Leslie’s parents first moved to Glen Ridge they felt comfort to know that they lived in a place where their daughter will be safe because she needed protection. The women of, not only Glen Ridge, but just women overall are expected to be helpless, and of course it is the male populations duty to protect his

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