Sex role stereotypes are culturally shared assumptions and expectations about sex differences in abilities, personality traits, activities, and roles (Weinraub et al 1493) History has proven that gender inequality it is not today’s problem it’s been a problem since the beginning of times. Who determines what is it the female’s role in society? How is it determined if a woman is respectable or not? What are the expectations regarding women’s behavior? How is masculinity and femininity defined? Does being a man guarantees power? “Critical to any explanation of sex role development is information regarding the time of onset of sex role stereotypes and their relationship to other gender-related skills and behaviors.”(Weinraub et al 1493)
According …show more content…
“On Sundays try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming.”(Kincaid 3) By giving the girl instructions to follow directions is a way of telling her that in order to be a respectable member of society, she must adapt; the speaker is giving the girl the skills she will need to survive in a world dominated by men. Furthermore, the supremacy of men over women is also illustrated in the following quote “This is how you behave in the presence of men you don’t know” (Kincaid 4) This is an indisputable indicator of the speaker’s(the mother) understanding and acceptance of the society’s expectations of women. The speaker in “Girl” identifies herself within the patriarchal structure with the presentation of a list of clearly defined roles and markers of respectability based on the standards of the dominant …show more content…
In the text “The Girl” the mother wanted her daughter to be a good woman, yet, she gave advice on how to take care of an unwanted pregnancy because of appearance, “This is how to make medicine to throw away a child before it becomes a child.”(Kincaid 5) The speaker was concern about the young girl’s future and is giving her the ‘solution’ to abort an unwanted child in order to save her from the prejudice of their culture. Unmarried women are usually those who seek abortions more frequently, and so this instruction about “how to throw away a child” (Kincaid 5) may be a permission to be other than chaste in her private life. However, at the same time, there is a suggestion of freedom to live outside of the agreed-upon boundaries but, she must do so in a way no one else would know. “Lilly billy-goat hab beard but big bull hab none. Outward appearance is not always an indication of real importance.”(Itzze et al
According …show more content…
“On Sundays try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming.”(Kincaid 3) By giving the girl instructions to follow directions is a way of telling her that in order to be a respectable member of society, she must adapt; the speaker is giving the girl the skills she will need to survive in a world dominated by men. Furthermore, the supremacy of men over women is also illustrated in the following quote “This is how you behave in the presence of men you don’t know” (Kincaid 4) This is an indisputable indicator of the speaker’s(the mother) understanding and acceptance of the society’s expectations of women. The speaker in “Girl” identifies herself within the patriarchal structure with the presentation of a list of clearly defined roles and markers of respectability based on the standards of the dominant …show more content…
In the text “The Girl” the mother wanted her daughter to be a good woman, yet, she gave advice on how to take care of an unwanted pregnancy because of appearance, “This is how to make medicine to throw away a child before it becomes a child.”(Kincaid 5) The speaker was concern about the young girl’s future and is giving her the ‘solution’ to abort an unwanted child in order to save her from the prejudice of their culture. Unmarried women are usually those who seek abortions more frequently, and so this instruction about “how to throw away a child” (Kincaid 5) may be a permission to be other than chaste in her private life. However, at the same time, there is a suggestion of freedom to live outside of the agreed-upon boundaries but, she must do so in a way no one else would know. “Lilly billy-goat hab beard but big bull hab none. Outward appearance is not always an indication of real importance.”(Itzze et al