Analysis Of Judith Lober's Night To His Day: The Social Construction Of Gender

Today in America women are up to paid seventy percent less than men for doing the same job. In other parts of the world, men are forced to put themselves in violent and dangerous situations while women are protected. Briefly discussed in articles like Judith Lober’s “’Night to His Day’: The Social Construction of Gender”, problems with traditional gender roles have become hot topics all over the world. On the University of West Georgia campus, three students recently created a spoof video to address these problems, specifically, emotional distance in men. As we begin to study further into gender roles, we must first consider what characteristics each role entails. For instance, it is a preconceived notion that men are less likely to show emotion than women due to their biological make up, but what if instead this wasn’t an innate learning, but a characteristic acquired from society. Lorber would argue that the emotional disconnection in men discussed in Ashlyn, Melissa, and Savannah’s video …show more content…
Young men are shown that “crying is for babies” or to “toughen up”, while young girls are encouraged to talk about their feelings and cry when needed. These simple comments are part of daily social interactions that, Lorber proposes, help “individuals [to] learn what is expected, see what is expected, act and react in expected ways, and thus simultaneously construct and maintain the gender order”(28). Lorber is trying to explain here that even the smallest everyday gendered action can affect a child’s view on how each gender acts and teach them to form their own gender identity. This shows that boys are not born to be less emotional, but instead learn from other men and women how to act. When young boys are taught that showing their emotions is not acceptable to their gender role, they will reject this trait in order to appear masculine and be accepted by