Western Civilization: Gender Roles And Women

“Men are tough; women are in touch with their feelings. Men are providers; women are nurturers. Men should punch back when provoked; women should be physically attractive” (The New York Times). We are taught, raised, and enforced by the gender roles that dictate our lives in American society. Everyone from young boys and girls too grown men and women have been shamed and ridiculed by the gender roles that distinguish people in the world. According to the quote earlier, by the writer Claire Cain Miller of the New York Times, men are supposed to grow up and be the one to take action while women are the supporters and must be seen as pretty. These gender roles became established many centuries ago. In the textbook Western Civilization, by Jackson …show more content…
With the old history of men being the breadwinner and the dominant sex, today that idea has been turned into forceful ideas that men still have to be dominant. We as boys learn at such a young age to live as the dominant sex. At around age ten we should not be crying in public since that shows as a sign of weakness. We cannot open our feelings to others around us because we will to the other boys as weak and pitiful and not cool enough. Boys also are taught the status that boys must stick to each other and not be like a girl. But once someone acts like a sissy or not at all like a how a tough boy would, they are made fun of by the other boys and moreover belittled. And with this impactful gender role, boys cope with sex, drugs, and drinking for their own loneliness and block out their emotions. Along with this violent behavior, boys are then seen to be as the tough guy or cool kid because they sleep with all the girls and drink so much. There are also so many other impacts such as sports especially. People start fights during games and let out so much built up anger that they cannot anywhere else out of school. In football, we get hit so much that we have to hide back our own pain behind the helmet and do as much as you can to win. Though one of the most powerful factors that promotes masculinity is through the media. Sex symbols like James Bond are the strong, silent guys that do their own job and do not express his feelings at all. There is the superhero that willingly kills to maintain peace and control through their violence. There is the thug that kills whoever they want to achieve their own goal. And there is the manchild who is seen as masculine since they sleep with many girls and drink alcohol. Some boys also try to mimic or act like these manchilds by trying to sleep with many people. This behavior unfortunately leads boys as young as twelve to seeing porn. The teen boys cut