Random Rambles: Gender Roles In Society
Starting off, there is the biological aspect that created this gender division in the first place. Men used to be regarded as the hunters while women would stay home gathering food and nursing the children. The reason for this is that men have testosterone which promotes the growth of muscles which gives this distinct "masculine" appearance while women have estrogen and progesterone which gives the woman a subcutaneous layer of fat among other characteristics. This distinct divide based on the sex of the individual really set the stage for the history to come. Humans are weird in this regard since most other animals have the female as the dominant one while the male is only there to contribute to the gene pool. So in a sense, humans are a bit different though the partnership of the male and the female still remains the same.
Eventually, history plays upon this inequality as society developed. Females then had to deal with social separation from males which is extremely apparent in places like Europe where witch hunts and rapes were common in the Medieval Ages. Males were the aggressive sex as most of the kings and dominant figures in history were males. Eventually, women were somewhat equal to males in the beginning of the Industrial Revolution while they retained the subordinate level to males elsewhere in the world. But Europe also featured women being relegated to being the person who cared for the children though they weren't exactly lower to men since men would just work and give money to their wife so that the wife could do what was necessary for the home. It's at this stage where we see man and woman being in these separate spheres.
Feminists also played a huge role since they wanted suffrage among other rights. Feminists are notable as we enter the 21st century where we realize that females are still drastically different from men as they earn much less than a typical male. Women struggle in today's society because companies tend to discriminate against them arbitrarily. We're stuck in this environment where we genuinely want both sexes to be equal yet it doesn't seem to be that way.
What's the key issue here? Men still have the idea that women should be relegated to household duties while they make the money. Masculinity and Femininity also play a key role since these ideas that have been developed portray our current predicament. Being born in our environment, there is a general understanding that males and females are different. In early childhood, the idea of "cooties" and "germs" reveal a sign about how different we feel based on popular social ideas. Males especially feel the need to express masculinity since many dominant male figures tell younger boys to be more "manly." Females also have to be feminine to attract a mate. We aren't so biologically evolved to quench this gender division so females still have a need to appeal to men and may appear sultry because of that while men must assert their masculinity for females to actually accept them. Pre-existing social conditions contribute to the division in some way as only the last name of the male passes down to offspring. We have an issue that is ingratiated to our minds and we influence society to reflect this division.
What's more, genders aren't so two-dimensional now. With the advent of transsexuals, transvestites, and other ways of characterizing oneself, we have a new difficulty describing equality. All of a sudden, gay rights also gets tied to the issue as different ideas of self-expression get rejected even more for deviating from the norm. There is a spectrum for genders today and our modern society is struggling to adapt to this new change which makes us reject the strange sexes that are coming out. Our self-identification complexes the issue which makes us even more unsure on how to determine equality and other basic social issues concerning people who wish to be recognized as the other gender. This boom of new genders raises the question of how people should react to this new development. Should we reject these new sexes based on a biological and social reaction or should we accept them as another form of identification that should be recognized to promote freedom as well? There isn't a concrete answer for what will happen next though the general consensus is to take small steps to assimilating these deviants to fit in with society so as to avoid conflict between the norm and the outcasts.
We want to say that sex does not determine everything. We want to accept those who are different. We want to be able to have an equal society. But sometimes our minds just reject the abnormal in an act of apathy. Rapid change is occurring and we are struggling to predict its consequences or its implications. Feminists are still adamant in getting rights and almost appear to radical in some respects while men struggle to find their niche in all of this. In the end, we don't know if we'll ever attain equality for men and women and everyone in between yet we continue trying to keep equality our main priority. Whether or not we'll obtain true social equality won't matter too much in the end so long as we try to be as equal as possible. While we may not know what the fallout of this change is, we're going to be swept along by the current which means we'll just have to hope for the best.
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