Reflection paper on gender

There are many definitions of gender in society, and there are reasons for these definitions. I tend to lean towards the more typical definition of gender. I see gender as a way of categorizing people by their actions and or physical appearance. When we talked about gender in class my eyes were opened a little though, and I think that I would like to try to look at gender differently now.

Issues like whether or not women can do the same jobs as well as men, or whether or not women are as smart as men comes up a lot in discussions about gender and you showed us some of these examples. In my opinion anyone can do anything they set their minds to whether they be male or female. It is obvious that men and women are different physically, but I don’t believe there is scientific evidence that says men are smarter or more superior than women in anyway.

This image of women being inferior is slowly disappearing and will hopefully someday be non-existent. I find myself defining gender along with society. Society stereotypes people in this way because it is an easy way to categorize and define people. By saying a woman is masculine it is insinuating that her physical build is not that of the “typical” female. Femininity to me is a way to state that a female is very old fashioned. I view masculinity as a very domineering and strong trait, both physically and emotionally. Seeing someone as masculine in my mind is not insinuating anything bad about that person, even though it is not uncommon for people to link together being masculine with being very rowdy or unruly.

I think it is important that gender definitions are changing slowly through time, and I hope that I can in someway help with this change. I want to change the way I look at the different genders. I want others to understand this also. I hope to see a difference in the way people look at gender and gender roles. Maybe my grandchildren won’t be stereotyped due to their gender.