Male Problem in Gender Stereotypes - Literature review Example

Gender stereotypes The male Myth by Paul Theroux and Why Boys Dont Play with Dolls by Katha Pollitt talks about how in the modern world gender plays a significant role in everyday social issues. The male Myth by Paul Theroux and Why Boys Dont Play with Dolls by Katha Pollitt talks about how in the modern world gender plays a significant role in everyday social issues. Certain things that look natural are driven by very deep-rooted not-so-objective opinions and practices that are not very obvious in nature. The Male Myth is mainly about how a man in the society is systematically trained and prepared from his childhood days to do what he does when he grows up. In addition, it explains how it is hard for a man to avoid social stigma if he does not fall in line or if he expresses views that are other than established definitions of manliness. Throughout the article, Theroux cites different scenarios such as boys’ camp, high school sports, and others to bring home his point as well as to use them as basis for stereotyping the whole male community. ‘Why Boys Dont Play with Dolls offers opinion on the issue of why boys and girls have fundamentally different interests throughout their lives. It also talks about how adults play major roles in encouraging these behaviors in their children even when they know that it is not what they want their children to do. Pollitt argues how we have gender stereotyping as part of our culture and yet we do not care to show any resistance whatsoever. Stereotyping happens when someone is judged based on their cultural background, behavior, habits, and tastes to name a few. In both these articles, authors tried to judge the issue of gender stereotyping based on the subject’s gender from some isolated scenarios. A perfect example of gender stereotyping can be found in advertisements and movies where the blondes are shown as less intelligent or showing an African American man in prison. It happens even in our homes when parents always talk about children becoming a model or an anchor if the child is a girl and becoming a sport star if the child is a boy. This is nothing less than gender stereotyping as we are judging the children’s future based on their sex and making assumptions from past occurrences and/or general practices in society. The Male Myth corroborates its point repeatedly that being a man is detestable. Both the articles drives home the point from some isolated examples and making generalizations from those examples. This is very similar to real world generalizations in which we assume and conclude something from few or limited samples. For example, more often than not, we conclude that all video games are bad influence on children just because an offender admits that his or her crime is motivated by a particular video game that he played at home. The tone in which the articles tried to convey the point is very different. Pollitts article maintains strong conviction that likes and dislikes in children, even though scientific studies show that mostly innate stereotypes are results of adults is reluctance to speak against something that is considered not very fair. Pollitt and Therouxs essays are similar in that they recognize social gender stereotypes and the expectation for women to be domestic servants but are different in the promotion of the stereotypes. Both the articles are stereotypical for gender in nature and have their own idea of how men or women have to be. The Male Myth talks about how men are always interested as well as expected to show their manliness-be it dress like a cowboy or kill a lion. Therouxs frustration about being male could not be clearer when he said in his article, being a writer was incompatible with being a man’. This is very true in real life as the emphasis and encouragement in sports in schools are at a much higher level for boys than that on arts or writing. One can see this clearly by noticing that as a child, he enrolled in so many sports and related activities in school as well as outside the school whereas his participation in painting, singing or other thought-to-be feminine activities is bare minimum and limited to the mandatory levels that are needed by the school. These factors play a role in the minds of children when they are at an impressionable and tender age. They believe it as the only way to assert or establish their identity thereby scared of even trying out other choices that are around. Theroux went on to describe more stereotypical characteristics of men including school athletes, coaches. According to him, School sports are recipe for creating bad marriages, social misfits’. His claim can be well supported by examples of lives of many sportsmen including Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant, and Steve McNair. For instance, Tiger Woods was world-renowned and respected athlete until he was found to have maintained relationship with numerous women while married. Steve McNair even lost his life to an illicit relationship. All these examples support Therouxs stereotyping of men with few exceptions. We can also prove the case similarly for women that they are more sensitive, gentle, and friendly as the author has hinted in his article. Pollitts article deals with how children form their opinions and why boys and girls have different tastes that distinguish and separate them clearly from one another. One can find stereotypical statements throughout the article such as It hasnt even got women to stop dieting and men to stop interrupting them. It also explains and offers some insight into why Barbie is still one of the most popular brands in spite of its higher price. It symbolizes and embodies the look, beauty and the physique that girls dream of. We as parents, encourage our girls to tread the same path that was laid before us by the previous generations. I do not remember seeing a single mother talk very high of her girls athletic abilities or driving skills as much as she does of her cooking and painting. This is how it has been and it is how it will be as people find nothing fundamentally wrong in that. The article talks about a very common and important observation when it says mothers and fathers still play by many of the old rules even as they question and fidget and chafe against them. The reason behind this might be that they are scared of going against anything that is well practiced everywhere else. Parents imbibe their children with these practices in their younger days, which make it difficult for them to do anything otherwise. Many researches conclusively say that when a child forms an opinion or an interest, it is very difficult to change throughout his or her life. This is why many brands of products tap into childrens minds to get to know how and why exactly they are thinking and responding to different products in a particular way. This is the simple reason we can show behind a females passion for dresses and shopping irrespective of their age. In effect, gender has a big role in deciding what one can do and what one wants to do. It is mostly true that one’s options and choices are determined as soon as they are born and/or their sex is known. This is evident in our prenatal shopping that we have completely different product lines in each brand for girls and boys, which are not limited to colors (pink as a preferred color for girls and blue for boys). On the other hand, sometimes a man or woman’s physical features make them either more preferable or not for a particular profession. Gender stereotyping can be found in every step of our lives as one of the articles points out that girls and boys are different from birth and have their exclusive choices and interests with very limited interference into other’s interest. Paul Theroux’s article shows these stereotypical characters in a polarizing tone where as Pollit’s article illustrates these gender stereotypes in a balanced manner. Therefore, it is prudent to say that both articles recognize gender stereotypes though the manner in which both went about differs. Both the authors try to send across different models of gender stereotypes like -insensitive, stupid, poor-loser, dismissive male stereotypes by Theroux and doll-loving, friendly, attractive girl stereotypes by Pollitt. One cannot be always dismissive of these stereotypes as some of these were born out of ones innate nature and almost impossible to change. It is very difficult to get a man to spend lot of time in front of the mirror doing make-up and shopping while it is equally difficult to get a woman to spend every weekend watching football or NASCAR. After all god made the world in that each sex has to go through completely different physical and emotional changes. Hence, these gender stereotypes exist as long as two different sexes co-exist on this planet. Read More