Recently, we have had a lot of discussion on gender stereotypes and how these were propagated and reinforced through various means common to our daily lives. These include the media, our own upbringing, through religion, educational establishments and believe it or not, even children's cartoons!
So... if gender stereotypes were socially constructed and passed on from generation to generation, what is at the bottom if we were to dig deeper and to peel these stereotypes away layer by layer? Will we find that humans are all born the same and if left alone will dress the same way, talk the same way, walk the same way and basically behave the same way regardless of gender? This thought might be disturbing to some people (very disturbing indeed). Especially those who have had problems trying to understand the opposite gender all their lives.
There are many people out there who have problems communicating and understanding their counterparts of the opposite gender (myself included... sometimes). Imagine the horror of realising that all the misunderstandings are actually our own fault and not because we are innately different!! Would it not be easier for us to believe that all these petty arguments and miscommunications are actually due to differences in traits, built into us from cradle to death, between the two genders? It is after all a great way to push away all the blame for not trying to understand your counterpart of the opposite gender! This is perhaps why self-help books such as Gray's "Men are from Mars, and Women are from Venus" sells millions of copies.
But then again, should we accept Gray's premise that Men and Women are inherently different and thus can only learn to tolerate and make little changes to accomodate each other, how much tangible help is this 'self-help' book actually giving you? Essentially, the root of the problem remains and because we are different, we will invariably have misunderstandings. Are we then, not paying to simply assure ourselves that it is not actually our fault but that of 'differences built into our genes, our blood' that these arguments and misunderstandings arise? Would you feel better that way? I definitely will :)
I feel that this it is definitely a combination of both nature and nurture. However, its the chicken or egg argument where which one comes first? It seems that it is a vicious cycle. We are born different thats why we communicate differently, and because we communicate differently we become even more different, and the cycle goes on.
ReplyDeleteAs for feeling better if you believe that you are born different instead of it being society's influence,I actually would not feel better either way and am rather neutral about it. I would not blame myself for any differences in gender if it is due to 'nurture' as I would feel that the society is to blame. In fact, I sometimes blame the society when I act or speak in the way that females are expected to instead of challenging the norms.
On a side note, those gender stereotypes are very apparent in older disney cartoons. While the typical attractive physical features of the princesses and princes have not changed recently, I do feel that disney is changing their storylines to suit a more modern age where women are no longer of low status. In Enchanted, the stereotypes of disney princesses are parodied and used to inject humour as females are no longer expected to act that way. The female lead character in Enchanted, as well as in a recent movie Tangled (Rapunzel), are depicted as stronger and more independent individuals who eventually save the prince instead of the conventional stereotype. These two movies have definitely gained much popularity in modern society due to their 'cooler' female heroines :)
Interesting comments. Whether due to "nature" or "nurture," it's clear that differences exist between the genders - I think it is psychologically more "reassuring" if the differences are thought to be essential, because then there is really nothing that can be done but accomodation and minor tweeking of behavior, as Gray suggests. Howeve, if nurture is "to blame" then all sorts of ethical questions come into play - such as the extent to which we decide to accept social norms of gender behavior. In other words, it is somewhat our "fault" if stereotyped behavor is perpetuated. When the dominant social characteristic of patriachy is brought into the discussion, complications multiply.
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