First things first, how many of us can define the definition of what a gender role is, alongside the meaning of both masculinity and femininity?
Gender roles are described as a set of norms as dictated by our society that tells us which behaviors are considered acceptable or non-acceptable on the basis of perceived sex or sexuality. Masculinity and femininity tie in heavily with the concept of gender roles due to being a cultural meaning that is ascribed to an individual's sex. Masculinity and femininity are two different terms that are used to describe a set of various characteristics, values, and meanings that are placed within the context of gender. For example, the typical thought dealing with the area of characteristics is that women are expected to be mothers, married, sensitive, fragile creatures, and nonassertive, while men are expected to be successful, dominate, providers, non-emotional, and strong. This is a notion that we need to crush due to its harmful implications. The world should not make implications about us based on these roles because people are not something to be placed into categories. We all have our differences and are complex beings. Not to mention, the concept of gender roles as a whole is pretty sexist, in my honest opinion. Gender is also taught to us through various interactions, such as upbringing, culture, peers, school, community, media, and religion.
From the very moment that we are born, an enormous amount of pressure is almost automatically placed on us by society. We are forced to perform the role of an assigned gender as given to us at birth by a doctor on the basis of physical autonomy. An event that we did not sign ourselves up for. Even before the event of birth, we are being identified through gender roles. Take a trip to a local store and take a peek around the baby section and think about what exactly it is that you are seeing. A vast ocean of pink and blue. I am sure you have all heard the phrase "pink is for girls and blue is for boys." This is another example that ties together with gender roles. The color pink is associated with kindness, love, beauty, and sensitivity. While the color blue is associated with trust, loyalty, and wisdom.
The history of the colors pink and blue have a fascinating story on its own. In the 19th century, boys actually wore the colors pink and white because they were thought to have been masculine. Girls, on the other hand, would wear the color blue because it was thought to have been more feminine at the time. Before the 19th century, both boys and girls would wear the color white because it was the easiest color to bleach if a child were to make a mess on their clothing. As you can see, the shift to gendered clothing has been gradual over time.
Gender roles are also constricting and harmful for those who identify as non-binary and transgender. The definition of non-binary is a gender identity that is not exclusively masculine or feminine and is outside of the gender binary. Those who do identify within the gender binary identify as their biological sex and often rarely question what gender is and how it can be constructed. The gender binary in a general sense consists of classifying gender and sex into two opposite forms of masculine and feminine. Included below is a brief question and answer section on how gender roles affect those who identify as both non-binary and transgender. This individual will remain unnamed for reasons of privacy but was willing to share their experiences for the sake of this article and for the purpose of educating others.
How have stereotypical gender roles affected you?- "As someone who identifies as neither man nor woman, there's a lot of decisions I have to make in everyday life. If I'm in public and there is no gender neutral restroom available to I go in the men's room or the women's room? Which one am I most comfortable going in? Which one will be the safest for me to go into? I'm out shopping for clothes, do I go to the men's section or the women's? Because I am dfab, (designated female at birth), if I choose to shop in the men's department will store employees direct me instead to the women's department? Will I face ridicule from fellow shoppers? At the end of the day, it doesn't matter which section I got my clothes from; I bought them so they're my clothes, not "men's clothes" or "women's clothes". The sooner we can start to step away from gendering literally everything in our society, the sooner our fellow nonbinary transgender siblings will feel safer."
It is easy to see why we need to do away with gender roles and the harmful implications that they can have.
