Required Post #1

For the past 18 years of my life I have been blinded by the power that gender plays in our society. As a white, upper-middle class American I never faced many difficulties in getting what I wanted. I never felt oppressed by my race or gender. I never felt as though I was incapable of doing the things that I desired to do. I was blinded, but now I am beginning to see.

While growing up, I always found myself surrounded by boys and sports. Being wedged between two boys will do that to you. I was competitive and energetic, always trying to keep up with my older brother and his friends. In my mind, they never took it easy on me just because I was a girl. If they wanted to play tackle football, I wanted to be tackled too. If they wanted to race, I wanted to race without a head start too. I fit right in, or at least I thought. Looking back I realize that I was playing with kids that were three years older than me and were boys. They were taller, faster, and stronger. I was not actually equally competing with them, like I thought I was. In reality, they were not running as fast, not jumping as high, and purposefully missing their shots. The boys understood that because I was a girl, they had to take it easy on me. What keeps running through my mind today is, how the boys just naturally knew to treat me differently just because I was a girl. I sure did not think I was any different at the time.

We are born into a society of gender norms. Boys are supposed to play sports, have muscles, and be tough. Girls are supposed to look presentable at all times, be emotional, and be able to cook. From the very beginning of our lives, we are raised in a world where men and women are different and must remain that way. Our babysitters, teachers, and nurses were women. They were all nurturing, caring, and loving. Our political leaders, police officers, and successful business people were generally men. They were all strong, powerful, and independent. We are raised to believe that girls play with dolls and boys play with balls. Girls wear pink and boys wear blue. Girls have long hair and boys have short hair. Girls play inside and boys play outside. Girls like to write and boys solve math problems. Girls are inferior and boys are superior.

These beliefs have been subconsciously engrained in our minds for a very long time. No wonder I never thought about gender inequality or the power of gender norms, until I was 19. We have become numb to these standards for boys and girls and have accepted that they are the only guidelines for how people should act. However, in today’s society we have a lot of controversy on our hands, with trans-genders, bisexuals, less masculine men, and less feminine women. We must now reconsider what it truly means to be a man or a women; a boy or a girl. When will we finally agree on something? I truly believe it won’t be any time soon, and we need to broaden our minds on how we relate to each other.