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By: Marlene R. Sanches, Wed Mar 10th, 2010
It is different comparing women and men with the intention to know us better, to find differences between them and others to postulate the superiority of one sex over the other and, unfortunately, this is the angle from which, very often, addresses the issue . The result is a lack of respect for both sexes. Better know each other is an attitude that are present values of tolerance, equality and justice.
Thus, one aspect of human life where intolerance is more pernicious is precisely that of sexuality, because there is manifested as the war of man against himself, the man against women and women against male. We are born into a society which prescribes the conduct and behavior that it considers appropriate for each sex. The family, television and even the school, teach individuals to behave in a manner considered typical of each sex, and it induces each person to assume a sexual role, a stereotypically masculine or feminine.
These stereotypes are adopted by boys and girls, as they are there as family and social expectations to which they must comply if they want to be accepted: it is what is expected of them and from them. In all societies have governed dominant stereotypes and, although varying from place to place and from time to time, all are characterized by the rule stand as enacted, as it must be deemed no particular trends each individual: "Children do not cry" or "You are a girl: / / can not do that / /" are well known in formulas that summarize the dominant stereotypes that our society prescribes for each sex from childhood.
From conception of this kind provides different treatment for each sex: in our society so widespread, the girls are taught to be industrious and are prepared for the upbringing and home, motherhood offered its absolute performance in life and on the other hand, a large number of children are led to be considered strong, determined to become economic providers, heads of their future families.
These sex stereotypes are the basis for many imbalances in society, then determine the opportunities, responsibilities and rights are not from the actual capacity of each individual, and from what everyone chooses for his life.
It is true that the evolution of culture has led to some change in gender stereotypes and today, that vision, although many still subscribed to it, is changing.
This has shown they can choose another destination, you can and want to go beyond the domestic sphere that seemed to circumscribe the feminine stereotype that has prevailed, and it is also true that many men have begun to break the sex stereotypes imposed on them by resignation to express their emotions and condemned to be the sole breadwinner, but also true that this process has not yet reached the stage where all men and all women are treated equally, treated as individuals according to their ability and not according to their sex, individuals who share equally the duties and pleasures of domestic life and to have equal opportunities in the public sphere and their development as individuals.
Stereotypes have to do also with the notion that people form of themselves, for if the social context surrounding the individual makes of it a behavior is expected of women sensibility, delivery, submission, and instead of male competition, independence, ability to overcome the challenges then, women and men tend to have a distorted idea of themselves, for some and others were limiting their development: they do not have to reduce their ability to take action or they , hide their emotions.
Innumerable are the consequences that cause intolerance and the promotion of stereotypical gender roles: If men are valued for their strength and intelligence and to women for their beauty and self-denial is not surprising that women attribute their successes to luck and failures to their lack of skill, or that men do the opposite: that attribute their failures to external factors, bad luck and their successes to their ability. Nor is it strange that men and women who adopt such sex stereotypes then come into conflict.
We can help strengthen our self-esteem without negating the other, for precisely the desire to subjugate not only the opposite sex, but to all people, comes, at times, and among other things, low self esteem.
Marlene R. Sanches
4305 Lincoln Street
Penns Neck, NJ 08540