Ryan Davidson

English 115
Professor Beadle
16 September 2015
Progressive Essay Final Draft

In todays society, men are inevitably treated differently than women in many ways.
Although both sexes are almost completely similar biologically, socially, and psychologically,
men are assumed to be tough, unemotional, breadwinners of their families. Composing Gender,
a collection of essays pertaining to societal issues composing genderso to speakhighlights
the major differences in gender and how society portrays it . Aaron Devor, Ruth Hubbard, and
Judith Lorber, three renowned sociologists, explore these topics through their personal
experiences, insight, and research. Nearly everything in society has been categorized as being
"masculine" or "feminine", creating an otherwise indistinguishable difference between the
sexes".
Essentially, gender is created by society as sex clearly determines the roles individuals
are expected to fulfill. In Night to His Day, Judith Lorber, professional emerita of sociology
and womens studies at the Graduate Center and Brooklyn College of the City University of New
York, explores both gender roles and gender expectations. She notes that ...everyone does
gender without thinking about it. Today on the subway, I saw a well-dressed man with a yearold child in a stroller (Lorber). Although the idea of pushing a child on a stroller would more
commonly be identified as maternal , the man she describes takes on the role of a father. Since

society questions the idea of a man assuming a more feminine role, one must question what
constitutes both masculinity and femininity. Similarly, in Becoming Members of Society,
Aaron Devor, professor of sociology and academic director of Transgender Archives at the
University of Victoria, Canada, explains the concept of social meanings of gender. Generally, it
is not until children are five to seven years old that they become convinced that they are
permanent members of their gender grouping (Devor). Although gender begins at a young age,
the period in which children discover gender is vital to their development. However, in
Rethinking Womens Biology by Ruth Hubbard, professor emerita of biology at Harvard
University, Hubbard reveals that men and women inevitably develop differently biologically,
psychologically, and socially. For example, there is about a two-foot spread in height among
people in the United States, but a difference of only three to five inches between the average
heights of women and men (Hubbard). Since women generally weigh less than their sexual
counterpart, some accept that men are the stronger sex, being upstart breadwinners and doing
hard physical work, as stated before. Although on the surface gender roles seems reasonable,
one cannot fairly overgeneralize men and women. By comparing the sexes, controversy
inevitably spurs.
In order to understand gender, one must understand the difference between gender and
sex. Sex pertains to biology, while a persons gender is his/her own sexual identity. For example,
a transgender may be a man who identifies himself as a woman, while a transsexual had an
operation to change his/her sexual organs. All people fall under one of the two categories of sex,
while some people do not consider themselves to have a gender. One would believe that since all

fetuses begin as female, male and female psychology should not differ. However, this is untrue.
Society has derived gender roles from sexual roles: Women endure the pain of pregnancy
and childbirth, which gives way to mostif not allgender stereotypes. For example, when
considered for a job, men are statistically more likely to land the job than a woman, because
women have the chance of becoming pregnant and needing time off for maternity leave.
Conversely, over the course of human history men have been respected more than women, as
women have barely earned their civil rights over a century ago, and men have a history of
competing with other men (hence the phrase, may the best man win). Although technically
considered illegal, the average woman regularly only receives about seventy-nine percent the
salary of the average male. But why is this unfair? Are women not the caretakers in families?
In todays struggle with equality, and the continued conflict of civil rights, society seems to cater
to men. No wonder why many feminists have risen within the past decade, without the need for
masculinists. In addition, since men are expected to take care of their children as women do,
not only should women be able to perform masculine tasks without judgment, women should
receive equal pay as well. Not only will the future likely be genderless, asexual reproduction
may be made possible for humans. Asexual reproduction is already common in certain species,
such as female Komodo dragon lizards. Although societys view of men as the dominant sex
creates a self-fulfilling prophecy, ...Fortunately, our training to gender roles is neither complete
nor uniform. As a result, it is possible to point to multitudinous exceptions to, and variations on,
these themes...It seems most likely that gender roles are the result of systematic power
imbalances based on gender discrimination (Devor). Therefore, masculine and feminine

behaviors do not constitute what colors, toys, activities, and behaviors are male and female in
society.
In my experience as a child, having a younger sister forced me to experience gender roles
firsthand. If we hit one another only I would be punished because society portrays females as
helpless and sensitive. However, in growing up together, my sister and I grew more and more
similar, and both possess masculine and feminine traits. While some might consider me sensitive,
I consider myself emotionally intelligent, and while people may view my sister as aggressive,
she sees herself as ambitious. Having already come from a multiracial background, I have grown
more accepting of other people; two of my best friends are gay, the majority of my friends have
different ethnic backgrounds, and yet we still have common interests. Consequently, I have never
viewed people as better than anyone else , or deserving of more respect than others. Therefore,
problems with equality and feminism, along with the universal fear of being judged by others has
always greatly affected me. If someone told me to be a man, I would tell him that that statement
is nonsensical because no matter what gender you are, how old you are, or what ethnic
background and culture you come from, we are all human and endure similar struggles.
Succumbing to someone telling me to be a man forces me to forfeit my moral values to society in
exchange for social approval.
Although males and females differ slightly, we all possess the same basic nature. For
example, humans are considered one of few types of animals who have the need to belong. In
order to make society uniform, we must fulfill this need, by treating everyone the same.