Freeman1

Jack Freeman
Professor Jon Beadle
English 115
31 October 2016
The Perception of Equality
The leaders of the society we live in say that women and men are treated with equality,
but the gender roles society has for men and women says otherwise. Is it fair that even though
men and women are both human, masculine traits are favored over feminine traits? Society needs
to change the perceptions of masculine and feminine traits so equality can be reached. In reality,
society treats women as inferior to men and pressures men and women to conform to masculine
and feminine traits and examples of this inequality and pressure can be seen in the media. In the
book, Composing Gender by Rachel Goner and John F. OHara, there are articles that explain
how society creates negative gender roles for women and on the Instagram account,
spitta_andretti there is a picture that depicts negative gender roles for women. The image
displays negative gender roles for women because there is a girl in a pose that portrays how
women are considered inferior to men. The pose the rapper, Curren$y, has and the accessories he
is wearing in the picture shows how men are considered superior to women. Pictures like this are
the reason why women are truly thought of as unequal to men in society due to masculine and
feminine traits. Examples like these in the media also cause men and women to adhere to these
traits for their gender so they can be accepted into society.
The media continuously portrays women as inferior to men through social media. The
rapper, Curren$ys Instagram account, spitta_andretti contains a picture that blatantly displays
societys belief that men are superior to women. The picture is of him wearing jewelry and

Freeman2
standing by two very expensive classic cars with a girl squatting down below him wearing very
tight clothing while holding onto his thigh. The girl holding tightly onto his thigh represents the
feminine trait dependence by showing that she is dependent on him for financial support because
she needs to hold onto him so she can live her life with financial stability. This supports the
belief that women are believed to be inferior to men because they are commonly thought of as
dependent and men are typically thought of as independent. The article, Rethinking Womens
Biology by Ruth Hubbard states that women were considered inferior to men in the past
because they were thought of as being too dumb to go to school and get a good education. This
belief would cause them to become dependent on men because they wouldnt be able to get
educated and use their education to get a good job. The media hardly ever displays women as
educated and independent which is why women are given negative gender roles. Young women
will see pictures like this in the media and think that is how they are supposed to be instead of
being educated and independent women. The girl in the picture is also squatting which shows
that she is below the man, Curren$y in society which once again circles back to how men are
considered above or superior to women. This causes people to see this and think that women
should be treated lesser then men which in turn causes inequality between men and women in
society. Men tend to feel the need to act aggressive or powerful in order to be considered
masculine.
Men tend to be pressured to conform to the common traits that are associated with
masculinity like aggression and power. The article, The Value of Participatory Visual Methods
in Young Masculinity Research from Procedia Social and Behavioral Science Vol. 165 by
David Blackbeard and Graham Lindegger displays how men are pressured to conform to
masculine traits. In the article, a boy was describing what he thinks about cars when he said,

Freeman3
Ever since I was young Ive had a passion for them the sheer power something about them it
makes me feel like a young free South African man Im not sure what it is. The statement shows
that in order for the boy to feel like a man he needs to feel powerful which causes boys to think
that in order to be masculine they need to be powerful. Later in the article the boy answered a
question about how the car makes him feel independent when he said, Yes cause it gives you a
sense of independent. This shows that men are thought of as needing to be powerful and
independent in order to feel good which is due to society portraying masculine traits as powerful.
This pressure forces many men to act powerful even if they dont want to in order to be accepted
into society. This relates to Aaron Devors Article, Becoming Members of Society because he
believes that society forces masculine traits on men who demonstrate the characteristics that are
associated with power and aggression. The visual of Curren$y is another example of how men
are pressured to be masculine because the rapper displays many traits in the picture that are
considered masculine in society which causes men to desire to acquire those traits so that they
can be accepted as well. Aggression is another common negative trait that is associated with
masculinity.
Some people may say that even though men are aggressive, they know how to maintain
their aggression and not turn it into violence. However, those people wrong because when men
are encountered with a frustrating situation, they tend to result to violence against objects or
people to deal with their frustration. The article, Different Defense Mechanisms Among Men
with Different Sex Role Orientations from Sex Roles Vol. 15 issue 3 by Thalma E. Lobel and
Guy L. Winch is about a study on how aggressive, masculine men react to a frustrating situation
with aggression instead of dealing with a frustrating situation with logic so they can avoid
violence. In their conclusion of the study they stated, These results suggest that masculine men,

Freeman4
as compared to feminine men, deal with conflict and anxiety by externalizing and by behaving in
a more aggressive/assertive manner. This shows that masculinity makes men act aggressive and
it makes them deal with frustration in an aggressive way because men feel that they need to react
that way in order to maintain their masculinity. Reacting to something frustrating with aggression
as opposed to logic can be very dangerous and unethical. Aggression can be seen in the image of
Curren$y of the rappers Curren$ys stance because he is standing holding a drink in his hand
with his expensive diamond rings clearly visible and he is standing in an upright position. This
demonstrates aggression because he wants his jewelry and position to intimidate other men. This
can affect men because they see these examples of aggression in the media and think that they
need to act aggressive as well in order to be accepted into society. This aggression that men
possess leads to violence very quickly. This need for aggression in order to be considered
masculine needs to end because many people including men are being harmed by the backlash
this aggression in men causes.
In sum, the portrayals of favoritism of masculinity over femininity and inequality
between men and women can be seen in society in many different cases. This favoritism of
masculinity over femininity creates inequality between men and women and it also pressures
men and women to conform to masculine and feminine traits. The pressure to conform to a
persons respective gender roles are created because people feel the need to obtain these traits
and demonstrate them in their daily lives so they can be treated as their gender in society. The
media has a big influence on how men and women should conform to their gender roles and the
media makes men believe that they need to be aggressive and powerful in order to be considered
masculine. If society treated both masculine and feminine traits with equality and didnt focus
masculinity on power and aggression, the world would be a much more fair and safer place.

Freeman5
Works Cited
Groner, Rachel, and John F. OHara. Composing Gender. Bedford/St Martins, 18 November
2013, Boston and New York.
Franklin, Shante. (spitta_andretti). Twas a cool lil Saturday Instagram, 2 October 2016,
https://www.instagram.com/p/BLCsik2D0tx/.
Hubbard, Ruth. Rethinking Womens Biology. The Politics of Womens Biology, Composing
Gender, Rutgers University Press, January 1, 1990, New Brunswick, New Jersey
Blackbeard, David, and Graham Lindegger. "The Value of Participatory Visual Methods in
Young Masculinity Research." Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 165 (2015): 85-93.
Lobel, Thalma, and Guy Winch. "Different Defense Mechanisms Among Men with Different Sex
Role Orientations." Sex Roles, 15.3 (1986): 215-220.
Devor, Aaron. Becoming Members of Society: The Social Meanings of Gender. Gender
Blending: Confronting the Limits of Duality, Composing Gender, Bedford/St. Martins, 18
November 2013, Boston and New York.