Question

Respeting girls essay

Answer 1

Femininity is the quality of being a female, which includes the behaviors and roles that are generally associated with women. In the 1960s and earlier, mothers usually stayed home, did the household chores such as laundry, cooking, cleaning, as well as taking care of the children. The men would go to work then return home after a long day and expect dinner ready, and then relax. Within families, in many generations, women taught their daughters to do the same to be the “good wife” society expects each woman to be. Over the years, the norms of both men and women have changed as far as it now being acceptable for women to work, in addition to all the family and household responsibilities she has, but also men helping more around the house and playing more of the role when caring for the children. However, although women have come a long way from before, there still seems to be a lack of respect toward women. The way artists refer to women in their songs or how company’s advertisements depict women as sex images, these are ways popular culture portrays women today. Popular culture such as music, advertisements, and television, impact a person’s idea of a woman being negative, which is not how they should be viewed by others.

From a young age, children are conformed to acting and dressing a certain way according to how their parents want them to. Due to the norms that are set for women, they are expected to act, dress, and carry themselves a certain way. They need to act very lady like, they are expected to dress in skirts, dresses and wear colors that are usually assigned to girls such as pink and purple. These are norms that were made by society and of course, if a person does not conform to them, they are oftentimes looked down upon and very rarely ever rewarded. In “Becoming Members of Social Society: Learning the Social Meaning of Gender” written by Aaron H. Devor, he says “As we move through our lives, society demands different gender performances from us and rewards, tolerates, or punishes us differently for conformity to, or digression from, social norms” (387).