Luis Moreno

Professor Beadle
English 115

Progression 1 Essay Prospectus

People say the brain always attempts to categorize everything. One major example of this
statement is gendering. Gendering has been around for a very long time, occasionally women
had to wear garments that covered them and that was the, correct way to dress; to now modern
time, where one is majorly influenced by society on how they should dress according to their
gender. It can be said gender in society is something that creates a sense of order and gives those
who need it a guideline kind of feel. In two articles about gender the authors Barbara Kantrowitz
and Pat Wingert from the first article titled Are We Facing a Genderless Future? they both
attempt to give logical reasoning to show how society is starting to become a little more
excepting of people who decide to not categorize themselves to one certain gender. In the second
article by author Emily Kane titled No Way My Boys Are Going to Be Like That: Parents
Response to Childrens Gender Nonconformity she gives examples in her article of parents
teaching in this case young boys being taught domestic home lessons. Both of these articles share
some ideas that relate to my personal life, in the first article by Kantrowitz and Wingert they
mention how society unwillingly judges and tries to characterize others. In the second article
These articles help the reader see societies standards from a different point of view.

Through out many readings about sex and gender it was noticeable there as a reoccurring
idea. In two of the articles the main idea talked about by the authors of each independent article
was social progression and change. In the article Are we Facing A Genderless Future? by two
authors is written about how society is changing with the gender issue they are writing this to
inform using logos to show how societies standards are evolving. Today we see society
accepting more than how it was 50 years ago, although we are not one hundred percent accepting
of everyone there has been major progress. One example given in the article is about the
education system and how it is adjusting to the social gender changes occurring. They have
started to implement services that cater to everyone. Like mentioned in the article certain schools
have created unisex bathrooms. Another thing schools have done is create gender neutral dorms.
Schools taking such steps toward gender nonconformity could cause others to follow and do the
same. In the second article No Way My Boys Are Going to Be Like That: Parents Responses
to Childrens Gender Nonconformity, author Kane also sticks to the change and progression
theme. Kane giving examples like how mothers were teaching their young boys how to cook and
about emotions. Teaching such things would have never been allowed in the 20th century but
with the progression society is making, a person with diverse skills has more of an advantage in
the workforce. Both articles manage to give true examples showing how far as a society we have
come.

It can be said that the authors are writing about progression because it shows how more
excepting as a society we have become. In the first article by authors Barabra Kantrowitz and Pat
Winger it can clearly be seen just by the title Are we Facing a Genderless Future this piece of
writing is about progression. The title right off the bat gives the reader the main idea and the

reader can infer how living in an actual genderless future is something that if it were actually to
occur would be major movement for this social issue. The articles contents just reinforce even
more the progression idea with examples. In much of the second article the author Kane speaks
about parents insecurity with there childs nonconformity with there gender meanwhile at the
same time placing extraordinary examples of progression with children and gender. Like
mentioned before the example of the mother who taught her son to cook is something that would
hardly never have been heard of few years before. Another example is the parents who proudly
proclaimed how they bought their young boy a kitchen set with a baby doll to pretend feed. In
the past such examples would have been frowned upon by the parents close peers, at that point
in time society had constructed social gender identity very differently and when it was broken
the person was made as the outcast for not conforming. During that time men were the bread
winners and the womens had all the domestic duties. All the authors of the articles were
extraordinary in giving examples of society how it is now and how far we had come.

Both of these articles by the authors share common ideas that relate to me during my
childhood and now in my present day. In Are we Facing a Genderless Future? by Barbara
Kantrowitz and Pat Wingert they mention how society tends to unwillingly judge and categorize
others. This in a way is something that relates to me as I have caught myself trying to fit people
into a certain category. This seems to be something humans tend to do just as we try and find
sense in everything we come across. As I have grown older I have come to notice that sometimes
categorizing people like this can lead to prejudgment, this prejudgment can interfere and not let
us actually get to know that person for how they really are. It can also cause to speak of people in
a bad way to other just based on first impressions. In the second article by Emily Kane she writes

about how children who really dont understand societies gender standards tend to have kids
finding some interest in something that according to society does not pertain to there gender. I
relate to this as my mother would tell me how I found joy in watching shows like Dora The
Explorer and such shows that at a young age I wouldnt be able to distinguish it from what
gender it applied to. Being a boy obviously society might of thought Dora wasnt something that
was meant to pertain to me but watching a show like Dora that maybe wasnt considered
masculine. In many ways the show had many effects on me that werent necessarily the same as
others who didnt get to watch the show possibly because of controlling parents. Watching Dora
would always make me want to go on adventures. This exploring curiosity caused by watching
Dora lead to me in the backyard trying to get a hold of a squirrel that ended up biting me. If it
werent for progression of social issues and open minded parents, I wouldnt have experienced
many of my most fond early childhood memories.

Overall both of the articles share common ideas that give the reader in depth knowledge
of the issue from the authors themselves and examples of parents own personal experience. The
authors give a very good descriptive examples of how as a whole society we have made
progress. Progression being the main idea of both articles it can be said the authors of both
articles wrote about this to shed more light on the social issue.