Joseph Eisch

Gender and Communication

Final Paper
How do you define masculinity and femininity today? Do you fit into these categories?
If youre like a vast majority of humans you will more than likely view yourself to have both
characteristics and traits. In todays society it is getting harder and harder to define one single
type of person as masculine or feminine. In the near future, more or less 40 years, masculine and
feminine traits will cover a vast array of characteristics and break away from the traditional
1950s model we still hold ourselves to a high degree still to this day. In this essay we will
examine 3 main theories that explain how we function and will continue to evolve, play out a
scenario to help visualize the purpose, and analyze how the theories and scenario work together
to expand our vision of this principle.
One of the largest contributors on how we view ourselves is the culture we live in.
People all over the Earth view themselves differently because every area and culture hold
different values and traditions when it comes to gender and their upbringing. Many cultural
aspects directly affect how we view ourselves and the world around us. This is best explained in
the theory of symbolic interactionism. This theory basically explains that through our
interactions with the people that surround us and the culture that we are brought up with we gain
a value of self worth and identity and how we are supposed to act and react within that culture.
Through our interactions with others, we are given labels.
These labels from a very young age give us some of the first impressions as how we view
and value ourselves. An article published in 1999 examines the dark side of masculine
upbringings in America. It was directly published after the Columbine shootings and looks at the
pressures on boys in our society to be cold and silent. The article explains how the stereotype of
male masculinity and the pressures that it directly puts on the adolescent male populations. In

Joseph Eisch
Gender and Communication
Final Paper
our society today we are told men are supposed to be rough, ridged, cold and successful,
emotions play no role in this view. If boys show emotion they are told to toughen up or made
fun of for showing traits of femininity. While this cultural view holds somewhat true today, the
views seem to be shifting.
Another main theory that helps us understand where our views are going is the social
learning theory. This theory states that by imitating others and receiving reactions from others
we learn what is acceptable and what is not. These reactions teach us what is expected of us
within our gender and what is considered unacceptable. When we stick to generic stereotypes
we are limiting ourselves and our children to be able to express themselves in the way that they
find natural. We are then also limiting the choices that we can make in our lives if we only stick
to what has been laid out for us in previous generations. With our new generations coming of
age we are seeing much growth and evolution in the theories of gender and finding out that there
are multiple ways of expressing who you are and breaking free of traditional roles.
The last theory to help explain our roles in viewing our gender and identity is the
cognitive development theory. This theory tells us that children play an active role in
developing their gender identities and that children pick models to teach themselves
competency in masculine and feminine behavior. Through this view we can assume that
children pick models that they familiarize with or idolize because they view their traits as
inspirational and try to mimic those traits. This understanding then explains how children pick
up on the masculine and feminine characteristics they portray. If a child chooses a model that is
gender neutral they it is assumed that they will reflect both traits and be of mixed characteristics.

Joseph Eisch
Gender and Communication
Final Paper
We will examine these theories deeper by looking at a scenario. Tommy is 6 years old.
He has a father, a mother and an older sister and brothers. He understands that he is in fact a boy.
At school he interacts with boys his own age but also interacts with girls as well. He finds both
equally appealing as friends. He like to be creative by drawing and painting. He also loves to go
outdoors with his male friends and explore, rough house, play games and simply do what boys
do. When he is home he likes to play with his older brothers and do what they do. He also loves
to spend time with his sister and do things she likes to do. Tommy is told he is such a creative
and imaginative little boy. He receives positive reactions when he goes and plays with the boys,
however when he wants to go and do what his sister is doing he is met with resistance. Even
though his parents dont refuse his interest in spending time with his sister, there is an unspoken
discouragement that comes from that. So when he does spend time with his sister he almost feels
like he is doing something wrong even though it feels natural to do so. When Tommy is in
school he gets along with most children but he finds it easier to talk to girls than boys even
though most of his friends are boys. When he goes to play with the girls he is met with teasing
and name calling. Tommy quiet honestly doesnt care what the other kids say because he has
male friends so he knows that he isnt different. When he is with girls he can effectively convey
his emotions that he couldnt normally do with his male friends. As he grows older he is met
with even more resistance and pressure to fit in. As this growing up process continues it gets
harder and harder for Tommy to fit in to the normalcy of his peers. Even though he had some
very difficult moments and some dark days, he got through it and was able to define himself the
way he wanted to be defined.

Joseph Eisch
Gender and Communication
Final Paper
Now as we examine this scenario we can point many of the parts to the theories outlined
earlier. In our ever-changing society it is getting harder and harder to fit into one specific mold
set by previous generations. Tommy was experiencing mixed emotions because he was expected
to follow one path, however he chose to deviate and pursue both paths equally. Now what if he
was to not follow both paths equally and simply follow the exact opposite path that others had
told him to follow? Would he have been meet with more opposition? Based on what we already
know about our societal structure, the answer is yes. Boys who act more feminine than
masculine and the vis versa for girls is generally met with heated opposition.
Now what would happen to Tommy if he was to totally ignore his inner feelings because
he didnt want to stand out and just wanted to fit in so he took the easy way and tried to take the
path laid out for him even though every step was a struggle? Every single person on this planet
is created entirely different but we as humans as born with basic psychological makeups and
instincts. When we choose to ignore our inherent instincts and mask our true emotions we have
a tendency to build up angst and emotion that can lead to an unhealthy life. As mentioned by
the earlier reference to the Columbine article, boys are under extreme pressures to fit the
masculine model. The article also tries to attempt and explain why the boys chose to do what
they did. One theory they pointed to what the immense pressure put on them within our scholar
structure that the boys felt like they couldnt live up to this model and their anger and frustration
bottled up long enough until it literally exploded. The social learning theory best describes the
possible reason behind this. Through our interactions as males we are taught to be brought up to
be tough and ridged and to excel at all costs. This pressure leaves no room for emotional
connection and creates a gap when many males fall into a deep pit of depression and frustration

Joseph Eisch
Gender and Communication
Final Paper
because they dont feel comfortable talking about their feelings, exactly the way we were
brought up believing males should be.
If you were to watch television programs in the 50s and 60s rarely would you see a
father figure portrayed in any other role than the working father who provides everything. This
is not so true today. We see a vast differentiation of male portrayals on tv. Every program now
has different roles for both men and women. It can be assumed that this shift in the evaluation of
male and female characters reflects the ever evolving and changing society. With the last
presidential election we saw that from now on any candidate that wants to win a high ranking
position much win over the votes of the minorities because the minorities are no longer a small,
minute section of the population. Minorities are growing rapidly and are changing the very
foundation of our views and how the society views itself as a whole. So with this growing
diversity in our culture, our views are changing and from this we are becoming more socially
accepting of differences and thus as explained by the symbolic interactionism theory, we will
gain new views for ourselves in this rapidly changing world we live in.
The last connection we make to the scenario is how Tommy finds comfort in his role
models. We do not state any specific models in the example but from his actions we can assume
he looks up to someone or persons that can be viewed as gender neutral, i.e. a parent or
grandparent that they see performing multiple role such as a father taking care of the house. The
cognitive development theory explains that children will choose models that they find common
attributes to or find some sort of comfort in their image and will partly develop their gender
identities based upon that. In a recent academic journal talking about childhood development it
states that current research shows that even if a child chooses to imitate the same sex models that

Joseph Eisch
Gender and Communication
Final Paper
it does not entirely base the child self views, instead that the child gets a basis and then attributes
their own characteristics and either enhances themselves to the model, disregard the model, or
have a combined view where they see some common characteristics but are ok with being
different from their model slightly. This research helps shed some light on how children handle
their views when it comes to the cognitive development theory. In lehmans terms, children will
choose who they look up to and will assess their own characteristics at their own level, each
child will be different.
Based upon these theories and how the world is vastly changing it is hard to say exactly
where well be in roughly 40 years. However, due to the giant shift in our worlds cultures and
views it is safe to assume that masculinity and femininity will have new traits or at least be
accepting of a hybrid of the two. If we think about how much our views have changed event in
the last ten to twenty years, we as a society have changed a lot. Ten years ago it was almost
impossible to find fully organic or biodegradable products, but today it is common place to pick
any sort of item with those descriptions. With a growing diversity within this nation, our level of
acceptance is growing, our children are growing up in a world filled with every color of persons
and it is a beautiful event to see. I believe we will still hold true to some of the character traits of
masculinity and femininity because some of it is just inherent in our biological make up as males
and females. However there will be a major blending of the two genders and an acceptance of
people showing both traits because if we look around us today, what do we see? A rainbow of
people that dont fit into one category anymore, but a whole fusion of people and thats what
makes us different and individually beautiful.

Joseph Eisch
Gender and Communication
Final Paper

Bibliography
. Grace, D. M., David, B. J. and Ryan, M. K. (2008), Investigating Preschoolers Categorical
Thinking AboutGender Through Imitation, Attention, and the Use of Self-Categories.
Child Development, 79: 19281941. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2008.01234.x
Glazer, S. (1999, June 18). Boys' emotional needs. CQ Researcher, 9, 521-544. Retrieved from
http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/
LarsErik Cederman Computational Models of Social Forms: Advancing Generative Process
Theory American Journal of Sociology , Vol. 110, No. 4 (January 2005), pp. 864-893
Wood, Julia T. Gendered Lives. Boston: Wadsworth, 2011. Print