Perez Cortez 1

Laura Perez Cortez

Professor Beadle
English 115
4 October 2016
We Are a Creation of Society
Everyone has at least heard once be yourself from someone else in their life. They say
this will make us happy and our lives will most likely be more successful. For some people to be
yourself means to do what they want, ignoring what others think. Everyone has their own
definition of be yourself. This same belief should be applied when it comes to choosing
gender. Gender is the concept of being masculine or feminine, and gender applies to everyone. In
the articles by Judith Lorber, Aaron Devor, and Ruth Hubbard in Composing Gender we see that
society has the control over people when it comes to gender. They wrote about this idea because
for society many things are natural but this isn't necessarily true, I am a girl but my favorite color
is not pink. Gender is taught by parents starting at a young age, and is constructed by stereotypes
created by society.
Society considers that every human being is born with their gender. They think that
gender identity should be in yourself, and that it might take some time but eventually it will be
found because one is born with it. This search starts at a young age. By the age of two, children
usually understand that they are members of their gender (Devor 35). By this age, kids become
close to people they understand are part of their gender group. When kids become closer with
people of their group, they learn body postures and demeanor. People appear feminine when
they keep their arms closer to their bodies, their legs closer together, and their torsos and heads

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less vertical than do masculine-looking individuals (Devor 41). Society establishes that men
have high status, are aggressive, violent, tough, and dominant; on the other hand, women
represent no threat, are subordinate, smile more, and use polite language as Ruth Devor
explained. Society expects kids to fit these these stereotypes, but for some people, starting at a
young age, to be born a boy or a girl does not mean they will act masculine or feminine.
Parents play a key role in the gender of their children. Parents start to gender their kids
even before they are born. This starts when they start to buy clothes, and decorating the room of
the baby who will be born after. Clothes are used as cue by parents, to prevent confusion from
other people. When I was a little girl my parents dressed me very girly. They dressed me with
dresses, that were usually pink. As a newborn I did not have the knowledge that this was to
differentiate me from boys and prevent other people from thinking that I was a baby boy. As I
grew up, my toys were mostly dolls, but I remember that I loved to play with the toys that were
for my brother and that my favorite color was blue. I usually prefered to play soccer than to play
with the dolls. My mother did not like this, because as everybody else thought, soccer was just
meant to be played by boys. I also noticed how the relationship I had with my mom was different
than the one she had with my brother. My brother had more freedom, he could go anywhere he
wanted. On the other hand, I had to be where my mom was, because I was a girl and I was
supposed to be were other women were. We often become what we learned from those we look
up to, who in my case was my mother, who learned from society.
Society constructs gender without noticing because for them things are natural, when in
reality they are just stereotypes created by them. People look for signs to determine the gender of
others around them. Unless someone does something out of norm, society notices the different

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stereotypes placed on men and women. Everyone was doing gender the men who were
changing the role of fathers and the other passengers, who were applauding them silently
(Lorber 19). Others were applauding silently because men do not usually take care of kids. It
should not be like this because both parents have responsibilities with the child. Stereotypes by
our society say that women should be the ones taking care of kids, and men should work and
provide for the families. Now, this gender roles are changing but not completely. Men are still
place above women, and we see this when men and women do the same job but often the tasks
are given different job titles such as executive secretary and administrative assistant (Lorber
26). This stereotype is also noticeable when society calls work anything men do, but much of
what women do has been interpreted as a natural manifestation of our biology (Hubbard 50). It's
this belief that underestimates women, who after working outside home, come home to clean and
cook for their family. Women are not predisposed to do all of this, they were not born with this
responsibility. It's society who has determined that any work women do at home should not be
consider work as itself. These stereotypes are what future generations learn.
Next time we hear someone tell us be yourself we should start by ignoring what society
has taught us. We are not unique when we practiced what others have established as good or bad
for us, or how we should act. To act masculine or feminine, to dress as one or other should be
personal. We are not born to satisfy what society expects from us. Gender is a personal decision.
After this decision is made, one will truly be happy. Just imagine a world free of gender norms
and stereotypes. Our world would improve, because we would have equality. Equality is what
we need because this would open new doors for a better future. Equality would allow us to work
together as humans, and not separate us as men and women.

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Works Cited
Devor, Aaron. Becoming Members of Society: The Social Meaning Of Gender. Composing
Gender, edited by Rachel Groner and John F. OHara, Bedford Spotlight Reader, 2014,
pp. 35-43.
Lorber, Judith. Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender. Composing Gender,
edited by Rachel Groner and John F. OHara, Bedford Spotlight Reader, 2014, pp.19-30.
Hubbard, Ruth. Rethinking Womens Biology. Composing Gender, edited by Rachel Groner
and John F. OHara, Bedford Spotlight Reader, 2014, pp.46-52.