John Gillon RHET 1312 2/11/12

Gender roles are defined as being the behaviors a society designates as being male or female appropriate. Living in todays world, no one is one hundred percent in control of the things that happens to them. Our patriarchal, or male-dominated, society affects the jobs we get, how we are perceived by society, and much more that we are seemingly unaware of. The image that I chose displayed very much how society reacts towards situations that seem abnormal. The father in this image gave his son a doll to play with. The choice of this toy struck as odd to the fathers friend because it was a toy that was typically for girls and in his mind, he believed that this would affect the childs sexuality in the future. The father, on the other hand, looked at the situation much differently. Instead of thinking that this would cause his son to become gay, he simply thought of his son one day becoming a father to his own children. Most of us would look at the situation as the fathers friend did because that is how society has shaped our thinking. In my opinion, playing with a baby doll does not make the son gay or straight, it makes him a child. We uphold a set of standards that we feel both men and women should adhere to and therefore, most of us try to abide by these sets of rules. The comic strip that I used speaks to every parent because it gives a different perspective on the things that affect children. Before children even escape the womb, parents are already in the process of creating their gender identity for them. They pick out a name specific for a girl or boy, receive or purchase clothing that are color appropriate for the sex of the child, and decorate rooms that are fit for either a baby boy or a baby girl. This is done subconsciously because as parents, this is what is known and this is what is supposed to be done. Even if this is done, I do not believe that this will determine whether a child will grow up to be either gay or straight. Society instinctively has a heteronormative assumption meaning that people assume that

John Gillon RHET 1312 2/11/12

everyone is born heterosexual. This is not always true and it is seen clearly in the case of many sets a twins. A set of identical twin boys named Jarred and Adam grew up in the same household and were both treated the same way. They had older brothers but no sisters. When Adam was about eighteen months old, he asked for a Barbie doll for Christmas. Since then, he expressed his feminine personality and he believed that he was a girl living inside of a boys body. If he had only known about the surroundings in his household, what could have caused him to act more like a girl? This shows that being homosexual does not have to come from the environment but it may be something transmitted in the genes. Children should be allowed to choose what they want to play with and express their personalities. Giving boys masculine toys wont make them more of a man if thats not how they perceive themselves. The same goes for girls because at a certain age, they will begin to make their own decisions on what they want in life. Even if they chose to play with items that were more fitting for the opposite sex, it could help them to become well-rounded individuals. A misleading statement in this image is when the friend says, You know when he grows up he might be you know... The friend never says anything about the boy turning out gay so it is just assumed that this is what he meant. This is a prime example of how society has shaped our thinking because the friend couldve said nurse, teacher, or any profession that had to do with children. Our minds dive straight into the opposite direction because we focus on certain aspects instead of looking at the big picture. If the friend had finished his statement, it wouldnt have caused us to think as much about the situation. By him not finishing, we are able to look at this image from many different angles and challenge our own views.

John Gillon RHET 1312 2/11/12

The author of my chosen image used ethos to get his or her point across. It is evident that he or she has much knowledge of societys perceptions of sexuality and displayed it well. The author doesnt see anything wrong with the young boy playing with the doll and this shows that he or she is open to people expressing their individualities. This image says so much with the very few words spoken but the message is nonetheless powerful. We expect men to be masculine, fearless, and rough and tumble and anything that challenges this perception is thought of as being wrong. Men with feminine qualities are sometimes devalued and we try our best to ignore this because it is not the norm of a real man. What qualities define a real man? Does cooking, cleaning, and taking care of children take away the masculine qualities that we deem manly? These are roles typically designed for women, but why cant men do these things as well? They are more than capable of accomplishing these tasks but as stated before, these are not the roles that society set out for them to acquire. Every individual goes through what is called socialization. This is the lifelong learning process during which we receive all the information about behaviors that we need to get by in our society. Instead of thinking about what society wants of us, we should think of what we want for ourselves. We live in a world where we cannot define ourselves as individuals because everything is mapped out for us before we ever get the chance to make our own decisions.