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Omar Hamawi

Professor Ditch

English 115

26 September 2017

The Society I Live in Today

The History textbooks that were taught in my elementary years always described the

characteristics of men and women in two categories. Men were the hunters and women were the

gatherers. These ideals trained society to believe that men have always had masculine traits and

women have feminine traits. Because of these ideals men have always acted more masculine in

public spaces and showed their feminine traits privately. Women however are opposite and are

showing more of their masculine traits and features in public spaces. Women are more

acceptable when acting different to their gender norms in society while men usually act more

masculine all the time because they feel as if they will not be allowed to act a different way so

because of this men tend to act masculine all the time and I believe I do this too. This new

discovery is why the class and I started writing down what we did each day in a journal to see

how we act in different spaces or talking to different people. I recently discovered from the

journals I wrote in class that I act masculine in public when around my friends or other people

and tend to show feminine

traits in the privacy of my home. This matters because it prevents boys or girls from acting

differently since they have been raised to think that they should act a certain way.

Our english class has witnessed changes in our society with the recent articles that we

have read in class. Like how in Ruth Hubbard's Rethinking Womens Biology she says

Women and men are physically not very different. (Hubbard 46) Hubbard talks about how a
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womans swimming champion team is very tall which shows masculine features and traits

because they are playing a sport. They are tall because they play sports which have always been

known as a more masculine thing. Society is starting to change from the way it views men and

women should act and are acting feminine or masculine no matter if they are a man or woman in

public.

I noticed when looking back at my journals that many of my interactions in public were

more masculine traits. For example, I went and hung out with some of my friends on a weekend

and we went to a party. At the party I would show masculine traits when talking to people.

When talking to my friends I would act more dominant and show a more masculine body posture

by putting my hands in my pockets when standing and also spread out more which shows more

dominance because I took up more space. I also noticed I spoke louder which would be more of

a masculine way of talking because I would show dominance over the conversation. I also

noticed the way I dress when going out is more masculine because I wear more masculine colors

like the colors black and red. This reminded me of Claire Renzetti and Daniel Currans article

From Women, Men, and Society when they say Clothing, then plays a significant part in

gender socialization in two ways. First as children become mobile, certain types of clothing

encourage or discourage particular behaviors or activities. (Renzetti, Curran 77) This quote says

that society views masculine and feminine traits according to gender. Women act more feminine

and should dress like it and men are expected to dress and act more masculine. This is what has

always been expected and I have realized from this journal that I did in class that I do this

because that is what I feel is right in society. I would not feel normal acting feminine in public

because that is not what I grew up doing. Claire Renzetti and Daniel Curran then say that this

way of thinking limits people because of how gender is constructed in society. For example girls
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might not be able to do sports because of the way they dress in public. This matters because it

makes men feel like they can only act masculine in public and cannot show feminine traits in

public.

The other thing I noticed after reviewing my journal was that I do show some feminine

traits and that is when I am at home in private. In my journal I wrote that I feed my cat when I

got home and I pet her which she enjoyed because she started to purr. This shows that I acted

more feminine when I was with my cat. The feminine traits I showed when with my pets were

how I care, feed and pet them which would show more of a feminine feature because it is

motherly and nurturing. I noticed in my journal that I do show feminine traits but it is just when

I am in private or around the company of my pets. I act this way in private because society has

taught me how a man should act when around people and I now act like that most of the time and

like to follow what I have always done. This relates to Aaron Devors article Becoming

Member of Society: The Social Meaning of Gender because it talks about how there are ways

that society views how males and females should act and I act more masculine around people but

not when around animals or in private.

Being in private lets me act any way I want because I am in a place where I am not

expected to act a certain way by society. I noticed in Becoming Member of Society: The Social

Meaning of Gender talked about what I was experiencing in my journal when it said

femininity, according to this traditional formulation, would result in warm and continued

relationships with men, a sense of maternity, interest in caring for children, and capacity of work

productively and continuously in female occupations. (Devor 40) This quote would be used to

show how the way I act with my pets in the privacy of my home is more feminine because I care

for them. I only do this in private because society has taught me growing up how a man should
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act in public and showing that feminine traits in public would not be normal for me. This matters

because it shows how men have been taught to act masculine all the time and not show any type

of emotion or feminine features in public so most men have grown up to be a certain way.

Society has always shown us how a man and woman should act in public and that is they

way I have always done when in public. I act more masculine when in the presence of people

and realized because of these journals that my fellow classmates and I have done that I show

feminine traits when in private and with pets. The two different spaces of public and private

spaces shows what traits I show more of whether it is masculine or feminine. The articles that we

read in class talked about how our society today has shaped people to act like this. Men would

act more masculine and woman would act more feminine. This has been taught to most people in

our society today since we were born. They show that parents slowly move you into what gender

you should act depending on your sex by making you act one way in public, making you play

with a certain kind of toy or even by the clothes you wear. I can see from my journals that this is

a main reason why I act more masculine in public because I have grown up doing this so I am

masculine in public and when I do show feminine traits it is in private. This could be due to the

way I was raised and the toys I played with or the clothes I wore that lead me to play more

aggressive with my friends. This could also happen because of the pressures society places on

people to act either masculine if you are a man or feminine if you are a girl. This is the socially

constructed gender norms society has placed on people and this is makes people feel

uncomfortable and not act the way they want unless they are in the privacy of their home.

Work Cited
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Groner, Rachel, and John F. O'Hara. Composing Gender: a Bedford Spotlight Reader.

Bedford/St. Martin's, 2014.

Devor, Holly. Gender Blending: Confronting the Limits of Duality. Indiana Univ. Press, 1990.

Renzetti, Claire M., et al. Women, Men, and Society. Pearson, 2014.