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Raina Mark
Professor Jon Beadle
English 115
8 December 2015
Gender & Society
In the articles From Women, Men, and Society by Claire Renzetti and Daniel Curran,
and Are We Facing a Genderless Future by Barbara Kantrowitz and Pat Wingert, the main
common ideas discussed within them are of gender issues in our society such as gender roles and
expectations from society according to ones gender. The authors of these articles are writing
about this topic because this has been one of the top headlines in our society today. Also, people
need to be more aware of such issues as it affects laws in many countries and many people we
interact with can be facing issues related to gender. Another issue is how everyone has different
opinions on this topic and the way someone views gender.
The article From Women, Men, and Society talks about the various matters that makes
up a persons gender identity and their understanding of gender. The authors mention topics such
as growing up feminine or masculine, parent-child interactions, and toys and gender
socialization. Over time, when expectant parents are asked for their preference for a child: boy or
girl, and many have preferred the dominance of boys over girls. American parents are said to
have different expectations for their babies and the way they treat them really varies from parent
to parent just on the basis of the babys sex. For the most part, boys are expected to have
masculine features and habits, whereas girls are expected to have feminine features and habits.
Clothing is one of the main factors that parents use to express their childs gender. As we can see,
boys are usually dressed in dark or primary colors, such as red and blue (Renzetti & Curran

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77). They are also dressed in clothes which have sports or military affiliated designs. On the
other hand, girls are usually dressed in pastels, especially pink and yellow (Renzetti & Curran
77). The designs that are typically on girls dresses are flowers, hearts, and have bows or ruffles
on them. Parent interaction is another important subject when describing the way a child is
raised; its a two way interaction as the article states, a give-and-take between the parent and the
child (Renzetti & Curran 78). Studies show that parents communicate differently with sons and
daughters. Perhaps, when talking to girls, parents show more emotional words than they do with
boys. The way parents treat boys and girls affect differently because this is what creates the
difference in gender.
Toys and gender socialization is a huge part of our society that expects girls and boys to
be differentiated in. There is a remarkable difference between the types of toys in which girls and
boys play with. According to a study many years ago, researchers have found that there was a
contrasting difference between boys and girls rooms. Girls rooms were indicated with the
traditional conceptions of femininity, especially in terms of domesticity and motherhood
(Renzetti & Curran 80). The signs that portrayed this nature was the plenty of dolls and dollhouses, and also kitchen related items. However, there were still a few of these things found in
the boys rooms, but they instead had athletic gears and military toys. We may not notice this
often, but toys do play a huge role in the way how someones interests and nature grow up to be.
The article states that toys for boys tend to encourage exploration, manipulation, invention,
construction, competition, and aggression. In contrast, girls toys typically rate high on
manipulability, but also creativity, nurturance, and attractiveness (Renzetti & Curran 82). This
can often be described as a fatherly or motherly nature respectively.

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In the Are We Facing a Genderless Future article, Kantrowitz and Wingert focuses on a
current issue about people who do not identify with the gender assigned to them biologically.
They report on a person who identifies themselves as genderless. Norrie May-Welby, an
immigrant from Scotland who currently resides in Australia, is the worlds first legally
genderless person. Registered male at birth, May-Welby began taking female hormones at 23
and had sex-change surgery to become a woman, but now doesnt take any hormones and
identifies as genderless (Kantrowitz & Wingert 68). According to the article, it states that the
controversy over the APAs 1973 decision to modify the second edition of the DSM by declaring
that homosexuality could be considered a mental disorder only if it was disturbing to the patient
(Kantrowitz & Wingert 69). This means that as long as a person is still in good health condition
if they consider themselves as a homosexual, then it does not mean they have a mental disorder,
but if it affects their health negatively, there could be a possibility of it being a mental disorder.
This simple change of language used in relative to gender could help guide for a persons gender
to be expressed as male, female, in between, or otherwise. It also states that many scientists
see gender as a continuum and acknowledge that some people naturally fall in the middle
(Kantrowitz & Wingert 69). This can mean that some people even after becoming transgender
may not feel comfortable in who they are and that many of them just feel as though they fall in
between male and female. And being genderless or gender-neutral isnt the same thing as being
asexual (Kantrowitz & Wingert 70). This is true as being genderless or gender-neutral means
that one is still attracted to men, women, both sexes, or others who are gender-neutral, whereas
asexual means one is not attracted to anyone.
The gender roles in our society today are a lot different than they have been in the
previous years and generations. It is constantly changing every day because of how different the

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world is today compared to the past years. Especially for women, gender roles are changing
tremendously, but gender roles for men have not changed as much as it has for women. For
instance, women are seen doing many jobs that were strictly for men back in the day, but today
women take on jobs in the business, engineering, medical, and political field. Also, men are seen
cooking a lot more than they used to years ago. Its also common for women to wear pants, but if
a guy were to wear skirts people would find it very strange. This shows the differences in
societys expectations for boys and girls. People are more soft hearted with girls, but more
aggressive when it comes to boys. Just like it was mentioned in the article of how parents
interactions with their children according to the gender, girls were talked to with more emotion
than boys.
Depending on how someone is raised, the people they are surrounded with, their family
traditions or views, culture, and their society affects the different views on gender that each
individual has. I was brought up in an Indian Christian family which has played a huge role on
the person I am today. My views on gender are very much associated with those of an average
Christian. Also, in Indian culture, whenever a girl and guy are friends, they automatically assume
there must be something going on as they find it weird for two people of the opposite sex to be
just friends. However, one of my childhood best friends was a guy, but now that we are older our
relatives and family friends would find it weird for us to be friends. My parents have always
been strict and overprotective over me having guy friends because they are so culturally
influenced by the fact that having a guy friend can automatically mean that we are more than
friends. Another thing I have noticed from my own personal experience is the difference in the
ways boys and girls are treated. Girls are usually overprotected by parents and family, whereas
boys are given more freedom.

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Gender is a huge factor in our society that shapes us into who we are. As the articles
Renzetti and Curran, and Kantrowitz and Wingert have discussed two different areas in gender
such as gender roles and gender expectation. Some of the most important factors which affect
gender are parent-child interactions, and toys and gender socialization. Ones opinion and views
on their understanding of gender can make a difference in what they stand for when it comes to
the topic of gender, but most of the time, society sets up a traditional expectation on the roles of
gender and the way we want someone to be.

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Works Cited
Kantrowitz, Barbara, and Pat Wingert. Are We Facing a Genderless Future? Composing
Gender: A Bedford Spotlight Reader. Groner, Rachel, and John F. OHara. Boston:
Bedford/St. Martins, 2014. Print.
Renzetti, Claire, and Daniel Curran. From Women, Men, and Society. Composing Gender: A
Bedford Spotlight Reader. Groner, Rachel, and John F. OHara. Boston:

Bedford/St.

Martins, 2014. Print.