Zapata-Pulido 1

Tristan Zapata-Pulido

Professor Granillo

English 101

29 October 2018

Two-Sided View of Gender

What do you think when the norms of gender are talked about, should men only be

masculine, and females be feminine? Men can be both masculine or feminine, woman are the

same there is no specific labels that apply to the qualities that have. It is very common for those

who are gay or lesbian to be questioned on which of the two are the boy/ girl in a relationship;

this is because people are labeling them based on the things they like or the qualities they show.

There shouldn’t be labels placed on those who show traits of the opposite sex, it doesn’t make

them the boy/ girl of a relationship; though they do choose to show those traits we should

classify them based on what they’d prefer. Gender labels are just ways that separate people and

cause problems bigger than the real issue, we should only have male and female.

When there are homosexual couples nothing about them should classify one as a girl,

they’re both men. This is brought up in Stephen Mays’s, “What About Gender Roles in Same-

Sex Relationships”, where the topic of the labels people question in same sex couples is spoken

on. Mays had heard people talking about it one day while they were walking behind a gay

couple. He goes into the ideas of how men don’t have to be masculine to be the “man” of the

relationship; or being feminine makes them the “woman”. That although a “number of gay men

claim to be seeking “masc” or” masculine” partners” (Mays, 597) that doesn’t make them the

woman of the relationship; that is just personal preference.

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Though there might not be a specific gender to classify them as, we should do so based

on what they would prefer to call themselves. In a related topic in Laurie Frankel’s, “From He to

She in First Grade” where she speaks about her daughter and her transition from boy to girl; but

she didn’t know what to do are classify him as. She had been conflicted by this because she

didn’t know whether to accept her daughters’ choices or to protect her from others. With her

being bullied at a young age for being a boy who was feminine, why must people talk down on

and label those who don’t show the norms of their gender. Therefore, we should classify those

who are outside the norms based on what they would prefer. It is only right that we treat them as

we treat everyone else and not label them based on their qualities.

Though people will show traits of the opposite sex; it is best for us to not classify those

who show the traits of femininity, women. If men show emotion and are more feminine then

their partner that doesn’t classify them as the girl between the two. People should have the

freedom to choose what they would like to be classified as. There should not be anything that

classifies them as the other sex, being feminine doesn’t just apply to women, along with

masculinity it is not just applied to men.

These questions on if femininity can cause issues with people being labeled based on a

characteristic they show. It is more common that people in a gay/ lesbian relationship to be

questioned who the boy or girl between them is. There are only male and female, but we should

be able to classify ourselves with what we so choose. Being outside the norms of our gender does

not consider us to be called the opposite sex, were just the gender that we are born in; nothing

more or less. The views of how people see the norms of gender and classify gay couples should

be open to seeing that there are more than just a man and woman in a relationship, these couples

should go noticed as both being the same.

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Works Cited Page

Mays, Stephen. “What about Gender Roles in Same-Sex Relationships” They Say/ I say, Edited

by Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstien, Russel Durst, 4th edition, W.W. Norton, 2018, pp.

596-598

Frankel, Laurie. “From He to She in First Grade” They Say/ I say, Edited by Gerald Graff, Cathy

Birkenstien, Russel Durst, 4th edition, W.W. Norton, 2018, pp. 583-588