Gender

In second period today, for a portion of the class period, we discussed the gender spectrum. When we began the discussion and related activity, I thought it might be difficult to find, for example, a food that seemed masculine or one that seemed feminine. This task, however, turned out to be a lot easier than it at first seemed. While it is a relatively simple task to find examples of stereotypically masculine members of some other categories, such as sports or clothing, the unexpected (well, at least to me) ease with which the class found examples of stereotypical gender-specific food shows how deeply ingrained the images of men and women are in the societal mind still today.

These stereotypes don't mean women are forbidden to eat steak, or that men are prohibited from enjoying a cupcake. They don't mean men can't wear dresses, and they don't mean women can't wear a tuxedo. All the stereotypes do is categorize people according to what they like and don't like in relation to what society thinks they should like or not like. These images and examples have been presented to us for most of our lives, and people who contradict these "accepted" societal traits tend to be categorized as strange and different. I'm not saying that this tendency is a good practice. It is merely what society has taught people's minds since they were in preschool. While gender stereotypes are bad, they do exist, and as they do so, society needs to acknowledge them to avoid unconsciously perpetuating them.