Mackenzie Donovan

10/17/16
AP Language
Mrs. Hunt
B Block

Societal Regulations
When a child is born they do not choose their gender, but they are coming into a world
that will widely judge them for the way the act. From birth boys and girls are seen as different in
society. It is a known fact that boys will wear blue and girls will wear pink. Not only will the
gender role influence the clothes and the toys that children play with it will even influence the
books they read. These early actions that parents take before the child can think for him or
herself will influence their behavior in the future. Men and women are forced into roles in
society that they may not want to be apart of. The society we live in causes men and women to
feel like they need to act a certain way based on gender.
Men are expected to act tough and not show emotions. Be a man is a phrase that is
commonly said to boys. This phrase is often used to convince a man to do something he probably
would not do if someone did not say that. For example, if a man does not want to go sledding
down a huge hill because he is scared his friends may say be a man and the boy may go down
the hill. Phrases like this one cause men to be violent, but this is not the only factor that
determines why men are violent. 90% of homicidal predators are male (The Mask You Live In).
This fact is influenced by many factors throughout a mans life. As boys turn into young men
they start playing video games about violence and killing people and, listening to music about
violence and killing people; therefore, these young boys are going to be influenced to be violent
and maybe even kill people. Another factor that influences men being violent is the fact that

society tells them they cannot show emotions. By keeping emotions pent up within their body
these feeling build up to a breaking point. This breaking point causes men to be violent. Because
society tells men and boys it is not alright to show emotions, it causes serious outbreaks of
violence. The fact that Every hour more than 3 people are killed by a gun (The Mask You Live
In) proves this point. Connecting this back to the fact that 90% of homicidal predators are male,
this means about 65 killings a day are caused by males, which proves that men take out their
anger in a form of violence. A males role in society is to be powerful and to keep their emotions
within.
Unlike men, being a woman is not associated with toughness. Being a woman means that
the body you walk in will be judged, and you will be expected to have a man that you can
depend on. Men are seen as protectors of women because women in societies eyes are weak.
Women in society are not supposed to be strong, rather they are expected to take care of their
body. Women are judged everywhere they go based on their bodies. The movie Miss
Representation said that 53% of 13 year old girls are unhappy with their bodies, and moves to
78% by the age of 17. This fact comes from the fact that women cannot like their own body if
other people are so critical of it. Girls are struggling with body image not because they do not
like their body, but because others do not like their body, and then they start to not like their
body. Not only are girls judged for their bodies but women in the workplace are judged. For
example, women who work in the TV industry are not judged based on what they are conveying
to the audience but rather how they look that day. The headline of the newspaper the next day
would focus on how this womens skirt was too short, instead of the information she was
explaining. Nancy Pelosi is a great example of this, In John Boehners first four weeks as
speaker of the house he was on the cover of five national weekly magazines, In Nancy Pelosis

four years as Speaker of the House she has been on the cover of zero national weekly
magazines (Miss Representation). Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner had the same job, but Nancy
did not receive the same treatment as John. This creates a problem because women and womens
ideas are not valued for what they really are. Because women are not valued as much as a man
society tells women they need a man to depend on. By society forcing women to depend on a
man and attract men with their bodies, these men can take advantage of women. This quote
explains the problem, 1 in 4 women are abused by a partner in their lifetime (Miss
Representation), society tells women they need to have a partner to protect them, but twenty-five
percent of women in relationships are taken advantage of. Because men are seen as tough and
women are viewed as weak this allows the problem of abuse to occur. Society makes women
believe they are less valuable than men.
There is clearly a problem with gender roles in society. Men are expected to act one way
and women are expected to act a different way. Specifically, men are supposed to be tough and
hide emotions, and women are supposed to have a man they can depend on and to have a body
that will be judged. These stereotypes that men and women fall into when they are born cause
many problems, such as violence with men and body image problems in women. These problems
caused by gender roles can all be linked back to back to one place, society.

Works Cited
The Mask You Live In. Dir. Jennifer Siebel Newsom. Netflix. N.p., n.d. Web.
Miss Representation. Dir. Jennifer Siebel Newsom. Netflix. N.p., n.d. Web.