#12: Results

After I received all of my responses for my survey there were certain elements that surprised me, while other parts went along with what I was expecting.  Through my survey I was trying to see if there is a difference in opinions on gender norms depending on peoples gender and age.  I had people rate scenarios of children breaking gender norms from 1 to 10 with 1 being completely acceptable and 10 being not acceptable. When it came to the differences in gender I noticed that men were more likely to rate a scenario with a girl breaking a gender norm such as being on a wrestling team, with a higher number than the scenarios with boys breaking gender norms.  This surprised me because while doing my research earlier in the year, it seemed that men were much harsher when it came to young boys breaking gender norms.  When I compared the responses based on the age of the person who took the survey, I noticed that the people who fell between the 30-50+ age range had a much less lenient view on the scenarios then did those who fell in the 13-25 age range.  I expected to see this sort of generational difference. I think the fact that the 13-25 year olds grew up in a more modern society that had much more accepting values played a big role in their opinions of these scenarios.

When I first started my research gender development was a topic that I had had an interest in, and that interest only grew the more I learned about the topic.  We live in a society where there unfortunately is still a negative stigma on children who break gender norms.  There are currently steps being made to make this a more accepting society and to make kids feel comfortable to be whoever they want to be.  I have learned a lot through my research and it has actually helped me become a more accepting person.  I hope that this is just the start of my research and that this is something that I can continue learning more about in upcoming years.

#11: Revised Summary/Plan/Update

While forming my survey I stuck with my plan that I spoke about in my previous post about finding out what scenarios people find acceptable when it comes to children breaking gender norms. I tried to make the scenarios in my survey as general as possible as to not sway anyone’s opinions while answering the questions.  I sent the survey out to people with a wide variety of ages in order to see the difference between generations and their opinions on gender norms.  Although I have not gotten all of my responses back, and am planning to send my survey out to more people, the few that I have received back have so far followed what I expected.  Based on the research I did prior to starting my survey, the responses that I am getting are correlating with people’s gender and age. I am hoping once I am finished I will be able to see the difference in opinions between different ages and genders.  I am also hoping to be able to see if people have a threshold for what they find acceptable within a gender.  I am excited to continue to get responses to my survey and see if these answers will reflect my hypothesis.

#10: Strategy for Research

For my project I am planning to do an online survey.  For my survey I will be asking for the participants gender and age.  The main thing I am looking for is the difference between male and females when it comes to their opinions on children breaking gender norms.  I am also interested in seeing if there is a difference in generations when it comes to what is considered acceptable and not acceptable for which gender norms kids can break.  After the research I completed last semester, I expect to see that men are less likely to find children breaking gender norms acceptable.  I also expect to see that most people will find it more acceptable for girls to break their gender norms, than it is for boys to break their gender norms.  I am excited to conduct this project and see if my results match up with all of the research I have done on gender development.

#9: Suggested Research Method

My plan for my project is to do a survey.  I want my survey to show the differences between male and female views on children breaking gender norms.  I am looking to see what each gender finds acceptable when it comes to gender norms.  I am hoping this will help me back up my hypothesis I came up with after finishing my research on this topic.

#8: What I've Learned

The topic that I chose to write my blog on was gender development. Throughout my blog posts I looked into how our society deals with gender roles, especially with children. I always knew that gender roles were something that seemed to be engrained in people, but I never fully realized how stuck we are in them.  The one thing that seemed to be a trend throughout all of my research was how girls breaking gender norms was not a big deal, however there is a greater stigma on boys who break gender norms. It seems like society is completely fine with little girls dressing in boy clothes, or partaking in boys activities, however when little boys decide to wear princess costumes or want to play with Barbie dolls there is immediate backlash. The stigma placed on young boys especially is something that we would all like to hope we don’t buy into, but unfortunately it is something so drilled into our society

that it is hard to ignore.  This is exactly what needs to be changed. Once we start changing the way people view gender roles it will become easier for everyone to accept whatever a child wants to do.  This is something that will not be easy, and something that will not happen over night, however it is possible.  We need to create a culture where children can grow up and know that they can be whatever they want.  Girls need to be encouraged that they are strong enough to be firefighters, and boys need to be reminded that they are nurturing enough to become a nurse or a teacher.  We are living in a constantly evolving society, but for some reason gender stereotypes are stuck in the past. We need to change the way we view gender norms so we can make a more accepting environment for children to grow up in today

                                         

#7: What About the Boys?

The conversation about gender roles is so commonly focused on women, but now we are going to discuss how men handle gender roles.  This article by the LA Times points out how ‘men are stuck’ in gender roles.  Today, it is much more common to see a women pursuing a career that may have previously been viewed as a ‘mans job’ than it is for men to be pursuing what is perceived as a ‘woman’s job’. For instance job areas such as business or law were once seen as jobs primarily for men, however now women are breaking into it, but men have been slower to break into jobs such as nursing or teaching.  There are various statistics that point out the delay in growth for male gender roles such as the fact that a working mother these days is nothing out of the ordinary, however stay-at-home dads only exist in 1% of marriages with children under 15.  Another study held by the University of South Florida showed that the stigma of men staying home to take care of their children goes as far as people believing that it is less masculine for men to want a flexible schedule as employees.  By this day and age women have realized that there is nothing stopping them from pursuing whatever job field they want, but it seems that men have yet to make that realization.

The rut that men seem to be stuck in reflects a negative message to young boys today.  If grown men are too worried about what society will think about them if they take a ‘feminine’ job, how will young boys ever realize that it is okay to break the mold? There is no going against the fact that it is viewed as less acceptable today for men to partake in ‘womanly’ activities, than it is for women to partake in something that is viewed as manly.  A quote that really stuck out to me from this article is “If girls call themselves tomboys, it’s with a sense of pride…but boys make fun of other boys if they step just a little outside the rigid masculine stereotype.”  The negative connotation for boys stepping outside of their gender norms seems to be a never-ending cycle that follows boys throughout their entire lives.  Breaking gender norms for boys has to be something that happens across all generations.  Once there is a change in the way breaking gender norms is perceived in men later on in life, it will become much easier for younger boys to follow.  This is a change that will be just as hard as breaking female gender norms, and just as important. Men need to realize how much gender roles affect them, and they have to join the fight against them in order to make a more acceptable society for young boys.