(18, WA, USA) Maira - Gender Roles

Gender roles are societal expectations and ideas of masculine and feminine behavior. These roles often place the actions of men and women into a box, restricting and closing minds to behaviors that cross gender lines. We have recently seen an increase in acceptance of behaviors that blur the lines between masculine and feminine gender roles.

While growing up, gender roles were something my mother especially pushed on me. I was always dressed in frilly clothing and taught to admire princesses and other overtly feminine figures. Behaviors like being nurturing, caring, and passive were emphasized. Entering 4th grade, I wanted to rebel against these restrictive roles. I swapped the skirts my mom always wanted to put me in for jeans and started to detest the color pink. I joined the boys when they played soccer at recess, embodying a tomboy persona as a response to the pressure to be a cute and soft-spoken girl. This internal struggle stemmed from a place of misogyny, viewing overt femininity as wrong. However, I eventually grew out of this phase and accepted some female gender roles, like wearing makeup and dressing up. I chose to break free from the simplistic box of feminine traits pushed on me in childhood and form my personality based on what I deemed fitting.

The feminine gender role seems to have originated from the view of women as mothers who rely on their husbands to provide for them. My experience demonstrates how parents and media enforce gender roles onto children. During my childhood, I felt trapped in the feminine role and wanted to rebel against it. Gender roles are societal expectations for genders, but these expectations are often unrealistic. In recent years, I have appreciated the greater acceptance of androgynous roles.