Gender stereotyping? Let’s not. I am a girl; which happens to be the gender that gets the most gender stereotypes. I want to reach out to my peers to let them know that we shouldn’t gender stereotype because of the effects on it. Although we’ve been brought up with it, that doesn’t mean we have to keep doing it or encourage it in the future. Gender stereotyping is one of the dumbest things anyone can think of doing. It leads to people feeling as if they can’t do something just because of their gender. Why do we gender stereotype? What types of gender stereotypes are there? What are the effects of this problem? Is there a way of stopping it? What are other people’s perspective about it? A lot of us may not know these answer to these questions but I have solutions. Often times we don’t even know what the definition of gender stereotyping is. “Gender Stereotypes are fixed ideas about men’s and women’s traits and capabilities and how people should behave, based on their gender.”(Psychology Definitions in Plain English).I believe that no gender should be underestimated and we shouldn’t allow or even be able to let people gender stereotype. I see women and men in my society and/or in my family feeling less valuable or more cautious about what they do because of what they hear. This issue has been going on for so long and has gone so far, and we still haven’t been able to stop it. This situation is very important because women and men feel as if they aren’t capable to do what women can or the other way around. At times, men don’t want to do something because it might seem “gay” such as, ballet and dancing. People think that these hobbies or sports are only for a certain gender and it makes the ones that are actually doing the sport or hobby feel dumb. I want those who gender stereotype to feel ashamed of what they’ve done. We shouldn’t underestimate genders because of the ones we always hear.

Though we all hear gender stereotypes, we don’t realize there’s a reason why we do it.“Human beings are social animals. We have an innate need to connect and belong to a group. This drive to fit in is what allowed our ancestors to survive in the ancient world; it made it possible for men to work together to hunt down antelope or for women to gather berries. But now, it seems as if it is the root cause of stereotypes--namely, gender stereotypes. We have all at one point experienced them in our lives. Women are expected to be beautiful in order to find themselves a good husband, or women are more emotional than men. Likewise, men need to be strong and prove their masculinity by playing sports.”(Cohen). We always feel as if we need to belong to a group but we really don’t. We don’t need to copy what other people do or what our family did. We all experience these stereotypes that doesn’t help to let us believe in ourselves. We’re so focused on what other people think. By putting a stop to these gender stereotypes, we will be able to do what we want no matter the gender.

Believe it or not, there happens to be many different types of gender stereotypes. We may have not realized it yet, but we see gender stereotyping in our everyday lives. For example, we see them in our workplaces.“Gender stereotypes in the workplace,emerge from the assumption that women belong at home. Women cannot have any job they would like to, that there are jobs they are ‘inadequate’ for. This resulted in women drawing lower wages than men, holding low-status jobs, comprising a few senior positions in prestigious firms where they compete with men and take up equally huge responsibilities.”(No Bullying).“Because stereotypes are common in U.S. culture, they often affect the types of jobs men and women can get. For example, many women are hired in the hospitality industry because women are thought of as nurturing, emotional and friendly. Men are often considered for jobs that require strength and physical ability, such as dish washing and construction, and jobs that require emotional control and leadership skills, such as upper management positions. While companies are legally unable to discriminate against either gender, many men and women seek out jobs ascribed to their gender to fit into expectations.”(Luke).  Although this stereotype that women should be at home isn’t true, women get paid lower wages when they aren’t staying at home with no job, which shows exactly how women are criticized the most and aren’t being treated equally.

We not only see these gender stereotypes everywhere else, but we also see it in the media. The media is where we mainly see them. For women, it’s “the health-obsessed” woman. This one appears in organic food commercials, fitness commercials or beauty-preserving commercials where she applies anti-wrinkles cream and smiles gracefully -not too seductively- to the camera.”(No Bullying). Women being perceived as “health obsessed” makes women feel as if they have to be something that they’re not. We also always see gender stereotypes in disney movies and music by women always being the princesses being rescued by their prince. “The female heroine is either a princess, a queen or a homemaker. In early Disney films, the princess was always the damsel-in-distress who waited for her prince to save her. Strangely, Disney relies more on their female heroines than male heroes.”(No Bullying). In songs, women are stereotyped by their sexuality, viewed as being vulnerable to receive something from a man. Meanwhile, men are stereotyped and viewed as muscular and violent. From realizing all these bad things that happen in our everyday lives, we shouldn’t continue to encourage gender stereotyping. There’s no reason to make a woman or man feel as though they are less than what they are and no one should have to go through that. Now we have to sit and think. Do we want this for our future? Do we want to keep feeling this way about ourselves? I’m guessing no. In order to do that, we have to respect one another and treat each other equal as we should be.

Adding onto gender stereotyping, there are many bad effects from it that can cause women to feel as though they are even more unequal towards men. As I mentioned before, it happens in workplaces and it also affects people. “Common gender-stereotypical qualities of women are: submissive, quiet, neat, weak, clean, clumsy, incompetent and motherly. Because social pressures to fulfill these expectations are strong, typically enforced by parents, friends, teachers and media, many women conform to these qualities. They refrain from speaking their minds, becoming active in strength-related sports and not progressing especially well in the workforce because of insecurity and the pressure to become a mother. Those who do not conform to gender roles are often considered harsh, controlling or manly.”(Luke). “Men also have strict gender stereotypes that typically enforce the idea that men do not have any feminine qualities. Essentially, this means that it is culturally unacceptable for men to display qualities of neatness, being emotional, weakness or nurturing. This leaves the male stereotypical qualities of athleticism, loudness, strength, dominance and being in complete control of emotions. While this can negatively affect men's mental and emotional growth, it also encourages men to excel in active sports and in the workforce for fear of being considered feminine or weak. Financially, gender stereotyping seems to affect men positively, but gender stereotyping tends to restrict men's creativity and emotional growth. Men who are creative and emotional, who don't meet the stereotype, tend to be seen in a negative light.”(Luke). We are brought up this way, thinking this way, and come to find out, it is that way. We can’t judge men and women about their ability to do things just because of their gender. All men shouldn’t be construction works and all women shouldn’t be nurses. It’s common, but at the same time, it’s unfair and we fail to realize this because of the past generations and the movies we watch. Societies make it seem as if women can do just one thing or that men can just do one thing which is underestimating women. Women can be more emotional but that doesn’t mean all are. A lot of men are strong but we can’t make an accusation and say that all men are strong because that’s not true. People have different ways of being brought up and we shouldn’t just assume what one wants to do and we shouldn’t raise them to that expectation if that’s not what they want to do.

Now, it’s time for the real question we’ve all been waiting for. Is there a way of stopping gender stereotyping? It’s a very difficult question to answer alone because not all of us know a way that we can stop this problem. Believe it or not, your parents are your first resource. Boys and girls grow up to be just like their parents. They look up to their parents as role models and start to do what they do. Society alone allows children into gender stereotyping worlds. If a girl has seen her mother dress up in dresses or has seen most women do that, more than likely she’s going to do the same. “Children learn by imitating their parents, so avoid reinforcing gender stereotypes in your household. For example, if children see both parents doing household tasks such as cooking dinner, washing dishes or mowing the lawn, they'll learn that both genders can perform such tasks.”(Richards). By us teenagers having more responsibilities, we will be able to see that cleaning isn’t just for one gender and we should all encourage ourselves to do it. “Children also learn about gender roles from toys and games. Parents can reduce gender stereotyping by supporting their child's interest in a variety of activities, including those commonly associated with the other gender.”(Richards). Therefore, if our parents allow us to be interested in doing what we want, we will be less likely to encourage gender stereotyping. Adding on to stopping gender stereotyping, we can also try and stop it by not letting men think they have to do everything for us women. For as long as I can remember, guys have been holding doors for women.It’s more traditional and polite, but it shows that we always rely on men when it shouldn’t be that way. Men and women both know how to open doors, so I believe that it should be equal for both sides. More men hold doors open because they were raised like that  but in reality, we all know how to open and hold the door no matter what gender we are. My point is, there is so many ways we can stop gender stereotyping that we really don’t realize. We need to stop this problem in order to decrease the risks of gender stereotyping.

Though a lot of people may have the same opinions about gender stereotyping, there are people that think gender stereotyping is how we live our lives. A lot of times, people see gender stereotyping as a good thing. There can be positive things about gender stereotyping but it’s not always good. Some people believe that the gender stereotypes are true and that we should follow them. “Presumably, though, there are positive stereotypes as well.  In the United States, there are cultural stereotypes that Asians are good at math and that Women are nurturing.  If hearing a negative stereotype about your group gets you upset, does hearing a positive stereotype have the opposite effect?”(Markman). At times they can be positive and we shouldn’t be offended by these things because most of the time, it makes us feel better about ourselves. Knowing that we’re good at something, helps us to believe in ourselves and to actually be able to know that we don’t need to grow up by these gender stereotypes.

Opponents would also say that kids will do what they want and that they don’t copy their parents. “Feminist parents of daughters are no less frustrated. This Berkeley mother observed that the neighborhood was filled with female bus drivers and women in overalls and running shoes, but the little girls didn’t seem to be getting the message. Devlin would not go to nursery school in anything but a dress and tights. Nicole, not yet two, insisted every morning that her mom pull out the dress and the ‘shoes with seat belts’ (strap pumps) that she had worn to a wedding the previous summer. Even Spunky Rachel, the best baseball player on the block and the daughter of a fierce-willed attorney announced to the boys that she didn’t want to play ball anymore, but instead would be a cheerleader.”(Rhoads). There is kids that go their own way, no denying that, but I’m saying that most of our societies have children that follow their parents and it starts to become a tradition to where we think we need to act or do a certain thing.  Even if there’s good things about gender stereotyping, I still have my opinion about it and I will stick to it.

For so many years, we’ve been gender stereotyping each other without realizing why. Truth is, we shouldn’t allow anyone to make us feel less than we are. We all mean something so therefore we shouldn’t allow anyone to underestimate what we can and can’t do. We need to put gender stereotyping as a priority because it is in issue in our everyday lives. By knowing why we stereotype, types of them, the effects of it, if there’s a way of stopping it, and other people’s perspective, we can now see why gender stereotyping isn’t a good thing and we shouldn’t encourage it. We can’t keep making people feel as if their controlled. We can’t make it seem as though it’s mandatory that guys are business owners  or that it’s mandatory for girls to be nurses. We can’t make it seem like guys can’t do ballet and that girls can’t open their own doors.

Works Cited Page:
Cohen, Inessa. "This Is Why Gender Stereotypes Exist." Odyssey. Inessa Cohen, 20 July 2015. Web. 7 Nov. 2016.

[Unattributed]:"Gender Stereotypes: Definition, Examples and Analysis." No Bullying.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 9 Nov. 2016.

[Unattributed]:"Psychology Glossary." Psychology Glossary. Psychology Definitions in Plain English. N.p., 2016. Web. 7 Nov. 2016.

Luke, Marianne. "Effects of Gender Stereotypes." People of Our Everyday Life. Marianne Luke, 2016. Web. 8 Nov. 2016.

Richards, Rebekah. "Five Ways Parents Can Reduce Gender Stereotyping in Children." Our Everyday Life. Rebekah Richards, 2016. Web. 8 Nov. 2016.

Putnam, Jodi, Judith A. Myers-Walls, and Dee Love. "Avoiding Gender Stereotypes Authors: Jodi Putnam with Judith A. Myers-Walls and Dee Love." PPP: Child Growth & Development || Avoiding Gender Stereotypes || Developing Healthy Attitudes. Jodi Putnam, 2013. Web. 9 Nov. 2016.

Markman, Art. "The Pain of Positive Stereotypes." Psychology Today. Art Markman Ph.D., 15 Feb. 2013. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.

Rhoads, Steven E. Taking Sex Differences Seriously. San Francisco, CA: Encounter, 2004. Print.

Ojeda, Auriana. Male/female Roles. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven, 2005. Print.