Gender roles

Gender roles

Tomboy is the nickname that I got as a kid and teenager for preferring sport outfits over dresses, playing football rather than taking care of dolls and Barbie's and having more male friends than female. Tomboy is defined in Wikipedia as  "a girl who exhibits characteristics or behaviors considered typical of a boy, including wearing masculine clothing and engaging in games and activities that are physical”. This is how I was defined since an early age for choosing not to play my social role, I still remember the day my mom freaked out when she found out that I took the class picture wearing my Power Rangers outfit rather than a dress and a red lipstick just like the other " normal" girls in my class. I also still remember me being disappointment at my dad for not buying me a Maccabi's Haifa football outfit as he did for my brothers.

Society's has an effect on the roles of men and women, they are trained at a very early age to do specific chores and play specific roles according to their gender. Little boys are not born loving balls and cars while little girls fall in love with baby dolls, it is imposed upon them by society. It is not socially acceptable for a boy to play with a pink Barbie doll. This way of raising children  will determine the roles that they will play later on in life. Even as teenager girls do the dishes while boys mow the lawn. As adult women tend to take care of the home while men take care of business outside of the home. Society is using the biological difference between men and women as a justification for forcing different social roles on both sexes. Our attitudes and behavior is shaped and limited by social roles, as well as our appearance: a man has to appear masculine while a woman must be feminine. Even though it may sound cliché people still force social roles these days rather than teaching kids to be who or what they want.