Bellum Gerere

Readers,
         This week in AIS was incredibly interesting because of what I think we revealed about American culture. We discussed heavily the differences in how males and females are treated in every level of society, from grocery store pamphlets to the collegiate level. While we never actually used this term, we were discussing the theory of "gender roles." This is the theory that the general population has an idea and definition of what men and women should be doing and how they should be acting, and they expect everyone to fit into these definitions. (To read more about gender roles, click here).
          Obviously, we as a society strive to rid ourselves from these conservative stereotypes. But, I couldn't help but notice that everyone in the class seemed to know what the stereotypes were. It seems to me that these cookie-cutter definitions of men and women are so entrenched in the American way of living, that the idea of throwing them off entirely seems impossible. I particularly noticed that, while the class mostly agreed that there was nothing wrong with a "stay-at-home dad," when a classmate brought up that their father stayed at home, it seemed like the majority of the class laughed. Of course no one did this to be mean, but it shows that people can claim to be as progressive as they want, but deep down, through no fault of their own, they have learned that certain genders preform certain roles. And those stereotypes are very rarely un-learned. It leaves me with a question. Can society really change it's way of thinking? Is it possible to erase those sub-conscious gender roles? I really don't know.