RD1- Changing the "Female" Definition

Thomas Akiyama
Sept 10, 2010
RD1

Changing the “Female” Definition

The stereotypical role of the female gender has been greatly affected by many social changes and behavioral responses to those changes within the past few decades. Society’s opening of its arms to the expansion of the female gender roles is changing how women can directly affect their surroundings. There is no longer a majority of females featured as “house-wives” but rather major players in the “movers and shakers” of their global community. This change can be attributed to a wide-variety of factors such as the expansion of the job market and the behavioral changes of women to be more assertive toward the opposition they received in the past and present. Another issue that allowed the growth of women in different gender roles is the collapse of the limitations that were imposed on the female gender. [THESIS]The female gender role faces many challenges within various fields however the statement that “between adolescence and menopause, women experience trauma in adjusting to their gender roles” is inaccurate.[THESIS]

Mary Pipher’s book, Reviving Ophelia, describes how society is poisoning the dreams and goals of pre-adolescent girls with the stereotypical view of the female gender role that declares females are limited to certain types of jobs. Pipher also asserts that many females must surrender to the narrow-minded definition of a female due to her experiences as a psychologist working with troubled children and teens. When females under go adolescence, Pipher writes, “girls may be losing their true selves in an effort to conform to what they believe society expects of them.” (Saplings, 429) Pipher also backs her statement in another text, “girls become ‘female impersonators’ who fit their whole selves into small, crowded places.” (Reviving, p.22) Both Pipher’s statements are based directly on her professional as a psychologist and since she has close contact with pre-adolescent females, she may have been too attached to the feelings of some of their females. This close contact could have affected her judgment and make her statements about society’s traumatic affect on pre-adolescent females a preconceived notion.

The use of the word trauma to describe the experience women between adolescence and menopause face in adjusting to their gender roles is excessive and mistaken. The definition of trauma to me is a mental or physically event that causes the individual to no longer be effective in their surroundings. It is true, women face different challenges when they enter a certain role in society but trauma is definitely not a factor in they're transition in the role. Females may need to adapt physically or mentally to a field they are going in to just like the male gender. In my personal experience, my friend tells me that when she was 14 years old and tried to play basketball with a bunch of male friends in a local league, she did not experience any feeling near a traumatic experience that Pipher emphasizes that pre adolescent girls feel society has faced upon them. Pipher’s trauma that society places on girls is rather a gradual learning curve that comes along with age. Many females are not bound by the limitations that Pipher relates pre-adolescent girls to, just as my friend who still currently plays amongst men in various sport leagues and tournaments.

The female gender role is changing mainly due to the sociological changes that include the acceptance on asserting your own beliefs and values on in your environment. Females have more acceptance in various roles in society since assertiveness and their determination to change stereotypical views is appreciated rather then frowned upon. The pressures females during pre-adolescence face is not based on society’s impressions on them but their own wants and needs out of themselves. Stephen Sylvester writes in response to the causes and solutions of gender role trauma, “I believe that the best solution this problem is putting children in early childhood development classes to be more sociable, private schooling so that everyone is dressed the same which decreases the chances of peer pressure to dress a certain way.” Having children placed in a setting that limits individuality by having them dress a certain way does slightly decrease the chance of peer pressure but promotes one-sided idealism on the children. If a young girl is placed in a setting that limits individuality, the girl is more likely to feel socially limited. Children need to embrace the freedom of having to choose what they can wear even though they may feel imposed on by others because they at least have the chance to feel less restricted.

Pipher’s statement that, “between adolescence and menopause, women experience trauma in adjusting to their gender roles,” is imprecise since her idealism is many based off her predisposition with her patients and her incorrect use of the word, trauma. The female gender role continues to expand due to the changing global views. The original stereotypical views that were associated with the female gender are becoming extinct due to the changing influences females have on society.

Works Cited

Bivins (friend)*. Personal interview. 05 Sept 2010.

Pipher, Mary. “Reviving Ophelia.” Savings the Selves of Adolescent Girls. New York: Random House Inc., 1944. p.22

Pipher, Mary. “Saplings in the Storm.” Dialogues: An Argument Rhetoric and Reader. 6th edition. Eds. Gary Goshgarian and Kathleen Krueger. New York: Pearson-Longman, 2009. 425-432.

Sylvester, Stephen. “Causes & Solutions.” Online posting. 30 Aug 2010. Laulima Discussion. 05 Sept 2010
[https://laulima.hawaii.edu/portal/site/KAP.XLSENG215js.201110/page/580d9883-374c-4194-bb60-e4e1fe68988c].