Alajmi1 Khalid ALajmi Professor Corri Ditch ENGL 113A September 28, 2015 ‘tors that [influence Gender Norms ‘Mail people think that sex and gender are the same {hifig. Gender and sex are actually two different things. However, the majority of people do not know this and even the few who know the difference they tend to think that it does not really matter because they believe that gender just like sex {8 something natural. Gendenis not determined biologically) butis determined based on the society norms. In other words, gender is not natural, but itis created by the Society and each society demands a certain performance from each gender which is actually (BaSea(SnSOmelSandardland|EXpectation! There are several factors and reasons that lead to these gender norms such as cultures, media and the parents. Therefore, these norms become like ‘obstacles for some people because not only can it prevent them from doing what they Want (6 G6, ‘RTS TOG ES ive Tite Wha Heyy GOH EWaNE|TOTIVE [Yucith Lorbor in her article “Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender” and Aaron Devor in his article “Becoming Members of Society: The Social Meanings of Gender”. They both make it clear that gender is SOSiMNYIESRSERUCLEY. In addition, they both say that there are some factors such as (GUNG and the parents that helps society to SHAPE gender and {HATE how people understand it and as result of that people start to preform gender based on some norms or standards BEGaUSeALajmi 2 Lorber writes about how gender construction begin from the birth of child “For the individual, gender construction starts with assignment to a sex category on the basis of what the italia look like at birth” (Lorber 20)))B88ed on Benitalia/humanslare categories: (GIG and FBG) EFOA that point the parent SHAS to create a gendered world {8H their baby by treating, dressing and naming them. Therefore according to that, people will start to ded into two identify the baby's gender and the baby will start to know which gender group he of she belongs to. Therefore, from that moment the baby’s life will change. The way a parent raises their kids is different from one culture to another, and it is changed from time to time. However, there are some similarities between most cultures nowadays terms of gender. For instance, boys in BAY societies are expected to like sports and toys such as cars and wrestler’s while girls must play with toys such as fashion dolls and dollhouse. ‘Which [8488 me to what Devor $498 about young children and how they define their gender based on their cultures social definition. As someone who lived in a Middle Eastern society I can say that what Lorber and Devor are talking about is true. For instance, my parents gave me the name Khalid and this name is used there for male only so if anyone ask anybody there about a person called Khalid they will definitely assume that he is a male without even see him. Therefore, in the other word my parents create a whole new world to me by naming me Moreover, in my culture the women hair supposed to be long while men should have a short hait so if'a man have a long hair his friends will use a girly nicknames to call him. That’s show how cultures effect gender. Therefore, from their gender norms begins to shape. [PAS and cultures ff not the only RREGHS that SHEBE gender norms. The main faetor and the most important one is society. Devor writes about how each society demands differentALajmi 3 performances from each gender and how these performances usually came from certain norms which is actually based on stereotypes and standards that we as HUMIanS create! According to Devor our behaviors as man and women divided into two characteristics. The first one is masculinity and it is used to refer to man and the second one is femininity which is obviously refer to the woman, As Devor stats in his article “Other recognize our sex or gender more on the basis of these characteristics than on the basis of sex characteristics, which are usually largely covered by clothing in daily life" (Devor 38). In order to be a masculine you must have some qualitic ictive and strong. On the other hand, to be a feminine you must be such as aggressive passive, weak, emotional and soft. “Individuals are born sexed but not gendered, and they have to be taught to be masculine or feminine” (Lorber 24). Therefore, these norms used to assign ‘males and females to different roles or tasks and even jobs. Male and female can be in the exact same job but the name of job could be different. In addition, there are some jobs that assigned to one gender only. For example, in the Middle Eastern society only man can have a job like truck driver or private driver because people think that women are a bad drivers and most of people there including women acknowledge that as a fact when it is actually a serotype. Therefore, people judge each other based on these wrong gender norms. Clothing, the way person speak even the things that he or she interest the society to determine if this person ig in could use male or female. Mass media has a huge impact on & society in a lot of aspects especially nowadays where people has to deal with different types of mass media every day. The mass media today is more powerful than ever so it is natural to affect gender norms. In fact it is one of the main reason that help the society to create the gender norms because it is avoidable, people always watch television and commercial or read newspaper and playing video games. For instance, fii’