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Raymundo Apodaca
Professor Gina Lawrence
English 1311
June 22, 2014
Understanding How Gender Interacts
When it comes to the way gender behaves and interacts in a sports bar or at any other
social setting, we tend to think that those actions are completely influenced by the environment
surrounding us. I chose Buffalo Wild Wings to study behavior and interaction between genders.
In addition to my space I added a brief experience of my past in the military to back up my
claim. Does our environment affect gender in a negative or positive way? Is gender important
in this place? If it is, then could we take a different approach by teaching our children to coexist
as a whole?
On the first day of my project I went to observe the layout of my designated space. As I
walked in, my attention was seized by the intense aroma of buffalo wings conjoining with the air.
The scents varied from spicy to sweet. I could easily distinguish my favorite flavor, which is
Mango Habanero. The dcor of this place is quite simple. In the dining area, the walls are black
with a yellow horizontal line in the middle. It is very dim so that the TVs can be seen clearly.
There are more than thirty TV screens mounted on the walls which are simultaneously airing a
wide variety of sports. Transitioning from the dining area to the bar, the lustrous lighting began
to vanquish over the dim ambient the dining area had. It gave off a more energetic feeling.
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As the FIFA match Mexico vs Brazil was going on, I took this opportunity to focus on
male behavior. I noticed that most of the men are actively engaged in the match. I immediately
noticed that there was a lot more men compared to women. As I was scanning around I would
constantly notice that women were not that interested in the match. I was observing a couple of
tables from where I was sitting. Can we go now babe? We finished our food a while ago. He
wouldnt even respond to her, he just brushed her away. I asked myself; Why does this man
keep on ignoring her? In the article Understanding Mens Love for Sports by Karel
McIntosh, it states; Men love women. Men love sports. But somehow, men and women in the
same room during a game do not make a good combination, unless the women are just as into the
game, or have vowed to be absolutely silent. That man clearly did not want to have a date
night, he just wanted to watch the game. I also noticed that the bar had no female customers. I
spoke with Sandra, a bartender that has been working there for roughly three years now. In
general, which gender hangs out more at the bar? I asked. Id have to say men. A lot of men
come here to catch a game and have a few beers to wind down from a long day at home.
Buffalo Wild Wings is not the one that creates a male dominated setting. It is society that
does. This has to do with the way boys see their father figure. In a boys early stages of life, he
wants to be just like his father. In the article What Sons Learn from Their Fathers by Cheryl L.
Erwin it mentions the following: A boy learns from his father, without even realizing he's doing
it, what a man is and does. He learns about masculinity, about what men like and don't like.
Many adult men report that they either wanted to be just like their dads or wanted to be the exact
opposites. I was raised by my father to not show any emotion because it demonstrates
weakness. I was also taught that men have their duties outside of the house doing hard labor and
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women are supposed to stay at it is clean and the men are fed. Luckily for me, I quickly dumped
out that mentality at an early age.
If we take a different approach in raising our children we could possibly reverse the
effects that have gravely impacted society in a negative way. Our future leaders will be able to
make decisions in a way that will benefit both genders. A good example would be the exclusion
of women in direct combat roles in the United States Armed Forces. On March 2011, I went to
Israel to conduct training in Close Quarters Battle (CQB) and urban marksmanship. Upon
meeting some of our Israeli instructors we were astonished and confused at the same time that
some women would be our instructors. We were not used to seeing any women at all, especially
with a billet in an infantry unit. Those women belonged to the Caracal Battalion. In the article
Women In Combat: Some Lessons From Israel's Military by Larry Abramson it describes the
battalion as such: It's a coed combat battalion, named for a desert cat whose gender can be
difficult to discern. I like the concept of the units name, it tries to depict the unit as gender
neutral. In the United States Military, women were not allowed to serve in a direct combat job
such as infantry, special forces, tank crewman or artillery because they are perceived as not
being able to handle the rigorous physical requirements that are expected. According to the
Larry Abramsons article Women In Combat: Obstacles Remain As Exclusion Policy Ends
The Pentagon announced that there are plans to begin integrating women into combat jobs by
2016.
If military organizations are going on the path of gender neutrality, we should be able to
do that as a society. We need to begin at home by teaching our children on the importance of
working together. In Deborah Blums article the Gender Blur states: If a child grows up in a
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less traditional family, with an emphasis on partnership and sharing- We all do the dishes,
Joshua- children maintain a more flexible sense of gender roles until about age six.
I feel privileged participating in Project Space. It has presented me with a different view
on how gender can interact in a better way. We should not base what we do off of gender but on
the principle of being human beings.














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Works Cited
McIntosh, Karel. Understanding Mens Love for Sports: A Playbook for Women
http://www.outlish.com n.d. Web. 20 June 2014

Erwin, Cheryl L. What Sons Learn from Their Fathers
http://www.netplaces.com n.d. Web. 20 June 2014

Abramson, Larry. Women In Combat: Some Lessons From Israel's Military
http://www.npr.org May 16, 2013 Web. 21 June 2014

Abramson, Larry. Women In Combat: Obstacles Remain As Exclusion Policy Ends
http://www.npr.org May 15, 2013 Web. 21 June 2014

Blum, Deborah. The Gender Blur: Where Does Biology End and Society Take Over?
Readings glaw1311.weebly.com n.d. Web. 20 June 2014