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Gender Roles in America
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When first reading Zimbardo’s prison experiment, I was disturbed with the ethics. However, once I got past my disturbance, I was able to actually consider the implications. And, I became fascinated with the impact that resulted from randomly placing otherwise equal individuals into roles that forced them to interact with each other on a new uneven playing field. The volunteers were thus no longer able to relate to or understand each other in the same way. Both the prisoners and the guards were forced to accept the strengths and/or weaknesses that came with the roles they were given. This is true of many roles we could look closer at. One example is the gender roles that are forced on to all of us. In my analysis of the prisoner experiment I saw an amazing parallel between our behavior as men and women in America and the behavior of the guards and prisoners in the Zimbardo experiment. More specifically, I could see this connection most distinctly in men and women still in their twenties. This age group is old enough to have established beliefs and corresponding behavior, but still young enough to be constantly growing and adapting to their environment. This state of instability allows the gender roles of this group to have a significant impact on the behavior of its members. So, please keep in mind that this is the age group I will be referring to in most of the comments made in the following discussion. As a 24 year old woman living in America, I often find myself feeling like a prisoner forced to submit to the wills of the stronger male gender. Who, often impose their strength unnecessarily much like the guards in Zimbardo’s prison. I constantly see women displaying behavior similar to prisoners; They’re always trying to appease men and gain their approval. They allow men to abuse them mentally and physically. They stay in relationships that don’t make them happy because they fear being alone. They work hard doing the same job as their counterparts for half the money. They continue to take care of the household and the children while still trying to maintain a career. Men on the other hand act like power hungry guards seeking to keep women down and keep themselves up. They are rude and condescending to women in their words and actions. They treat women like objects that they can just pick up or toss aside at their will. They demand their partners to be faithful and virtuous but refuse to return the same respect. They show their power through ridiculous displays of aggression and hold male bonding sessions that they don’t think women are good enough to participate in. Now, I do realize that these are generic statements about men and women. They certainly don’t represent the way we all act or feel. Not even all twenty year olds display these types of extreme behaviors. But, the majority of us do display at least some degree of these gender specific behaviors more often then we are willing to admit during this phase in our lives.
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