Let's Talk About Gender Discrimination
I wrote a personal narrative essay about discrimination against all genders based off of experiences that I have witnessed in the Writing II general education course that I took in my second semester of college. I decided to upload the essay as a blog post since discrimination can be traumatic.
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TRIGGER WARNING: If you are affected by gender discrimination and/or other types of bullying, this blog post may be triggering. If you need support right now, please seek help from a therapist or other mental health professional. You can also call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or text "HOME" to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 if you live in the USA or text "CONNECT" to the Crisis Text Line at 686868 if you live in Canada. You can also visit my hotline resources page by clicking on this hyperlink: Hotline Resources.
There are many controversial views about gender roles and discrimination of all genders. In many cases, I have noticed that females, males, and non-binary/gender fluid people are discriminated against. Not all but many people also show a lack of acknowledgement that each gender can experience more discrimination than the other in different scenarios. Many people will think that one gender is segregated more than the other when all genders experience discrimination in many different situations. I have known about people of all genders who have experienced gender segregation. I will tell you some of their stories.
Penelope Eckert, professor of linguistics and anthropology at Stanford University and author of the article, Learning to be Gendered, states that all genders are treated as if they need to conform to their gender stereotype. For example, she says that from the beginning of birth, all genders go through "a gradual process of learning to be a boy or a girl, a man or a woman, and to see all other genders as boys or girls, men or women" (Eckert 737). She is basically saying that individuals born as males are expected to act like stereotypical boys and individuals born as females are expected to act like stereotypical girls. First of all, sex and gender have different definitions; sex is the biological definition of individuals assigned at birth, which is males and females. Gender is how a person identifies, which can be boys, girls, nonbinary, gender fluid, or any other way to identify. When genders are stereotyped, many people will think that a boy cannot do certain things because they are boys, that girls cannot do certain things because they are girls, and that even nonbinary/gender fluid people or people of any other gender identities cannot do certain things because of their genders. As an advocate for humanity, I am highly against gender discrimination overall because all genders deserve equality. All genders deserve the right to all opportunities in general, and to be treated with acceptance. Genders do not define anyone's abilities, and everyone deserves to be treated fairly regardless of what their gender is. Genders do not define anyone's interests either.
For many years during my childhood, someone that I knew was told by many ignorant people that their son did not fit in all because he did not play sports. He did not play sports "like the other boys" because he just was not interested in them. He was and still is a book worm and enjoys science, math, and the arts. The parents encouraged their son to participate in sports at a very young age by signing him up for a variety of sports teams; however, he was just not interested, and his parents were always very accepting of this. People used to ask him why he did not play a sport when it did not matter. When he was in high school, athletes would even say that he should not be interested in the arts and more academic things because "that is for girls." Many years later, this person and I observed through overhearing some of the athletes of all genders in both of our grades who talked this way about sports say that they did not even want to play most of these sports. They said that the only reason that they were playing those physical activities was because their parents and other family members wanted them to do it because past family members played it or they liked those sports; so, they wanted their children to play it too to continue the family legacy. So, it was contradictory for these athletes to be saying such a thing to someone opposite of them. How this experience relates to Eckert's argument is that all genders should not be expected to act like their stereotypes. People should be allowed to choose their own identity and embrace their passions without being self-conscious about experiencing judgement based off of meaningless social expectations that limit them based on something irrelevant like gender.
In Anne-Marie Slaughter's, the president and CEO of the New America Foundation, article, Why Women Still Can't Have It All, she states that it is impossible for any woman to work a job successfully and successfully raise a family at the same time. I strongly disagree with this opinion because gender does not define or have anything to do with a person's abilities. The only way that gender can affect someone's abilities or opportunities is if someone is preventing them from being able to do it due to their gender. Men, women, nonbinary/gender fluid people, and people of any other gender identities can have similar abilities. There are also some things that some men do not have the ability to do that other men do have the ability to do, and this works for women and nonbinary people too. This is because every person is different and no one's abilities are exactly the same even when they are similar. What Anne-Marie Slaughter states can be possible for some women, but not all of them. If a woman "can't have it all," it would be because of other factors that have nothing to do with her gender just like for the men and nonbinary people who "can't have it all" (Slaughter 667). One of these factors may be having certain disabilities that severely prevent them from being able to work certain jobs or any jobs while raising a family. They may or may not need to be a stay-at-home parent and collect Social Security Benefits instead of working if their disability prevents them from being able to work while some people in the disability community may be to work and raise a family. In addition, the United States law called The Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Act prohibits job discrimination of people of all genders, sexual orientations, abilities, races, skin colors, nationalities, ethnicities, religions, beliefs, and national origins. Currently, there are plenty of working parents and stay-at-home parents of all genders all around the world. It is more important that people be allowed to pursue different opportunities based on their individual abilities and how they treat others. This is because no one is exactly the same and gender is an unfair and incorrect way to determine what a person is like on the inside as well as what they are able to do.
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- My Reflective, Constructive Feedback About Disability Representation in the Media
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There is obviously discrimination of all genders and discrimination is unfair for all. I agree with Eckert that all genders are expected to behave like their gender stereotype, but this should not be expected of any gender because no one's gender defines what their abilities, interests, and opportunities can be. To reiterate, Anne-Marie Slaughter states that women cannot work a successful job and raise a family successfully at the same time. I disagree with Anne-Marie Slaughter because gender does not have anything to do with anyone's abilities and there are some men, nonbinary/gender fluid people, and people of other genders who cannot have it all either. While it is true that gender discrimination can occur anywhere, it is unacceptable in any situation because deserves to be treated with equal respect and acceptance no matter what. All genders matter. Lastly, treat people how you would want to be treated, and everyone deserves to be shown respect no matter what their gender is.
If you are affected by gender discrimination, you are not alone and there is hope. If you or someone you know needs support right now, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or text "HOME" to the Crisis Text Line at 741741.
You can also visit my hotline resources page by clicking on this hyperlink: Hotline Resources
1. Eckert, P., & McConnell-Ginet, S. (2013). Language and Gender (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2. Slaughter, A. M. (July/August 2012). Why Women Still Can't Have It All. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/07/why-women-still-cant-have-it-all/309020/
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