Men In Non Traditional Roles This Paper example essay topic

Men In Non-Traditional Roles This paper takes a look into the lives of three males breaking out of their gender stereotyped roles in society. These males avoid the boundaries traditional thinking has tried to impose on them and embark on their own as what they like to call 'pioneers in the men's equality movement. ' Introduction: The Men First off, this paper will introduce the three 'pioneers'; changing only their names for the sake of privacy -- per request. Subject 1 -- Arnold, is a househusband of four years.

He is raising 2 children, is responsible for housework and care giving, as well as maintaining the overall balance of the home environment while his wife works. Subject 2 -- Dale, is a receptionist for a female dentist. Subject 3 -- Howie, is a 'nanny'. He is responsible for maintaining the day care activities of toddler to school aged children in a reputable after school program.

The Problem These three men all feel they have faced much adversity in reaching their levels of functioning within society. Claiming that they have been subject to harassment, illusions, and general disgust due to the fact of the position they play within their societies, these men admit to wanting to give up and conform to more traditional roles at times. Subject 1 Arnold states that once he was married and agreed to be the stay-at-home dad he began to lose friends based on the mentality 'since his wife wore the pants he must wear the skirt'. Arnold states that the lack of male companionship began to negatively affect him. He started to have issues of self esteem which almost caused him to resent his children and wife. He admitted that he checked into family counseling where he met other househusbands and learned that there are many in his situation.

Arnold stated that he now 'goes out with the guys' again, only now it is the 'Daddy and Me' group instead of the former friends trying to inflict a sheltered mentality on him. Subject 2 Dale did not have as difficult a time adjusting to his job as a male receptionist. He claims it was the best opportunity for him. He works for his mother and now has a prospering relationship with her. Since he started working in his current position a little over two years ago he has also enrolled in college and is working toward becoming a dental hygienist.

Dale states that 'teaching little boys to want to grow up to be masters of the universe is a wrong and unattainable goal setting them up for failure and by encouraging gender-neutral behavior it will allow them a better pace to interact within society. ' Another interesting detail about Dale's life is that his girlfriend is a construction worker, another person in a non-traditional role. Subject 3 The last subject, Howie, has dealt with the most adversity in achieving his goals of working with children. He currently is in college to become a child therapist and considers his involvement now as 'an aid in future work'. However, finding a job was of great difficulty for him. He revealed that many places were quick to turn away males who wanted to be around young children; the mentality behind that he says was 'They are all afraid that there will be pedophilia involved as it is not the 'norm' for young males to want to be around young children.

' This is a harsh reminder of where society is today. Someone devoted to children, their well-being, and over all growth process has to be rejected because of the stereotyped bias inflicted into the back of everyone's subconscious. Bias And Role Ignorance All three of these men have faced unnecessary ignorance from those around them. So many people in society both women and men are quick to stand up and take note of gender bias negatively affecting women because of equal rights and 'bringing women to the level of respect of men'. But, one hardly ever hears of men being allowed to go to the level of women's roles.

This most likely is from the mentality that 'if women want to raise themselves to a man's role in society; But for a man to want to lower himself into a woman's stereotypical role, something is biologically wrong. ' This is a sad, detrimental idea to everyone involved. Women suffer as they are not allowed to witness the full range of their male counterpart's abilities; men suffer as they cannot fully express their true selves. The ones who will suffer the most are the future generations because if negative patterns are not stopped in the present they will continue on, become more mutated and damage any person or idea with which it comes into contact. Student Interpretation The three men introduced here should be applauded for their efforts, because through interviewing them, this student has learned that not only do they foster women's growth in society, they attempt to grow themselves. This student must admit that she was always skeptical of men crying 'inequality' but now it is understandable.

Society must allow for change and growth. Views, values, traditions, stereotypes all must change. Most likely there are more men out there who want to break out of traditional stereotypes but this society does not make it easy. The Question Despite the fact this paper is only representative of three men, it is in this student's opinion that if researched and surveyed one would find that more gender neutral males not playing into society's role stereotyping exist then males feeding into the bias. The fact that role stereotyping is such a 'norm' is just representative of the problem and that were it not such an issue more males would admit to being non-traditional. When asked, many females claimed that their boyfriends were not traditional in their thinking.

So the question that comes to this student's mind is thus: If so many males avoid falling into a role stereotype then why do they feel they must hide this from society only allowing those close to them to witness their true selves? Conclusion Role stereotyping, most likely will always exist because society as a whole is responsible for shaping roles. The ideology behind it will stay the same and little change will be effected. Perhaps the best means possible to assure everyone does not have to live a biased based life is to handle each person separately. Individuals are responsible to accepting and helping each other fostering growth. Perhaps only then, changing one at a time, will society be able to see how allowing a gender neutral role stereotyping is beneficial to the whole.