-Max Gowins-

Some sex characteristics are women can menstruate and develop breast that are usually capable of lactating while man can not. Men have testicles and generally have more massive bones than women. Gender are the behaviors we think is natural and society think it makes sense such as boys playing rough, rolling in mud or getting into fights and girls playing house, wanting a Barbie doll, and wearing dresses.

Gender roles vary; different cultures set different expectations upon the men and women who live in that culture. It seemed normal that about many years ago the woman stayed at home raised the children and the men exposed themselves to harsh manual labor, which required strength and endurance that females were not considered having. Now these barriers have been broken, the idea of men staying at home to look after the children while the women bring home the “bacon” is more acceptable than ever.

The first and strongest influence on a person’s perceived gender role is his or her parent. Parents are our first teachers they not only influence basic skills such as walking and talking but also attitudes and behaviors. Parents start at an early age treating baby boys and baby girls differently. Baby boys are more fragile as infants than girls and are more likely to die in infancy, yet studies show parents respond more quickly to their baby daughter cries than their baby son’s. Parents are more likely to cuddle girls and are more likely to allow their sons to try new things such as walking, while fearing more for the safety of the girl. 

Children look up to their parents as role models. If a girl grows up seeing her mother taking part in physical activities she will grow up with the idea that girls can participate in activities such as sports. If a boy sees his father help take care of the baby or cleaning he will incorporate this with developing his idea of masculinity.  But just as parents can be positive role models they can serve as negative role models. For example, children who grow up who are in an abusive relationship have been found to repeat the same patterns. Male children often grow up to abusive their own wives and daughters and female children can grow up to be victims of domestic violence because their parents have shown them that this is “normal”.

Parents reinforce sexual stereotypes, with intent or accidentally. A mother may forbid her daughter from climbing trees with the fear of her falling and getting hurt, although her brother is allowed to. Clothing manufacturers produce clothing in gender-neutral shades such as yellow and green, but the traditional blue for boys and pink for girls are still favorites that parents buy.

Physical differences exist between males and females. Studies of the brain have shown that female brains are stronger in the left hemisphere, which rules language. As a result, they do better when tested for language ability and speech pronunciation. In males, the right hemisphere, which rules spatial perception, is stronger, giving them an advantage in tasks that require moving objects or aiming. Tasks or tests that do not take into account the differences between males and females tend to penalize one gender or the other. For example, boys tend to score better on standardized achievement tests, but girls do better on tests that require writing. Males tend to do better than females in math, science, and geography, but females may have the advantage in meeting the social expectations of school, such as behaving in class and producing neat work.

Researchers say, even if a boy and a girl were raised identically, without gender expectations, they would not turn out the same.

Alivia Davis

Being a female in a male dominated world is hard sometimes.  Back when my Great-grandparents were alive women were expected to clean up, wash dishes, take care of the children and even prepare food.  Now they are still expected to do those things over males.  Women were the ones who kept the house in order.  women are the back bones of the houshold but, in some situations you see things starting to change.

Men were suppose to work and take care of the family.  Where as now, some men depend on their women to work while they stay at home.  Gender roles are not portrayed as much as they use to be. 

I use to want to play football with the guys.  Since I was a girl they wouldnt let me.  Females are not suppose to do stuff like that.  That was a male thing.  The girls were suppose to sit back on the sidline cheering the boys on.  In order to play with the boys, you had to act like the boys.  My female cousin on the other hand acted like a boy.  She dressed and talked like the guys so they always let her play.  Just because she was a “tom-boy” and she portrayed her self as one of the guys she was accepted. 

In order to be looked at different and be taken out of male female categories you have to act and portray yourself differently.  Thats the only way you will not be discriminated against.  People think so much that females should cook and clean while males work and bring home a pay check.  But, when women start to work  and bring the pay check home and men start to stay at home cooking and cleaning, this would be considered switching roles.  The man is looked at like a women and the women “wheres the pants” in the relationship.  It sounds rediculous but that exactly where society is right now.  If

-Ellen Currie

In the second, half, a new group of girls is introduced. We watch as some of the girls tease other for not being intimate with a man she’s interested in, and this gives one the impression that they need validation through physical intimacy. However, Kim carries a gun, knowing that should someone try to take advantage of her, she would be able to protect herself. This is a, (rather extreme), display of outward strength and also shows her desire to take care of herself. These girls also take advantage of the man selling the car, pressuring him into giving them what they want, similar to how Stuntman Mike pressured Arlene.

These girls who are truly strong, not just pretending to be so, not only survive Stuntman Mike’s first attack, but decide to get revenge on him, as well. This is the most outrageous scene in the entire movie, though it occurs to me that it would be slightly less unbelieveable were it a group of guys who had just been attacked and decided to get revenge.

Also, the fact that all of the stunts in the second half of the movie were real, could possibly be another way of highlighting the strength of the women.

-Alexandra Amersdorfer

     Gender can easily be viewed differently depending on your interpretation of what gender really is. To me, gender is just your sex, nothing more or nothing less. Every person has both masculine and feminine traits that make up our personality and the way we do things. The movie Death Proof took a great look at how gender can be interoperated by the two female groups.

The first group of girls were filmed differently than the second group. I would like to call the first group the 70’s Girls and the second group the Bad Asses. The first half of Death Proof was dedicated to the 70’s Girls and how they were stalked by Stuntman Mike. Quentin Tarantino decided to film the 70’s Girls in a 70’s retro kind of theme. He took elements from traditional 70’s movies and applied them on modern times. Even the 70’s Girls clothing hinted at a slightly 70’s feel. The reasoning behind it, in my opinion, is that 70’s represented freedom for many people, especially women, and that what the 70’s Girls were. They may have been the first in their local town to be doing something different in their lives and breaking out of the traditional female boundaries that held them in. The Bad Asses were similar in that case.

The second half of Death Proof was dedicated to the Bad Asses. This half of the movie looked at everything in modern terms but the stunts in the second half were all real, were in the first half was CGI. I decided to call the second group of girls the Bad Asses because that’s really what they were. They were the more masculine group that hinted at feminism and they didn’t care what a man had to say. They used their gender to get what they wanted and knew exactly what a man was thinking.

There could be many reasons why Tarantino decided to depict the two groups of girls in two very different lights. It could easily have a lot to do with how the groups were made up of the same gender but one group had more masculine or feminine traits attributed to it than the other. Only Tarantino really knows.  I just want to present this question: Does your gender define your personality? 

–Chris Jakob

Absolutely necessary, up and coming, essential for success, vital for growth.  These are just a few statements that I use to describe women’s rights.  While women are receiving more and more rights, there is a still a gap lying between men and women.  Issues such as job salary and voting are very apparent that women are discriminated against.  However, an issue such as hiring for a job may not be so clear cut.  While these problems may be around for decades to come, I feel that it is our duty as women to stand up for ourselves.  I personally come from a family where the women are in control and everyone promotes women’s rights. 

In many households, a common mom response would be, “I don’t know, go ask your father” or “you are going to be in big trouble… just wait until your father gets home”.   Meanwhile at my house it was, “just wait until your mother gets home, you are going to be in big trouble”.  My parent’s roles at home are opposite the typical “all-American” family.  My mom is the one working until 7 or 8 o’clock at night while my dad is out at 5 picking us up from practices and making sure dinner is ready.  My mom was also the parent that my brother and I were always afraid of when we did something bad.  Her presence was always known and understood.  So maybe I don’t want to be the “mean” parent per say, however I do respect her for her power and her ability to stand up for women’s rights.

                One last thing I would like to touch on is the movie we recently watched in class.  I absolutely hate when women are portrayed as easy sluts.  The movie was constantly showing women’s body parts, such as her feet, legs, and breasts.  While most people found the end part disturbing, I think the way the women were shown in the first half of the movie was most disturbing. 

                Overall, I am a huge activist for women’s rights.  Someday, I would love to see the gap between men and women be closed … WOMEN POWER!

-Dana Juhlin

            Ridicule and Rejection define gender. Vagina and Penis define sex. According to “The World is a Text” by Jonathon Silverman, and Dean Rader, “‘Sex,’ then refers to biology whereas ‘gender’ refers to culture and society.” In our American culture these two terms, gender and sex, usually are confused. Sex is simply biological and gender is cultural. Depending on where you are in the world, if you see a person without a shirt in public, that’s a man, but in other places that’s a woman. The clear distinction between men and women is only biological.

Gender for women is a lose, lose category. If you portray yourself too much as the commercial or average female, then your wrong because you shouldn’t act like that. If you portray you self as the opposite of what the commercial women is, then your wrong, because your trying to be like a man. The movie Death Proof did an excellent job at showing this. They showed women that were real “tough”, and women real “girly.” They both were biologically women, but to society neither of them is expectable.

Ridicule and Rejection define gender. What is a woman? Is it her long hair, curvaceous body, soft hands or the motherly type? If a woman is bald, has a flat chest, rough hands, or hates kids, is she still a woman? Not by our media’s standards. This woman is instantly degraded, and told she should change. The only way a women who doesn’t follow the same standards could live a happy life in America was if she could care less about the stereotypes and ignored the opinions of others. This is where the issue comes in. Ridicule and Rejection define gender because women allow it to. They fear these two terms. They fear rejection. Women seek men, and men seek a certain varieties of women. Anytime a woman wears a tie, or doesn’t dress cute, she is instantly spotted and looked at as peculiar. A woman will fear this ridicule and rejection so much until she conforms to what society wants, and brainwashes herself into thinking that’s what she wants too.

Do women wear clothes in the winter time that let the cold air blow through because they love them so much, that they rather walk out the house cold, then to wear something that could keep them warm? No, they do it because if they were to wear something that kept them warm, they might not get any attention from men, and their peers might not approve of their not so high fashion outfit.

Women conform to the gender role, so they don’t have to endure the ridicule, and rejection of not being a “good enough women.”

Avery Autrey