Over the weekend I went home to visit my family. As we were sitting in the living room my siblings began rough housing and my youngest brother got hurt. When he started crying, the older brother said "What a sissy, that didn't hurt that bad." The youngest brother whined back that he wasn't a sissy and went after the other brother trying to hurt him.
This pattern of behavior demonstrates the gender roles assigned to our sex by our culture. The older brother was using the term "sissy" as a negative term toward the other brother because in our culture males are not suppose to cry. Crying is a girls trait according to our culture.
When the sister began getting in on the ruckus, our parents began chiming in, don't be to rough. When she got upset and hurt, the brothers stopped and apologized to her. This reaction is quite the opposite of how the boys acted. Even though my sister is just as tough as my youngest brother, because she is a female she is treated with sympathy. Whereas, my brother was treated with ridicule to get him to react like a "boy" should.
These patterns of behavior go unnoticed because they are part of our culture which has such an impact on our gender roles.
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