Saturday, October 8, 2011
Social Expectations
One of the concepts from this chapter that I found interesting and helpful was under obstacles to the effective communication of emotions and reasons why we may not express our emotions is because of social expectations. In society, men and women have this certain expectation when it comes to emotions and communicating them. Men for example are taught and learn from a young age that crying or showing they are sensitive makes them less of a man that it shows that they are weak. Women at a young age learn and are taught that being a female is all about showing and sharing emotions and how they feel however that they never want to be violent. Men on the other hand express their emotions through violence. Women are also known and expected to be the ones who care for everyone that they are the thoughtful ones. I thought this concept was good to be aware of because on a daily basis I experience or see how whether it is in the workforce or school or in public at a restaurant or coffee shop, men and women are expected to behave in terms of their emotions in a certain way and if they violate that norm then they are looked at in a different way and are usually looked down upon for doing so.
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Hello,
ReplyDeleteI also liked relating the concept of social expectations to personal experiences such as the ones you describe here. You mentioned that on a daily basis you see the norms that have been created for women and men in society. I notice these as well, and although I consider myself a caring woman who has a lot of empathy, I do have my moments where I can get angry or passionate about an argument or discussion. I have noticed that when I feel passionate or express my convictions toward something in an argument I am treated differently for raising my voice and appearing upset, versus some males I know such as my two brothers. Even my sister has been upset with me before simply for disagreeing with her in an argument yet she has had several male friends who were very opinionated people and she was never offended when they disagreed with her. If anything she seemed enlightened by what they had to say. I have noticed that women are expected to keep the peace, etc. while it's considered normal for men to express anger or passion toward something. One example of this is that many people have very negative things to say about women's rights organizations, and they almost always label them as anti-male even if their goal is to help women, yet there are now many men's rights organizations that help men win child custody battles, etc, and society does not label these men as misogynistic or anti-women. You brought up some great points here.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteYes we live in a society that tells us that each gender has stereotypical way to act in public and while the majority follow these rules there are outliers and they are usually segregated and/or shunned by society. At the same time we are also being taught that the world is becoming more and more like a village and ideas and concepts from other cultures are being melded and that we should accept every perspective with an open mind. The reality is that is really isn’t the case however and society tends to scrutinize those who don’t follow “social order.” Honestly it’s a problem that will exist as long as society exists.