Today, gender is so socially constructed that we often begin to lose sight that male and female are not the only two ways in which people identify themselves. Being on such a large college campus, we are exposed to so many different cultures and groups of people. This is something that I don’t think many UConn students embrace. We have over 500 different groups, clubs, and societies on campus for students to be a part of, yet many of us stay in our own bubbles.
As students, we are expected to perform certain roles and act a certain way. This is also true for genders. Men are supposed to buy girls flowers, de messy and dirty, pay for dinner, watch football and eat 7 slices of pizza, while girls are expected to nag their boyfriends, love pink things, and eat salad on a dinner date, right? Wrong!! These are socially constructed gender roles, and we don’t have to conform to them. In my Women and Health class with Nyaunu Stevens, SOCI 3453, we are discussing exactly this. Sex and gender, are two different things. “You are a sex. You do a gender”. But what happens when we act opposite to how we are expected to?
I bet this is something many of you haven’t really given a lot of thought to because we were taught how to be male or female since birth. However, The Harvard Sailing Team, a comedy sketch club at Harvard has pointed out how ridiculous these gender norms can be when we see them flipped. Check out these hilarious videos of men and women swapping roles. These comedic short movies will not only make you laugh, but offer insight into how society has molded men and women into these stereotypical gender roles. Check out the Harvard Sailing Team’s YouTube page @ http://www.youtube.com/user/HSTSketchComedy?feature=watch and these videos on gender norms.
“Girls will be Boys” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paNiEdFTvuA&list=SP50939CECB562274F
“Boys will be Girls: Night Out” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FukzyfIqYf8&list=SP50939CECB562274F