This paper discusses the evolution of gender roles in American society.
Written in 2002; 4,560 words; 6 sources; MLA; $ 118.95
Paper Summary:
This paper discusses how the role women play in American society has changed since the beginning of the twentieth century. The writer compares the behavior of men and women a gym environment in order to study whether or not certain stereotypes can be found while both sexes are working out. The author interviews two athletes, one male and one female about their opinions regarding how men and women exercise, what equipment they use and why. This is followed by the author's observation of how hard men and women workout while using the cardio equipment in the gym. The author observes both the level of intensity and the interaction between the sexes in order to reach the conclusions presented in the paper.
From the Paper:
"Melanctha, Gail Collins? editorial, Lindsey's book on gender roles, and my anthropological study at the gym all suggest that women, in actuality, haven?t done as much in breaking the barriers of gender roles that they perhaps promised to do in the early 20th century. As further evidence for this, one can look at a study conducted by Michael A. Messner in which he extensively interviewed thirty male athletes over a period of two years. He claims that these athletes all claim that their "earliest experiences in sports are stories of an exclusively male world" (1999, p.101). He also claims that, even today, many girls tend to shy away from competitive sports because they "define themselves primarily through connection with others, [and] experience highly competitive situations (whether in organized sports or in other hierarchical institutions) as threats to relationships, and thus to their identities" (1999, p. 106). Thus, my idea that gender roles of women are so stringent that they must even follow them in the gym is not too far fetched. If both magazines and schools tell women that they need to be a certain way, its no wonder that there is so much uproar when a woman tries to get an education or tries to play of sports. Of course, there still are the Lisa Gillises of the world, but these women are still marginal to modern American culture. Yes, they are becoming less so, but these women still have a lot of work to do if they ever want to create a gender equal society."
We have thousands of high-quality term papers, research papers, essays, book reports and dissertations on every topic. At AcaDemon, you can download those term papers to help you write yours! You can be sure that the term paper, essay, book report or research paper you download are top-quality, competitively priced and high-level work.
This Free Term Paper Abstract is a part of our Term Paper Library.Here you can purchase research papers, examples of essays, academic dissertations, articles, notes, analytical papers, book reports, stories and poems. We have thousands of persuasive, point-of-view, narrative, critical, compare and contrast and other types of essays in our Library. You can also find here Term papers on "Women's Role in Society", Essays on "Women's Role in Society", Research papers on "Women's Role in Society", Student papers on "Women's Role in Society", Book reports on "Women's Role in Society", Dissertation on "Women's Role in Society", Thesis on "Women's Role in Society", Summary of paper on "Women's Role in Society", Articles written on "Women's Role in Society".