Because society said so!

I absolutely love my Gender Roles class, to the point that I find myself wanting to do my school work. However, I feel that what I am learning continues to be the same thing, how society teaches us EVERYTHING. This is not a knock on the class or textbook; it is just what I am learning at this time. Society dictates what we think is “cool.” Society dictates what clothes are in fashion, what music is hip, what food is popular (where did the pretzel bun come from?), etc. So in an effort to have a different discussion I Googled gender and what were the top three hits you ask: gender predictor, gender reveal ideas, and gender neutral names. Gender reveal ideas is another new phenomenon of our society. This new party came about right after the birth of my first son. At first I thought it was really silly, but then as we most do, I conformed with my second son and we had a gender reveal party.

For us it was more of a time to tell our families and friends all at once what we were having than a real focus on the gender party. We were okay with either sex. My daughter was convinced it was a girl and so was I, but it was a second son and we could not be happier with the family God has given us. Sorry, back to the party. There are many really cute ideas out there from making the cake a certain color depending on the gender and t-shirts to a paint fight, busting a piñata, and releasing balloons (which is what we ended up doing). Nowadays people go all out for this party. There are invites, special cupcakes, everyone places a vote, people might dress a certain way, etc. My point is, society tells us this is now what you do. You put this special party together just to reveal the gender of an upcoming childbirth. Is it fun? Absolutely. But in today’s society, especially in the United States, does it really make that much of a difference what the gender is? Are we to the point yet that gender doesn’t really matter anymore? Do little girls have the same opportunities as little boys?  According to the last video we watched for this class, a doctor said if the sex is ambiguous, he will always choose male because they will be more successful. Really?!? Is society telling us this so we believe it or is it actually true?