Gender stereotypes video by Bruno

Our group feels that even though the traits seem like gender stereotypes, they may not necessarily be so. Some of the traits seem quite true even in just the context of our class. For example, there seems to be a trend where every time a girl goes to the toilet, the entire group of girls will go together. Another example that can be observed in class would be that of the contents of bags. There really seems to be more random items (such as soft toys) in women's bags than men's.

For some of the other traits, such as discussions, which was portrayed as mass talking for women and arena showdowns for men, we feel that it may not be true. It may be a little true that discussions between men tend to be more debate-like at times, but from what we observe in class, women definitely do not all talk at the same time. However with regards to talking, where men's talk are portrayed to be straight to the point and militarilistic while women's talk are portrayed to be confusing and going all over the place, we must admit that it seems quite true, as there tends to be more digressions in conversations between girls.

One gender difference that we observed but was not mentioned in the video can be that of speed. Boys tend to eat and walk faster while girls prefer to take things slow. This interesting observation pointed us in another direction: do people tend to conform to stereotypes? Society has structured differences between men and women in such a way that we are taught to conform with these stereotypes, hence making the trend more valids and confirming the stereotypes. Let's go back to eating, for example, where women are encouraged to maintain a gentle image and eat slowly, while men are encouraged to eat quickly in pursuit of effeciency. Anyone who fails to conform will be labelled as "tomboyish" or "sissy".

In conclusion, we feel that most of the traits shown in the video are rather valid, with only very few stereotypes. However, there may have been a lot more stereotypes in the past, only that we tend to conform to these stereotypes and turning the stereotypes into real-life observations.

Tu Guang, Jasmine, Wenyu, Amanda
09s06H