Week 1: Introduction to Gender Communication

What does it mean to be masculine?  What does it mean to be feminine?   Who are we to judge how masculine a male is or how feminine a woman is?  When I was younger, one of the most common questions that was asked was “What do you want to be when you grow up?”  From around the age of 4 to the age of 12 my answer was the same every time.  I always responded, “I want to be a cardiologist.”  The range of reactions that I got from people was hilarious.  Most adults would just laugh and say that that was a man’s job and if I wanted to go into the medical profession then I should want to be a nurse.  Turns out, I’m very bad at science and when I got into higher schooling I realized quickly that I did not what to go into the medical profession at all, but that does not change the idea that people told me from such a young age that I couldn’t be a doctor, I had to be a nurse.  Why does our culture think this?  Why is it unfeminine to be a doctor or a surgeon?  I am a firm believer in anyone can be any profession that they want to be.  I don’t know if I will ever understand why some jobs are considered feminine and some jobs are considered masculine, but I hope that it changes in the future.  I hope that people see that they have to let little kids know that they can be anything that they want to be, and they do not have to fit into the stereotype of male or female.  Why do I say this?  Because I truly believe that there is nothing worse that not being comfortable in your own body just because you fear that you do not fit in with your gender.  Being who you are is so important, so why would you want to be something that you are not?