Gender Observation
This paper presents the findings of an objective study made at a busy recreational facility on a typical day with the aim of observing the various aspects of genders on site some of which included: establishing how the subjects of interest related to each other, how they behaved and the interrelationships between their grooming styles, mannerisms, activities that subjects indulged in and their sexual orientation, how they communicated with each other and the implications of these interactions among other parameters. Admittedly, people behave differently in many occasions based on their characters, ages and many more. For instance, how women will behave and wear in a beach is very different to how they will be in a church or other formal place. Additionally, people in some places such as the pubs, and recreational centers forget their cultures as they enjoy to their level best (Henderson & Ainsworth, 2001). The observation here will narrow down to a specific place and particularly at the beach town beach.
With regards to the activities in which subjects engaged in, the males were generally more physically active than females. Overall they were observed engaging in vigorous physical activity nearly twice as often as females at the recreational facility. Based on this, one could easily tell a man from a woman. More males than females used the park area, and this pattern was consistent, except the track and picnic areas. The males appeared more masculine, revealing more muscles than their feminine counterparts.
In respect to grooming, since this survey was conducted in an urban setting, it was a bit challenging to deduce sexual orientation by the superficial appearance of ones dressing because some females could be seen dressed in trouser jeans and T-shirts, something typical of the male gender in most societies. Nevertheless, only the females could be seen in complete dresses and skirts. One unique and obvious distinctive aspect was the facial appearance. Only the females and transsexuals had lip-sticks, lip-gloss, eye-shadow and related paraphernalia on.
Parent-child relationships were noticed among the subjects in cases where the minor the adult individuals engaged in conversations suggesting compassion and tender love existing between them, implying parental love and care for their young ones. This was more pronounced between mothers and their daughters. Friends could be seen talking casually to each other having drinks or just holding friendly conversations. In most occasions, casual friends would greet hands with, apparently, new met friends as a sign of reunion, or even embrace each other or in the female case; hug each other. It could be easily told how connected individuals were based on their emotional and facial reactions upon meeting each other.
Cases of plutonic relationships among a couple of subjects at the site were also noticed. These were indicated by an apparent nagging or somewhat sexually insinuating interactions between the female and male subjects. Couples in romantic relationships or courting individuals could easily be noticed by the manner in which they embraced each other, suggestively kissed each other, walked hand in hand with each other and the manner in which they passionately interacted. Casual relationships based on financial manipulations and one moment interactions, though less pronounced, were somehow evident among some subjects.
Contrary to the behaviors of many in the recreational facility, it was, however, noticeable that a remarkable number of study subjects showed signs of detachment from others. This group would instead isolate themselves from the rest of the public and, in most cases, would be seen grabbing the cigarette and smoking nonchalantly. One would easily tell how distressed or withdrawn these calibers were. In any population, such characters are inevitably commonplace. They typically exhibit antisocial behaviors and would rather be left alone, because they tend to believe that they think and find solutions to their problems in a better way if left in their thinking space; stereotypically the introvert types. Dealing and interacting with such individuals always seem rather challenging because of the fear of how they will react to one's approach in providing alternatives to whatever problems they are facing, which to them might not seem to be a big deal. This was one of the isolated cases of individuals at the recreational center whose case proved rather interesting to study and identify their behavior and mannerisms.
Most male individuals were also observed to be on phone calls, holding mostly business conversations. On rare occasion did the female gender interrupt their leisure time during the interactions with their friends at the recreational facility, to either receive phone calls or make calls? It was more apparent that they probably had the phones switched off in their purses.
In a nutshell, based on the aforementioned among other indicators; the sexual orientation, exhibited behavior, type of activities, grooming, mutual interaction and interrelationship of individuals can be deduced with reasonable certainty if the subjects of interest interact naturally in public places like recreational centers, shopping malls, restaurants, bars or clubs, or even ordinary workplaces.
References
Henderson KA, Ainsworth BE (2001). Researching Leisure and Physical Activity with Women
of Color: Issues and Emerging Questions. LeisureSci. 2001;23(1):21–34.
