Although not many of us realize it, gender is an important aspect in how we present ourselves in the society we interact with daily. The gender and sexuality of a person has an impact on his or her behavior, actions, and attitudes in general (West & Zimmerman).
In order to see how gender influence actions, I decided to analyze my behavior myself. Immediately after waking up in the morning, I first check my phone for messages and updates from my social media accounts. Afterwards, I get up from the bed and go through my morning routines—washing my face, taking a bath, picking out what clothes to wear, putting on makeup, reading the items I will need for the day, and then heading out. My preparation process took me more or less one hour. It was Friday, and in this particular day I chose to wear a nondescript typical outfit—t-shirt and jeans. I decided to let my hair down as well. Before heading out to class, I decided to buy some coffee from a local convenience store to help me get through the day.
Another scenario involves hanging out with my friends during that same Friday night. After my class, I changed clothes into a more appealing one—since the weather is cold that day, I decided to wear a jacket. I changed my t-shirt, and reapplied a little bit of makeup before heading out. I also tied my hair up a bit. I noted that I was more vivacious and lively than I was in the morning, perhaps because I am in the company of my friends. The get-together was at best mundane; we only had coffee at the local Starbucks restaurant, and everyone paid for his or her own drinks. Like any other meetups, we engaged in lively conversation, exchanged gossips with one another, caught up with each other’s lives, and took a few snapshots to be posted on social media accounts later. All in all, the actions I did can be considered as typical ‘girly’ stuff.
It can be noted that there a number of behaviors I have done in these both set of instances that may say a lot about my conception of how my gender should act. Per the getting ready scenario in the morning, the first behavior that comes to mind is the length of getting ready for the day. There is a preconceived notion that girls take a much longer time to get ready than boys, and that rings true for me. After all, this notion has some basis—unlike guys who do not have much in the way to appear presentable, girls have to prepare their hair, preferably put on some makeup, wear undergarments such as the bra (which is considerably harder to put on) and then put on some clothes that do not only fit them, but also make them look presentable as well. For some, the longer time spent by girls is in order to attract men, but for me this is not the case. I believe that it is a matter of self-confidence—by presenting a presentable image to the world, I can convey that know how to take care of myself.
Another behavior concerns my choice of attire, which is a shirt-and-jeans combination. For some, this is considered too ‘boyish’ for girls to wear, and as such I might be mistaken for a tomboy. For me, however, it is a matter of comfort—knowing that I have a long day ahead of me due to my classes and school-related activities, I might as well dress for comfort. Nevertheless, my choice of attire can change perceptions regarding me.
Lastly is my hair. I left it untied because I am not too concerned with my appearance that particular day, for the same reasons of comfort described above. Leaving my hair untied can give insights that I am undoubtedly a girl, which might quell the perceptions of being a tomboy regarding my choice of outfit.
Some behaviors regarding my night out with friends say something about my behavior as well. For one, the way I interact with friends, as I have mentioned earlier, can be considered ‘girly’ things to do, with the gossiping and conversation topics and the like. In a sense, I conform to the female norm of getting together with other females in this regard. The practice of posting pictures to social medi can be considered a female thing as well; it is usually females who practice that and as such it is considered an unmanly thing to do for its perceived shallowness. Also, the whole scenario of females paying for their drinks and going out is in conformity with the ‘independent image’ as well, as we do not need men to pay for our drinks as we can pay ours just fine.
For the choice of my outfit to wear, I think I am slightly influenced by the image of the independent young adult woman who does not need to appeal to other in order to feel validation from the society. However, this is reversed with the way I look that night; although I can argue that my choice of attire was primarily for comfort, I cannot deny that there is a subtle message for me to look presentable to the society as well.
All in all, I learned from this activity that some of my actions are really affected by my gender and sexuality, and how I perceive the way I should act to some extent. I find this activity to be eye-opening and really insightful, as it allows me to examine how I really feel about my place as a woman in the society.
Work Cited
West, Candace & Don H. Zimmerman. “Doing Gender”. Gender and Society, vol. 1, no. 2, 1987, pp. 125 – 151, http://www.gla.ac.uk/0t4/crcees/files/summerschool/readings/ WestZimmerman_1987_DoingGender.pdf. Accessed 20 January 2017.
