Thursday, October 13, 2011

Identifying Our Assumptions - Kara Shimer

When we were assigned this project for COR 401, I was unsure how we would tackle this project. There are so many different areas of how gender roles have dramatically changed over the years. For example, women used to stay home to cook, clean and care for the children while, the men were the breadwinners of the family. Today, there are some women who are the breadwinners in the family, while the men stay home to cook, clean and take care of the children.  

I was talking to a friend of my family about this topic and she did not have a lot of good things to say. She took a different approach to gender roles than what I had in mind when we were assigned this project. For example, for her, it is really hard to see the change in gender roles because she grew up in a “normal” culture where the internet and TV did not display derogatory things, like it does today. She said, she feels sorry for our generation because we have to grow up in this society of sex, drugs, alcohol abuse, woman being portrayed as sex symbols, etc that is all normal to us, but not so much to her. She mentioned that she wishes that children could grow up like she did, where the internet and TV did not display those kinds of things and where all the TV shows were like the Brady Bunch or the Little House on the Prairie. Today, gender roles are a big culture shock to her and it is taking time for her to adjust to it.
    
We are taking our project at a different approach on how gender roles have changed over the years. We will be gathering data by completing multigenerational interviews and research to determine how gender roles have changed.  I am anxious to hear everyone’s interviews and the opinions of others on gender roles.

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