Researchers Yang and Girgus (2018) and Myers and Raymond (2010) each studied different ways that men and women are portrayed in society and how culture plays a role in how men and women act and view themselves. Yang and Girgus (2018) studied the tendencies people have to overemphasize maintaining positive social relationships throughout their lives and related it back to the differences between men and women. The study provides insight into why evidence shows that women care more about interpersonal relationships with men and what aspects of culture influence women to behave in certain ways. Yang and Girgus (2018) concluded that culture was a significant variable when analyzing gender relationships in different societies. Culture as one of the driving forces of how women and men perceive themselves plays a huge role in another study done by Myers and Raymond (2010). They confirmed that peer groups, parents, media, and school are the main social forces that affect what young girls deem as important and ‘feminine’. By looking at these two studies, we can see that culture plays a huge role in how women are treated and influenced to act a certain way in American society. This is relevant to my topic because it lays a foundation of how important of a role culture plays in the development of boys and girls. When thinking about culture, it’s also important to think about what aspects of culture are most influential. This leads us to the second main theme in the literature review; influential factors on pre-teens and children.
Explore Themes:
The Perpetuation of a Heteronormative, Male-Dominated Society
Influential Factors on Children and Pre-teens
