Female Gender?

   I identify as a female in this gender-contracted world. I have grown up with the perceived notion that Gender is a scientific idea that has been proven over and over again. However, there is no data or science to prove this, showing that Gender is a Social construction. And this is very evident in the way I grew up. 

I grew up in a wealthier neighborhood in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and went to one of the private schools. Here, the school advertised itself as an open place for children to flourish with their identities and gain a preparatory college education. But they cannot promote the truth that being a female at this school affected how teachers, coaches, and classmates perceived us. Due to a wide range of demographics at the school, the females were mainly scripted as weak, emotional, dumb but still having to be intelligent, athletic but not as good as the guys' teams, and an object. 

Our school dress code made this male/female Gender distinction very clear. At school, one day, I had a crop top on because I wanted to start wearing clothes I felt confident in. Yet a male professor stared at me and made me change my shirt because he told me that showing my belly wasn't appropriate for a school setting. But simultaneously, a guy walked past us, wearing a crop top showing much more of his midriff than I was. He was never stopped and was never asked to change. This difference made me feel like an object because I couldn't express myself through my clothes. The notion that my skin was too distracting while a guy's skin isn't highlighted shows that women are viewed as sexual beings who can be taken control of just by their outfits. 

Not only did the scripts affect how I was socially treated at school, but these scripts also affected the social expectations. My parents and professors expected me to be well-rounded. Their ideas meant that I got good grades, did well in sports, had friends, went to college, met someone/man, started a family, and was able to support myself. These end goals were also present to most of my friends as well. I remember being in my art class and hearing a girl unironically say, "I am going to college to find my husband." The idea for females to be expected to have everything figured out in life and for our primary goal to result in us getting married and having a family is engraved in society so well. As you walk down any store, there's a pink and blue section of toys, one for boys and one for girls. The "girl toys" were about caring for your dolls and cooking sets, while the guys were about building and exploring. The marketing in this world is constructing gender differences, even though Gender is a spectrum. 

Overall, the way the female Gender is constructed is mainly by being the opposite of the "dominant" Gender of males. Societal pressures and expectations keep up this distinction through marketing, media, and daily life. And even though there is a male/female stereotype, we are all on the gender spectrum. And we are all the heroes of our stories, even if society tells us we aren't.