Friday, March 12, 2010
My Gender Survey
In the process of producing my own gender based survey, I have recognized that the stereotypes of both men in women in today’s society, in fact, do exist. I say this for the reason that my survey had specific criteria for both men and women that had included classic stereotypical characteristics to facilitate whether or not these notions stand true.
In society, both men and women have their own stereotypes, which I had prepared as a factor through out my survey. Traditionally, the label we associate with males is one that signifies power and strength. This is mainly because men have always been reflected as “the main source of living.” In a standard stereotypical family, the husband works while the wife stays home to take care of the house and kids. Real men are to be in charge of a situation. Women are considered too emotional and weak to be leaders. In the course of making my survey, I tried to create scenarios that would exemplify these stereotypes. Men are considered to be the providers in society. On the other hand, women tend to be more organized and active. Most of the stereotypes I have mentioned were illustrated in the end results of my collected data. The men who had taken my survey tended to have a higher range in leadership qualities in addition to their financial roles. Women, however, were more inclined to their typical qualities of being organized and independent. Overall, the answers of the quiz takers had indeed corresponded to my expectations. “Women take care, men take charge!”
Gender Quiz Experience
Everyone has a “sexual orientation” and a “gender identity.” Recently, I have taken two quizzes I found on google that help verify one’s identity. I was very pleased with my end results. On the quizzes I took there were two categories, in which your identity could be classified under (femininity and masculinity) according to your end results. Even though there are only two categories on the quizzes, I learned that each category has many different levels. Your identity is determined as it is “experienced in regard to your individuality” as either a male or a female. In the process of taking the two quizzes, I realized that traditional stereotypes in the world influence what gender you will be classified under. There was a different criteria assigned for both males and females on these quizzes. The women were often associated with light colors that had illustrated the typical stereotype of women being too emotional and weak to be a leader. Men on the other hand were often associated with darker colors to illustrate their strength, power, and authority. In the end my quiz answers were what I hoped for. I am more feminine than masculine. For me, I was a tad bit anxious to see my end results because I thought that I would have some percentage of masculinity. I say this because playing sports is an activity, which stereotypically is a characteristic of being more masculine than feminine, and let me tell you I live in the gym. I found taking the quizzes very entertaining and fun, each step was a surprise. The quizzes showed that the construction of gender is based upon stereotypes that are formed within the society.
WOW WHAT JUST HAPPENED!?!?!
In class today I had experienced the craziest online quiz I have ever taken in my life. Yes, this quiz had driven my mind to the extreme, far more complex then those found on facebook these days deciphering what Disney princess you are. As I sat at my desk I felt as if I was being hypnotized by a computer. Yes a computer! What is the name of this brain twisting madness you ask? This quiz was called the “IAT.” A quiz in which your answers are based on your gut reaction. This quiz is not like any other quiz I had experienced before. At first I thought it would be fun and enjoyable, however those feelings had changed. The IAT quiz is one that involved swift movements from your brain to your hands. The IAT quiz is not multiple choice, instead it is like a video game. You stare at a black screen as it flashes random words at you. You are required to press the “I” key for the section on the right and “E” key for the section on the left. As these words flash onto the screen you must as fast as you can press either “I” or “E” to put it under the category in which you think it belongs. At first I thought that it wasn’t too bad until the words began to flash faster and faster. Each time you sort a word into the wrong category a big fat red X pops up on your screen. I started off real good, but let me tell you when those words began to flash faster my black screen I was staring at had turned into on big red X. I could not focus on what I was doing. Instead I focused on speed. I found this quiz to be very stressful. I had tried multiple times to get as many as I could right while going as fast as I could. By the end of all this non-sense my head was whirling around like a mad man with no sense of focus. In the long scheme of things, I am not sure about the accuracy of this quiz, as I had to make quick decisions, which may truly not reflect on how I might have felt had I had more time. Until I see my own results I cannot make a judgment of how accurate it reflects my true feelings as a person. I recommend this quiz to anyone who likes a challenge. Everything I just said might sound like a bunch of rubbish, however if you are willing to take a risk all it takes is just one click.
http://www.understandingprejudice.org/demos/
The first activity on the other hand I found to be enjoyable. The main objective of this quiz was to arrange a variety of pictures of people into their standard category of race. According to my results I actually did very well on this quiz. I believe I did well because the pictures of the people I got right, had shown strong characteristics of their racial identity that society has created over time concerning skin color, body features, etc. Even tough I did well on this quiz I did not get a 100%. The majority of the people I had gotten right were those who fit the stereotypical description of their own race. This quiz was like solving a jigsaw puzzle. Towards the end I began to run out of spaces in certain categories. The people who I had put in the wrong racial categories, were those who did not appear to fit or qualify into the standard characteristics of a certain race, such as those who have mixed ethnicities. This quiz demonstrated the difference between races and how they are assembled. I learned from this quiz to never judge a book by its cover, because honestly you have no idea what it is made up of.
http://www.pbs.org/race/002_SortingPeople/002_00-htm
In my opinion I would have created a quiz that was not so demanding and stressful to the student. I would have created a quiz that did not have time restraints, allowing you to think before you respond. I would allow the quiz to be in a relaxed format, in which you feel comfortable and not pressured. When someone answers under pressure they blurt out a response and then later when they have time to think about it, wish they may have responded differently. When I took the quizzes I felt pressured, which did not allow myself to focus 100% allowing my answers to not reflect how I truly felt. So by creating a quiz with no time restraints people would be able to speak truthfully on the topic of both gender and race.
