Introduction
As with everything in this world, people’s perceptions of gender roles and identities have significantly changed over the course of history. Some of the main questions of what is appropriate to the people of certain gender have been present and debated about for a long time. For instance, a good example of these issues is the perceptions of gays and lesbians. As such, it is well known that before the spread of the three major Abrahamic religions across the globe, many indigenous nations viewed same-sex relations as normal (Morris, 2016). On the other hand, some gender-related questions became of high importance only recently. In this regard, consider the movements that have been advocating the rights of women, such as suffragists and feminists. These two aspects in which people’s perception of gender has evolved are seemingly one of the most important nowadays. Therefore, although other elements changed significantly over time, the issues of same-sex relations and equal rights should be discussed in more detail.
Same-Sex Relations
As for the former, it can be claimed that the general public and politics have adequately recognized gays’ and lesbians’ rights in Western society only during the recent two decades since ancient times. Yet, the active attempts to advocate for the rights of these groups have started right after the end of World War II (Morris, 2016). However, if now open aggression against gays and lesbians is rather rare in the U.S. and Europe, it was the opposite during the middle of the 20th century. For example, Truscott (1969) describes how violent and unjust were the policemen against the visitors of the Stonewall Inn gay bar. Similarly, from Renate Bridenthal’s letter to the New York Times, it can be seen that any attempt to study the origin of same-sex relations among women was considered lesbian propaganda. Thus, it was widely criticized even by the most respected newspapers (Bridenthal, 1977). Therefore, it can be concluded that since ancient times and until the beginning of the 21st centuries common gender expectations dictated the necessity to be in relation with other sex. On the contrary, now such perceptions have been gradually changing.
Equal Rights Between Men and Women
The second huge change in perception of gender roles, as was mentioned above, concerns the equal political, social, and legal rights between various genders. In contrast to the same-sex relationship, this issue first appeared on a big scale since the period of active industrialization of the leading European countries and the U.S. Before that, women’s gender role was weakly associated with the active participation in politics and pursuit of the career success. However, at the end of the 19th century, suffragists, understanding how much benefits gender equality would bring mostly to women but also to men, initiated the active struggle against the common prejudices. For instance, according to Blackwell (1917), one of the main concerns of men regarding women’s voting rights included the loss of chivalry by men and the inability to vote by women due to excessive emotionality. Nevertheless, nowadays, there are probably almost no people who believe the latter prejudices, and nearly all agree that women have fundamental voting rights. Yet, some problems concerning gender equality, such as equality in the workplace, still continue to persist.
Conclusion
Overall, the current paper analyzed how people’s stereotypes towards gender roles evolved over time, taking the two most prominent issues in this regard as an example, namely same-sex relations and equal rights. As for the former, it was found that there was a significant change in how western society treats gays and lesbians since the second half of the second century. Consequently, these days there are already many people who do not associate, for example, the ‘real manhood’ with the necessity to be in relation with a woman rather than with another man. As for the latter, it was discussed how all women could enjoy equal political rights with men due to the struggle of suffragists. However, it was noted that such a problem as equality in the workplace still exists today.
References
Blackwell, A.S. (1917). Answering objections to women’s suffrage. Web.
Brindenthal, R. (1977). Letter to the editor. (Letter). CUNY Digital History Archive. Web.
Morris, B. (2016). History of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender social movements.American Psychological Association. Web.
Truscott, L. (1969). Gay power comes to Sheridan Square. Web.