During lectures and class discussions, current affairs articles, newspaper issues, and our class readings, we focused on a range of different topics such as feminism and masculinity, as well as sex and gender. A major theme that I think is so important to discuss is gender roles and norms. Gender roles are behaviors learned by a person as presumed appropriate for their sex, assigned at birth, which is determined by prevailing cultural norms. Gender norms are standards and expectations that women and men are generally expected to follow within a framework that defines a certain community or culture at a given time. We seem to conform to gender roles and norms because of our fear of not being accepted. As we learned in class, conformity to these gender roles has existed in civilization throughout the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, and this must change. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essayA 19th century reading that really illustrated the idea of ​​gender roles and norms is Sojourner Truth's speech entitled "Ain't I a Women". Sojourner Truth was born into slavery and was involved in the women's rights movement She gave this speech at the 1851 Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. A quote from the speech was: "That man over there says women need help getting into cars, getting over ditches, and getting the best seat everywhere. No one ever helps me get in." the carriages, nor to cross the mud puddles, nor to give me the best place! And I am not a woman! Look at my arm! couldn't boss me around! And I'm not a woman? She thought men thought women should be protected because of their gender, even though she never really was because of her race. This discourse directly relates to gender roles and norms, but also oppression, as men felt that women should be inferior to men and that men should always have the upper hand. A stereotype that still exists today is that men should be the strong, independent alpha male and women should almost be the weak link or always dependent on the male population. In reality, Truth was doing men's work. Interestingly, his quote can be interpreted in two ways. The particular phrase “Am I not a woman” could be interpreted as, look at me, I am capable of doing “man’s” work, or as her frustration at being oppressed as a slave. Regardless, I'm glad that even in the 19th century, Sojourner Truth realized that women should not be subjected to these gender roles which in this case also had something to do with oppression. An example that supports my assertion about gender roles and norms is a 20th century reading called “The Politics of Domestic Labor” by Pat Mainardi. A summary of this article is that most men during this period considered household chores, such as washing dishes and pots, buying and putting away groceries, doing laundry, and mopping floors, as women's work. Mainardi used translations throughout his work to show what men really mean when they say certain things about sharing tasks 2014..