Cooking, cleaning, being the leader of the household, wearing makeup, lifting weights, which of these are appropriate for males or females? Gender norms are masculine or feminine behaviors and attitudes that are accepted by society. How would people’s reaction be if one challenges the gender norms? I decided to challenge one of these norms and find out.
As a Chinese American my gender norms are also influenced by my culture. I would call the gender norm I challenged “masculine posture”. In my culture it is inappropriate for women to sit with one foot up on the chair, or “shake” our leg. One night I decided to see how my family would react if I sat inappropriately during dinner. When I first placed my foot up on the chair no one said anything but I can see and feel my parents and siblings looking at me. I was waiting for them to make a comment. I started to “shake” my leg and then they spoke up. My parents told me to put my foot down and sit appropriately. They said it was rude for a woman to sit like that. It showed that I had no manners was not well disciplined. My sister told me not to “shake” my leg because in the Chinese culture there is a saying that women who did that were associated with something negative. I’ve got to admit that sometimes it feels comfortable sitting “inappropriately” but I cannot do that in front of my family.
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