Introduction
Gendered roles, norms, and stereotypes play a highly significant role in any community all over the world in any stage of its development. As a result, they are dramatically embedded in both individual and social consciousness and observably resistant to changes. In general, all kinds of stereotypes and norms connected with gender, age, race, ethnicity, education, economic status, or family perpetuate and promote inequality. Gender roles may be defined as a specific set of expectations that are associated with people’s perceptions of femininity and masculinity. In turn, gender norms are the prescriptions of these roles and a particular type of social and cultural regulation that aims to encourage socially desirable or acceptable behavior. Gender norms regulate the activities of individuals that represent their social position as members of a community, under given circumstances. For the achievement of this purpose, gender norms imply a specific social control mechanism that is characterized by consciousness and generality. In other words, people know about and accept general rules that cannot be applied in various contexts.
In general, social roles and norms are traditionally connected with society’s value system. Although any prescription related to the person’s gender is an exclusively social phenomenon, it is frequently perceived as natural and valid with historical confirmation or biological origin. Such a conscious or unconscious approach leads to the formation of gender stereotypes. They are social and psychological mechanisms that regulate people’s evaluation and perception of various social phenomena. Gender stereotypes are highly stable elements that form in consciousness and result in emotional and irrational judgment, influencing opinions, positive or negative attitudes, and particular behavior. They imply the undifferentiated attribution of specific characteristics to all group members. It goes without saying that throughout history, gender stereotypes have substantively altered due to substantive and inevitable historical changes. However, in the present day, they still maintain an unequal relationship between women and men in multiple societies all over the world.
Gender stereotypes may cause unfair and unequal treatment, or sexism, which has no additional reason except the person’s gender. Traditionally, there are four significant types of gender stereotypes related to women – domestic behaviors, occupation, personality traits, and physical appearance. Domestic behaviors include the division of household duties according to gender. For instance, a substantial number of people think that women should be responsible for cooking, cleaning the home, and childcare. Gender stereotypes related to occupations imply the existence of feminine professions. In other words, only women maybe school and nursery teachers, health care providers, hairdressers, or nail artists. Personality traits stereotypically associated with women include pliability, obedience, emotionality, and humbleness. Gender stereotypes related to physical appearance may vary in different countries across the globe. The traditional stigmatization of women that currently exists in western societies is based on cultural perceptions and history. Therefore, women are frequently expected to be thin and graceful, they should have long hair, or wear dresses and makeup. Wearing makeup became my role-reversal act taken to analyze the significance of gendered roles and evaluate people’s reactions and factors that have an impact on them. I was wearing makeup at work for an entire day to understand my feelings and co-occurring emotions as well. The purpose of this paper is to describe my act and thoroughly analyze it from the perspective of people’s perceptions of women’s gender norms and the viability of these norms in modern society.
Act’s Description
In general, my act related to the evaluation of the impact of gender socialization on my working community. Balvin (2017) defines the phenomena of gender socialization as “a process by which individuals develop, refine and learn to ‘do’ gender through internalizing gender norms and roles” (para. 2). Various social institutions, such as family, close settings, mass media, or social networks, have a substantial impact on the formation of gender roles, norms, and stereotypes. Makeup is one of the women’s most specific attributes of gender. In other words, women are expected to wear makeup during the day to express their femininity.
I perform my gender in another way, as I do not wear makeup daily. I commonly make an exception in the case of special occasions, celebrations, and photography sessions, however, the practice of applying and wearing makeup every day is highly challenging, time-consuming, and exhausting for me. Nevertheless, I decided to perform the role-reversal act of wearing makeup at work for an entire day to challenge the norms of gender socialization.
An effective performance inevitably requires preparations; in my case, for the act, I primarily identified the type of makeup I would do and the time of its application. I chose natural and nude makeup as it was less challenging to put on in comparison with evening or bright makeup and did not require exceptional skills for its applying. In addition, simple makeup is highly suitable for work and daytime in general. However, even the most appropriate variant was highly complicated for me. I woke up at 4:30 am to apply makeup and be at work at 7 am. It is obvious that I will not repeat my act or start to apply makeup every working day as I do not want to spend such a substantial amount of time on it and limit my sleep.
At work, my fundamental goal was to observe people’s verbal and physical behavior as a response to the change in my appearance (Mack et al., 2005). In general, my colleagues and other employees of the company noticed it, though they reacted in different ways. Some people have shown visible signs of surprise without commenting, while others did not express any emotions; I may conclude that they did not notice my makeup. Another group of people compliments my appearance, but some workers had detected my transformation, though they had not understood its reason. These colleagues told me that day that I looked different, however, they did not know why. Surprisingly, no one expressed negative emotions or mentioned that makeup had made me charmless or ugly. At the same time, no one stated that I looked more feminine, and I should apply makeup all the time. Although I got a positive response from workers, my personal experiences were highly controversial. On the one hand, wearing makeup improved my self-confidence. On the other hand, I was substantively focused on my makeup’s quality as my face began to sweat.
In general, this act did not change my attitude to makeup. I did not like it as it felt highly unnatural on my skin. In addition, particular attention to me from other people did not allow me to work efficiently during the day. If I perform the same act again in the future, I will wear makeup at work on Friday for half of a day or in the church as there are substantially fewer people inside. I do not think that my makeup will disharmonize with my appearance in general, as I will dress up for church. Moreover, the setting spay may be useful as it will help me to focus on essential things rather than on the quality of makeup.
Act’s Impact
Stereotyped thinking and specific behavioral patterns caused by it are peculiar for the majority of people from their childhood. They may shape individual performance and motivations for a lifetime. According to recent research, “the gender-brilliance stereotype is present in children as young as six years of age” (Jaxon et al., 2019, p. 3). They subsequently act according to their stereotypes that were learned from both personal experience and broader cultural messages. For instance, if children form their attitude towards the intellectual abilities of people based on prejudice, they may avoid certain activities regardless of their interests (Jaxon et al., 2019). Gender socialization and stereotypes that intensified during childhood and adolescence later contribute to gender inequalities in empowerment, education, employment, and income.
Before the performance of my role-reversal act, I believed that makeup had a specific impact on people’s attitudes and behaviors based on stereotypes against women’s intellectual abilities. However, I did not observe this tendency – the management of my company and colleagues did not change behavior to demonstrate disrespect to my professional skills or intelligence. Even though a substantial number of scientific research demonstrate that “women encounter severe penalties for violating gender stereotypes,” I had never experienced any tension at work previously caused by the absence of makeup (Keck & Babcock, 2017, p. 276). At the same time, I did not notice any possible benefits from wearing makeup in a professional setting as well (Keck & Babcock, 2017). That is why I conclude that the organization and its staff concentrate on the employees’ professionalism, productivity, and the result of their performance without particular concern over gender.
However, I cannot categorically consider the general reaction of approval that I received as a demonstration of agreement with gender norms. Although my transformation has got positive feedback, people did not advise me, directly or in a reserved way, to apply makeup to emphasize my femininity. Colleagues liked me with makeup as it made my face look better, correct features, and cover the skin’s insignificant blemishes.
From a personal perspective, such categories, as age, gender, race, economic class, and sexuality, play an essential role in gender socialization, and the presence or absence of stereotyped thinking may be dependent on people’s characteristics. During the performance of my act, I noticed that women expressed their attitude to my transformation more transparently while men’s reactions were unclear. In other words, the majority of women came and directly complimented my makeup, and men did not say anything or did not even notice any change. This phenomenon may be explained by personal characteristics related to women as they are traditionally regarded as more sensitive and emotional (Drake, Primeaux, & Thomas, 2018). Moreover, I suppose that age, race, and sexuality of a person may affect his perception of gender norms and roles as well.
Although a prevalent number of people remain unbiased and non-judgmental throughout their lives, senior citizens of various societies have a particular tendency towards stereotyped thinking against their younger counterparts about their gender. According to the psychologists’ previous studies, “greater prejudice among older adults was since older people grew up in less egalitarian times” (“Do people become more prejudiced as they grow older?” 2015, para. 4). However, stereotyped thinking that leads to behavioral transformations may be determined by normal brain changes typical for late adulthood as well (“Do people become more prejudiced as they grow older?” 2015). In addition, I believe that the representatives of certain races or ethnicities have their gender stereotypes derived from the history of their societies. In turn, the members of the LGBT community may be characterized by the absence of stereotyped thinking. They manifest equality and a positive attitude to all people regardless of their gender and know a negative experience of stigmatization. Nevertheless, a person’s education is a fundamental criterion that defines the presence of gender stereotypes.
Besides, I suppose that I may regard my role-reversal experiment as an act of feminism in some specified sense. There are several significant types of feminism that include liberal, radical, cultural, socialist, separatist and lesbian, black, transfeminism, and eco-feminism. The act of wearing makeup based on its everyday absence relates to liberal feminism that implies sexual equality and freedom for women to express themselves. That is why when I applied makeup, I demonstrated my right to be different any time I wanted regardless of gender stereotypes.
Conclusion
Wearing makeup became my role-reversal act taken to analyze the significance of gendered roles and evaluate people’s reactions. I was wearing makeup at work for an entire day to understand my feelings and co-occurring emotions as well. I perform my gender in another way as I absolutely do not wear makeup daily as I find this practice highly challenging, time-consuming, and exhausting for me. In general, the response from colleagues was positive, though no one emphasized the importance of makeup to express my femininity. I noticed that women frequently expressed their attitude to my transformation in a more transparent way while men’s reactions were unclear. This act did not change my approach to makeup, and I do not like it due to the experience of discomfort even though makeup substantially boosts my self-esteem.
As a woman, I am expected to follow gender roles, however, I discovered that my identity and the way I express myself are immeasurably significant for me. Gender attributes cannot describe and identify any person, and people’s internal and external characteristics should not constantly be under socially prescribed gendered roles. However, my act demonstrates that gender stereotypes are continually losing their positions. Makeup and its absence do not change the attitude of other people toward me. It goes without saying that gender socialization and specific perception of gender roles and norms still exist worldwide, though, in the present day, people are less judged according to their gender and its attributes.
References
Balvin, N. (2017). What is gender socialization and why does it matter? Unicef: Evidence for Action.
Do people become more prejudiced as they grow older? (2015). BBC News.
Drake, C. E., Primeaux, S., & Jorden, T. (2018). Comparing implicit gender stereotypes between women and men with the implicit relational assessment procedure. Gender Issues, 35(1), 3-20. Web.
Jaxon, J., Lei, R. F., Shachnai, R., Chestnut, E. K., & Cimpian, A. (2019). The acquisition of gender stereotypes about intellectual ability: Intersections with race. Journal of Social Issues, 75(4), 1192-1215. Web.
Keck, S., & Babcock, L. (2018). Who gets the benefit of the doubt? The impact of causal reasoning depth on how violations of gender stereotypes are evaluated. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 39(3), 276-291. Web.
Mack, N., Woodsong, C., MacQueen, K. M., Guest, G., & Namey, E. (2005). Qualitative research methods: A data collector’s field guide. Family Health International.