Thursday, July 1, 2010

Romance and Relationships

My family reflects the normative U.S. family because my mother and father both work, yet my father is expected to provide financially more to the family. Social institutions reinforce power relations in the family because typically, the man is to provide for the family. If the mother provides more for the family then it is looked at in a different way. People do not see it as being normal. Dating and romance scripts I believe are taught through people. People usually do what others do. They look for the same relationship that someone else has if it looks to be successful. Scripts teach us about the normative U.S. family because they reflect our social norms, practices, and workings of power. Scripts provide us with frameworks and guidelines for sexual feelings and behaviors. Dating scripts uphold gender norms because typically, a man and a woman date. It isn’t “normal” for two women or two men to date. When I was younger my mother was a stay at home mom and my father worked fulltime and supported the family. My mother would clean, do laundry, and cook sometimes. My father would cook a majority of the time because he enjoyed it, but typically he was the breadwinner. Once my sister and I got into grade school my mother went back to work. She did not make as much as my father but she enjoyed working. As of today, both my parents work, while my father is the main household support. These tasks reflect typical social norms because it is typical for the man to provide more for the family, while the mother, either a stay at home mom or working herself, will not provide as much to the family, financially. Women and men communicate very differently. Women typically talk in a softer, more proper speech, while men are typically loud and curse much more. Usually, if a woman was to curse she would be looked down upon. Women and men’s different ways of communicating affect relationships because is it normal for the woman to have a quiet, polite voice and for the man to have a much deeper, stern voice. If a man was to have a soft voice he would probably be considered gay. Women tend to lean towards more of a man with a deep, stern voice, rather than a man with a soft, quiet voice.

1 comment:

  1. We also learn dating scripts through the places we go for advice. This could be friends with successful relationships as you mentioned, as well as magazines, dating shows, and books. These gendered social roles are so prevalent in our society that it is impossible to determine if any of them are natural characteristics of sex.