Estereotipo De Genero

How Stereotypes Limit Women’s Potentials?

Literature as a social institution illustrates life and society in different forms, all depending in different aspects in which the author is involved. Literature is an expression of society; furthermore, society is reflected in literature. Women throughout history have been victims of patriarchal norms, since that is what many books such as theGenesis illustrate. It turns out that every woman who, in patriarchal judgment, goes through the barriers of what is permitted and what is not from a religious, social, ideological, and cultural perspective gets branded a witch, a prostitute, a temptress, or a deceptive. As any system with power, a patriarchal society has generated innumerable injustices that have extended over thousands of womenin our society; thus, they have subjugated women to absolute and sometimes fatal domination by men. Although society is in constant evolution, authors such as Mary Gaitskill in “The Girl on the Plane” tell us that there are still stereotypes and barriers that limit women’s potential and force them to fit those stereotypes.

In Mary Gaitskill’s “The Girl on the Plane”, the authorillustrates one of the biggest issues women face on a patriarchal society: women being forced to fit stereotypical roles. For instance, Gaitskill argues that women are forced to fit the social stereotype of being sexy and pretty in order to be accepted, “...what did you mean when you said you kept trying to fit in and couldn’t? ... ‘Oh you know’ she seemed impatient.
Sanchez | 2

‘Acting the part ofthe pretty, sexy girl’”(22). Gender stereotypes were created by society, and they attribute characteristics and meaning to actions that men and women perform, or are expected to perform according to standards established by society itself. Gaitskill’s story illustrates how sex roles and stereotypes limit women, yet they force women to fit them anyway. Women are being defined through the maleperspective, for they have no voice and are easy to objectify them. Women have been devaluated in the following way: they are judged by what the majority, rule, says; sometimes the exception is rare and is sometimes attacked. 

Gaitskill portrays women as an object that need men to feel secure and cared; consequently, “She (Lorraine) seemed in need of comfort and care, like a stray animal thatgets fed by various kindly people but never held”(Gaitskill, 16). Women in this case are not only seen as an object, but also as an animal, that clearly demonstrates that women are conditioned to the fact that they are weak and need a male figure to be a complete woman. The fact that women are seen as an object is because everything we say and think is exactly the reflection of the education we getfrom our parents, school, friends and the entire society. There is nothing natural, what we say and think has too much meaning; however, they do not define anything, it is the meaning that we give them. We assume some things should be certain ways, and that is why we have stereotypes. 

Sanchez | 3

Society forces women to fit certain roles, so they can be accepted. This is an issuethat throughout history has created concerns in our society, for instance, if a woman doesn’t not fit what we expect from her, then she is judged. Gaitskill portrays this issue when Lorraine says, “I mean doing stuff for other people’s expectations or just to feel you have a social identity because you‘re so convinced who you are isn’t right… It is just that you get so many projections onto yourselfof who and what you’re supposed to be…”(Gaitskill, 22-23) Most men in our culture accept the image of women projected in the media as a real image; thus, they mix the different roles presented to generate their expectations of how an ideal woman should look like. Those expectations are most of the time the main factors that contribute to the frustration experienced by men when they compare...