Myths Surrounding Women

 Many different myths in today’s society surround women and tend to give off a false image of how women

function within our world. As a woman myself, I see the effects of these myths in my everyday life in how

people treat me and what people find me capable of solely because I am a woman.

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     Myth one: Women are mentally weaker than men. Men and women the same are capable of being as strong

as they push themselves to be and that each of our limits are different. According to Elizabeth King “Men are

treated as superiors to women in virtually every regard: They're thought of not only as physically stronger,

but smarter, better suited for leadership, and overall deserving of better treatment than women” (King).

Women are capable of being the strongest humans alive. A woman who believes that she is capable of

accomplishing many things in this life, will not stop until she has achieved that goal, and I'm not sure I could

say the same for most men. Women are known to have better survival skills than men. Meaning, in tougher

situations women are mentally more prepared to take on the task of surviving. According to Sarah Rainey, “strength can be defined in different ways. When it comes to the most basic instinct of all-survival-women’s bodies tend to be better equipped than men’s. From longevity and surviving illness to coping with trauma and managing pain, we investigate the surprising ways in which women really are the stronger sex…” (Rainey).  

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     Myth two: Women are more emotional than men. We are emotional human beings, but we are no more emotional than anybody else. Even though we all generally have the same emotional capacity, society has looked upon emotional men and thought they were “weak” or “girly”, while it has been very acceptable for women to be emotional with anything they need to be emotional about. According to Paul Hudson, “In this study, conducted by neurologists at Mindlab, men are actually much more sensitive than women when it comes to being presented with emotional stimuli.” (Hudson). It is a disservice to men not being socially accepted for showing their emotion. This leads to more violence within men because they are not properly allowed to express how they are feeling. Women are not innately more emotional, it is only more acceptable for women to express their emotions freely.

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     Myth three: Only women can be house “wives”. This myth comes forth from a close-minded society in which women are limited to the jobs of being a mother, wife, cook, and cleaner. While all these things are wonderful attributes, they should not be the only choices that women have. There are just as many women as there are men that are capable of these jobs that are out in the world. If it be being a teacher, an accountant, an engineer, or a doc- tor, women should have the choice to be able to pursue that career. Women should not be limited to jobs within the home. I believe that if you restrict a woman to solely having to work at home, they will quickly become resentful on their place within society. There are women who would prefer to be the caretaker in the home and that be there sole job, but that also requires a man within the household who is willing to be the primary income for the household. It takes a strong woman to work in the home as well as outside of the home.

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     Myth four: Women can’t be leaders. People are led to believe that women are not able to assume the role of a leader within the home, work, or any events. Women are very capable of leading within the workplace as well. A woman should not be discounted from a leader- ship role only because of her gender, that should be decided based on her capability of completing the tasks given before her and her ability to communicate efficiently to the people around her. There are many leadership roles that women can and should take over.

Works Cited:

Hudson, Paul. “Men Are Actually More Emotional Than Woman, They Just Hide It Better.” Elite Daily, 18 Jun. 2015, http://elitedaily.com/dating/guys-more-emotional-girls/1077730/ . Accessed 19 Sept. 2017.

King, Elizabeth. “Women Are Stronger Then Men and Even Science Says So.” Britt Co, 12 Jun. 2017, https://www.brit.co/new-research-about-womens-strength-could-totally-change- how-you-see-yourself/. Accessed 19 Sept. 2017.

Rainey, Sarah. “Why men are truly the weaker sex: From women being less emotional to   having stronger muscles, a new book reveals tantalizing research that defies conventional wisdom”. Daily Mail, 20 Jun. 2017, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4623586/Why-men-truly-weaker- sex.html. Accessed 27 Sept. 2017.

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Myths About the Elderly

    There are many different myths that can surround the elderly within our communities. It varies from

thinking all elderly people are senile, they are not in touch with society, and that they are not capable

of taking care of themselves. These are myths because while they can be true in some situations, it is

not always the case for every elderly person.

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    Myth 1: Elderly people are senile. Elderly people are very capable of being fully mentally healthy

up until the moment they take their last breath. “The probability of senility at age 65 is only about five

percent. It rises to about 20 percent by age 85” (Do Not Regret).There are situations of older people

losing their mental health once they get to a certain age, but this is usually due to illnesses that are

caused by situations people are in, or hereditary traits. For the most part though, elderly people are

able to enjoy a full life with all the benefits included. All elderly people will have problems with their

health, but there is always hope that the number affected by mental illness will continuously decrease as the years go on. “Just consider when doctors examined the brain of a 115-year-old woman who, when she died was the world’s oldest woman, they found essentially normal brain tissue, with no evidence of Alzheimer’s or other dementia-causing conditions. Testing in the years before she died showed no loss in brain function” (Do not Regret).

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    Myth 2: Elderly people are not in touch with society: Some elderly people are not able to be in touch with the fast-paced society because they do not know the ways of technology and cannot relate to all the activity happening on news, media, and social media. The biggest influence on today’s young society is definitely social media, and most elderly don’t have a purpose or need for it, but there are also some who find social media to be very useful for staying in contact with family and friends. According to the Pew Research Center and Anita Kamiel, “their 2012 study showed that those that go online, 71% do so daily and 34% use social media” (Kamiel). There are many elderly people who I see on my social media pages all the time. Elderly people have also begun to replace their newspaper reading with electronic news, which connects them with a larger band of people around the country and world. There are many benefits for elderly people to have ways of being in direct contact with people of all ages and places through means that are significant to today’s society.

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     Myth 3: Elderly people cannot take care of themselves: This is not true in the least bit. There are plenty of elderly people who are fully capable of doing day to day activities by themselves. In most scenarios, there is usually a spouse in the house with the elderly person, therefor they are not completely independent even though they are capable of being so. According to the CDC, “in 2012 there were approximately 58,500 paid, regulated long term care providers in the United States. That number included adult day centers, home health agencies, hospice, nursing homes, and residential care communities.” (Do Not Regret).  Some elderly people in the nursing home or in an assisted living facility can still take care of themselves just fine. They may have just wanted to be somewhere where there are people to talk to and be around or for them to have activities to engage themselves in throughout the day.

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     Many people simply have common misconceptions of elderly people. All people are different and in some situations, I am sure all these myths can be proven differently, but all elderly people should not be compared to each other. They are all their own person and they deserve to be treated that way. Some misconceptions being all elderly people becoming senile, not being in touch with society, and not being able to take care of themselves.

Works Cited:

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“Assisted living Statistics-A deeper Dive into the Demographics”. http://www.ascseniorcare.com/assisted-living-statistics-a-deeper-dive-into-the-demographics/ . Accessed 23 Oct 2017.

“Do Not Regret Showing Older, It is a Privilege Denied to Many.” Myths and Facts About Aging, http://www.inourcareservices.com/2015/05/05/myths-facts-about-aging/ . Accessed 11 Oct 2017.

Kamiel, Anita. “A Hot Trend: The Internet, Social Media & The Elderly”. 08 Mar 2017, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/anita-kamiel-rn-mps/older-people-social-media_b_9191178.html. Accessed 23 Oct 2017.

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Myths About Men

    Men are often portrayed to be things that they are not, simply because “they are men”. This is just another

thing in society that is the way that it is for really no reason whatsoever. There are a lot of common myths

about men. Some being that men are not emotional, men are not capable of taking good care of their children,

and that a man’s main focus about a woman is how she looks.

    Myth 1: Men are not emotional. Men are often stereotyped into believing that they cannot show any form of emotion. May that be because they are “too much of a man” or just simply because they think it makes them less of a man. Contrary to most belief, a lot of women like men that are able to show their emotions. “In Opening Up the Heavily Guarded Alpha Male Playbook”, Christopher Flett claims men don’t often exhibit emotion “because we are taught that it is weak to do so. Men don’t cry! Or if we do, we’ll rarely admit to it. The truth is we do get emotional; we just don’t show it.” (Nelson). It is only human for everyone to show their emotions at some point and men have been taught that it is not socially acceptable to show emotion. This has dated back to years ago and even when they do show their emotions, they are sometimes told that it isn’t the correct way to do so. “People have the preconceived notion that men simply do not have feelings. This is far from the case. The problem is in the fact that women believe men should feel things the way they do. The truth is that men have a much harder time processing these feelings. Men are taught from an early age that they need to be strong, confident and stoic. They begin to equate emotions with weakness.” (Fern)

 

    Myth 2: Men are not capable of taking care of their kids. In the past, you never really saw a man being a “house wife”, but as time has went on they have become a more common thing. Men specifically are stereotyped for not being able to take care of their children. Everyone has always been under the impression that men do not know what to do with in certain situations with their kids like a woman would. For example, when a child spills something all over their shirt, a mom in most cases would know exactly what to do right then to get that stain out and not ruin the shirt. A dad on the other hand may not. But, men are more capable then people give them credit for. There are divorced parents everywhere and men have to take care of their kids on their own every single day and do a great job at it. “I was terrified. I had no idea what I was doing. But then I realized it’s intuitive. My wife was shocked I was able to take on so much responsibility." (Ramnrace)

 

    Myth 3: Men are only concerned with how a woman looks. The idea of men being only concerned about a woman’s looks has been around forever, especially with my generation. Most feel like that’s all men look at or are concerned with when it comes to choosing a significant other. But there are a few people left in this world that still believe there are men out there that truly care about other things then looks. “Before you roll your eyes and sigh because I sound just like that stereotypical looks-are-the-only-thing-that-matter kind of guy, hear me out. Attraction isn’t purely physical; it’s much more than that. Attraction is physical, emotional, relational, intellectual, and maybe even spiritual for some. Sure, a man wants to be with someone he finds physically attractive, but I think we all do.” (Petrisek). In some studies, it even shows that woman actually value how a man looks much more than a man valuing how a woman looks. “The study suggests that women value physical attractiveness in a potential mate far more than they say they do, said study author Madeleine Fugère, a professor of social psychology at Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantic.” (Nierenberg)

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     As you can see, there are many stereotypical myths about men. These myths often make men into people they are not. These myths may be that men are not emotional, men are not capable of taking care of their kids, and that men are only concerned about woman’s looks. Men have always been more likely to be stereotyped over these things, but really for no reason.

Works Cited:

Fern, Ashley. “Men have Feelings Too, They Just Express Them Differently.” Elite Daily, 13 Jun 2013, https://www.elitedaily.com/dating/sex/why-men-hide-their-emotions. Accessed 18 Nov 2017.

 

Neirenberg, Cari. “Men’s Looks Matter More Than Women Admit, Study Shows.” Huffington Post, 11 Apr 2017,  https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mens-looks-matter-more-than-women-admit-study-shows_us_58ecf563e4b0ca64d91978be. Accessed 18 Nov 2017.

 

Nelson, Audrey. “Why Don’t Many Men Show Their Emotions?” Psychology Today, 24 Jan. 2015, https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/he-speaks-she-speaks/201501/why-don-t-many-men-show-their-emotions. Accessed 26 Nov. 2017.

 

Petrisek, Justin. “Gentlemen Speak: 6 Things Guys Care About More Than Looks.” Verily Magazine, 1 Jun 2016, https://verilymag.com/2016/06/what-guys-are-looking-for-in-women-what-do-guys-find-attractive. Accessed 26 Nov 2017.

 

Ramnarace, Cynthia. “Paternity Leave By The Numbers” The Bump, Jun 16 2017, https://www.thebump.com/a/paternity-leave-for-men. Accessed 26 Nov 2017.