Family and Gender Roles

Different Interpretations of Family and Gender Roles

According to the article Golombok, et al. (2014), there is more positive parenting and well-being for children brought up in gay father families than in the heterosexual families. Gay father families are a new trend where two males adopt a child. There have been many questions on the psychological development of children brought up in gay father families. This is because of lack of a mother figure, as mothers are known to nurture their children. Another existing issue have been the gender development of the child, but according to this article, sex typed behaviors are as result of an interplay among social, psychological and biological mechanisms. This is in the contrary to the society who believes that what a child sees dictates his or her life, for example, children brought up by gay father families are believed on ending up marrying same sex partners.

Golombok, et al.( 2014) discus that in regard to psychological well-being of the parents, the heterosexual parents showed high levels of stress and depression associated with parenting than the gay father families. Lesbian and gay father families illustrated parenting with greater amounts of interaction, high levels of warmth, high levels of responsiveness and low levels of disciplinary aggression. Traditionally, heterosexual families have always been known and portrayed as the best atmosphere of bringing up children, however, today’s literature is bringing questions to these believes. The reason according to these scholars is that gay fathers have not experienced the stress of failed fertility tests and infertility, and to them they have not turned to adoption as a second option but first.

In the “She is the man trailer”, Amanda Bynes the main character transforms herself to a man to fit in the soccer team. The society defines how a man should dress, act, talk, walk and do, which are all the things that Amanda has to learn (A Company Vietnam, 2014). However, no matter the outside look of a man, she is still a lady in the side. This is a part of her that cannot be concealed by clothes, hairdos, walking style or any adapted manner. This is an illustration that women are weak towards men, and as the weaker gender, they face discrimination from important activities. This article illustrates how good the weaker gender can be together with the stronger gender-males. They are all physically fit to any task including sports.

Similarities and Differences of Family Notions in West and Saudi

McCarthy (2004) explains that in the Western culture, monogamy has always been advocated. However some societies and countries like Saudi Arabia practice polygamy. According to the audio, having more than one wife is a better way of organizing relationships. In this society, being a second wife especially for divorced women is like a second chance in life. Women both educated and uneducated requires a man by their side. The Islam culture follows Prophet Mohammed who had eight wives. This culture allows the man to marry up to four wives who he should treat equally. However, the man should seek consent from the first wife before taking a second wife. 

This is different with the Western culture where both educated and uneducated ladies want a man without sharing option. Most of the divorces in Western countries are occurring due to adultery. The woman in the West refuses to have their husbands marrying another woman, but the husbands’ ends up having mistresses outside the wedlock. Therefore marriage in the West is monogamous while in Saudi and other similar societies are polygamous. Majority of the polygamous families live together in peace and harmony as co-wives. In terms of same sex parenting, the United States believes that adopted children by same sex partners produce the most difficulty children which are in contrast to UK. 

References

A Company Vietnam,. (2014). She’s the Man Trailer. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSLvjZD0LLU

Golombok,, Mellish, Jennings, Casey, Lamb, & Tasker,. (2014). Adoptive Gay Father Families: Parent–Child Relationships and Children’s Psychological Adjustment. Child Development, 85(2). http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12155

McCarthy, J. (2004). Defending and Attacking Polygamy in Saudi Arabia. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3499026