Gender Role Trauma: Overcoming Obstacles

Michael Sabetta

6 Sep. 2011

RD1

Gender Role Trauma: Overcoming Obstacles

“Saplings in the Storm” by Mary Pipher is an interesting and thought-provoking piece of writing. In it, Pipher makes the following statement, which some might consider controversial, “Between adolescence and menopause, women experience trauma in adjusting to their gender roles” (347). The word trauma conjures up a variety of different images, none of which are pretty, and all of which involve some sort of pain. In order to determine the validity of Pipher’s statement, one must first have an operational definition of the word “trauma”. For the sake of this discussion, I would like to define trauma in its most basic form: “an emotional upset”. Using this definition as a guideline, I have no doubt that there are millions of women, probably a majority of women, who experience trauma in adjusting to their gender roles.

The impact that this trauma has on a woman’s life would obviously depend on the severity of the circumstance, and her ability to cope with it. Although Mary Jane Garasi from ENG 215 made some excellent points in her contribution to our Discussion Forum, I would disagree with her statement that gender role trauma causes “…lasting mental and physical effects in the long run”. [THESIS]While lasting mental and physical effects would undoubtedly be the case in the most severe instances, I believe that, for the vast majority of women, gender role trauma is a temporary situation that can be overcome by perseverance and a belief in oneself. [THESIS]  

I realize that for some people, wallowing in self-pity is a favorite pastime, and they would prefer to think that there is nothing they can do to change their current predicament. For others, the confidence that was instilled in them during their upbringing, or the lessons they have learned during their life, will provide the fortitude required to get back on track. Another ENG 215 student, Kelly Hanano, did a great job of expressing this concept, “…it's how you react to the trauma that means the most.  You can either see it as a negative and let it ruin your life or you can learn from it and help better yourself and maybe others too”. This is exactly the type of attitude that women who experience some form of gender role trauma should strive to achieve. 

As a male, I have obviously never experienced female gender role trauma firsthand, but I did have an enlightening conversation on this topic with my wife. We discussed the two most prevalent forms of female gender role trauma, that which occurs during adolescence, and that which occurs in the workplace. My wife is from México City, and comes from a large family, with five brothers and two older sisters. She told me that she did not feel traumatized in any way, during her adolescence. She chalked it up to having good role models and proper guidance from her mom and her sisters. She did, however, have numerous incidents after entering into the workforce. While these incidents did not rise to the level of trauma, in her opinion, they did create a workplace environment that could be characterized as less than ideal. In fact, if these transgressions had occurred in this country, they would be considered sexual harassment and sufficient grounds for legal action. México is still very much a male-dominated society, where the gender roles are similar to what they were in the United States prior to the feminist movement. I am sure that many of you reading this are probably thinking that gender role trauma must be a huge problem in that country, but such is not the case. With the roles of men and women being so clearly defined, girls know what to expect when they reach adolescence, and they are prepared for it. The strong family structure that exists in the majority of households helps contribute to a smooth transition. They have something in México called a quinceñera. It’s similar to a sweet sixteen party, but they do it a year earlier there. Most girls cannot wait for this celebration, when they officially make the transition to womanhood. As for the women brave enough to enter into the workforce, if they are young, attractive, and single, then they now what awaits them in the wolves den, and are prepared to deal with it. If they are old, unattractive, and married, then they aren’t going to get the job anyway, so they might as well just stay home. That was a joke…sort of.

Getting back to Pipher’s essay, her writing is filled with stories of adolescent girls and young women who come to her office, and are suffering from all manner of problems, “…self-inflicted injuries and strange phobias, and girls who have tried to kill themselves or run away” (353). These are but a few of the troubles plaguing these young women, troubles which the author attributes to gender role trauma. I believe that Pipher, who is constantly interacting with these people, is seeing gender role trauma through the lens of somebody who deals with this issue every day. Given her proximity to it, this must seem like a massive problem that threatens to overwhelm the entire population of teenage girls in this country. Is it not logical that for every distressed  young woman that Pipher sees, there are countless other women who have experienced gender role trauma, dealt with it, and moved on to enjoy the rest of their lives. 

I return to the point that I made in my thesis, if a woman believes in herself, has confidence in her abilities, and has the strength to persevere, then she can overcome any obstacle that has been put in her path. Feng Ming Huang, another student in our ENG 215 class, put it nicely, “The best solution to solving this problem is for women to not fear the discrimination and stereotyping of the role women should have in society, but go and achieve what they want in society”.

   

Works Cited

Pipher, Mary. “Saplings in the Storm.” Dialogues: An Argument Rhetoric and Reader. 7^th Edition. Eds. Gary Goshgarian and Kathleen Krueger. New York: Pearson-Longman, 2011. 347-354. Print.

Garasi, Mary Jane. “Trauma?” Online Posting. 24 Aug. 2011. Laulima Discussion. 6 Sep. 2011 [https://laulima.hawaii.edu/portal/site/KAP.XLSENG215js.201210/page/70638c63-3d48-4275-828a-7e37acace01e]

Hanano, Kelly. “Trauma Definition.” Online Posting. 25 Aug. 2011. Laulima Discussion. 6 Sep. 2011 [https://laulima.hawaii.edu/portal/site/KAP.XLSENG215js.201210/page/70638c63-3d48-4275-828a-7e37acace01e]

Huang, Feng Ming. “What is Trauma?” Online Posting. 26 Aug. 2011. Laulima Discussion. 6 Sep. 2011 [https://laulima.hawaii.edu/portal/site/KAP.XLSENG215js.201210/page/70638c63-3d48-4275-828a-7e37acace01e]