In Rereading America, the editors argue over how “cultural myths of gender influence human development and personal identity” (404). The myth of gender says that manhood equals power and dominance. These days, there is a lot of pressure to be more masculine. Th

Faludi, Susan. “Girls Have All The Power.” Rereading America. Eds. Gary Colombo,

Sports statistics are another factor that determines masculinity. While giving Faludi a tour of his parents’ home, Billy explained to her, “Doing sports is up there with sexual activities” (523). If a boy will not play sports because he is afraid of getting dirty or being hurt, he is humiliated and called a sissy. Any male who is not the way he “ought” to be is made fun of. Billy describes this well when he tells his uncle, “Sports is not sports anymore. It’s this gamble of are you going to hit it big” (524). In “Girls Have All The Power,” Billy tells Faludi about how his dad was living through him with sports: “Sports is what our dads embedded in us” (522). So like a mother would want her daughter to be successful in winning a beauty pageant, Billy’s father wanted Billy to experience athletic achievement. The main reason for this is because from the day we are born, we are put into a category regardless of how we feel about it. Both consciously and subconsciously, our parents separate us into two worlds depending on our sex. The editors explained this clearly when they said, “We may be born female and male, but we are made women and men” (Colombo, Cullen, and Lisle 403). For example, when buying diapers, the parents of a baby boy make sure to never buy pink ones with white ruffles even though the style is not import

Some topics in this essay:
Cullen Lisle, Spur Posse, Power” Billy, Shapes Humanity”, Rereading America, Bedford/St Martins, Bonnie Lisle, “girls power”, Colombo Cullen, colombo cullen lisle, myths gender, colombo cullen, cullen lisle, lisle 403, rereading america, spur posse, cullen lisle 403, tells faludi, Faludi Susan, gender roles, Myths Gender, 5th ed boston, robert cullen, ed boston bedford/st, boston bedford/st martins,