Forms and surveys always ask people to state their gender in order to compare the data, offering two options: male or female. This split occurs in more than just forms and applications. Gender produces a range of assumptions, from personality to favorite hobbies. Until the past few decades, it seemed unquestionable that all girls enjoy domestic activities, while all boys enjoy physical activities. Various colors, toys, and activities were categorized for boys or girls, presuming only girls wear pink, only boys play with toy cars, and only girls knit. These presumptions are still prevalent, but are slowly fading due to the feminist movement’s progress in the past century, which has left women with more opportunities socially and in the workplace. As a result, these two categories of “boy qualities” and “girl qualities” have begun to mix, allowing women to play sports, and boys to cook gourmet food. The struggle for feminism is breaking down the idea that a person’s preferred activities or interests are binary and depend on gender, which breaks down the idea that gender itself is binary, increasing acceptance for trans and genderqueer people.

With the binary view of gender, females and males are viewed as completely different beings with separate instincts and desires. Harvard’s sailing team filmed two videos addressing comedic stereotypes titled “Boys Will Be Girls” and “Girls Will Be Boys,” in which males imitated a group of women, and females imitated a group of men. The title indicates that specific behaviors characterize groups of men and groups of women, suggesting that if one gender engages in an action attributed to the other, such as the boys in the video when obsess over calories, gushing over “hun-cal froyo,” (Boys Will Be Girls), they transcend into the realm of the other gender. The humorous tone and intentions of the film exhibit that society does not accepts, and even laughs at this breaking of barriers. By creating the two separate videos, portraying either typical male or female interactions, the sailing team implies that there is no overlap between how girls and boys act. Though the filmmakers have comic intentions, the subtext enforces the negative stereotypes of both sexes, including emotional, vain women, and beer-loving, stoic men, ignoring the fact that in modern society, people stray from the restrictive traits attributed to their sex, producing a more complex variety of people.

In contrast to the Harvard sailing team’s enforcement of gender stereotypes, Lois Gould’s “Story of X” illustrates the positivity of the blending supposedly gender-specific activites by creating a character, X, whose sex the parents conceal for a scientific “Xperiment” to see how society reacts. Because X’s sex is unknown, they participate in relay races as well as baking competitions, while other children speculate in awe, contradicting the sailing team’s idea that taking part in domestic activities means those “Boys Will Be Girls,” and participation in athletic activities means those “Girls Will Be Boys.” Gould’s idea of a child who has both “boyish” and “girly” interests amazes the students of X’s school, who realize “X is having twice as much fun as [they] are!” (Gould), clearly painting X in a positive light. By creating X as such a talented and secure character, even though the community is unnerved by X at first, Gould displays that when someone penetrates the limits on what certain sexes can or cannot do, they become well-rounded in terms of talents as well as emotionally. By portraying the barrier-breaking between gender specific activities in a positive tone, Gould encourages the audience to break out as well, while the Harvard sailing team encourages the opposite by illustrating those who do so as ridiculous. Gould argues that testing other societal norms, such as having to identify as one gender, is interesting, worthwhile, and encouraged, giving “genderqueers,” people who identify with neither, both, or a mixture of the genders, extra support that is necessary in a society that is just beginning to accept them.

Gould’s “Story of X” also breaks down the concept of gender stereotypes in parents. In the story’s scientific “Xperiment,” the scientist “[makes] sure that X’s mother had taught X how to throw and catch a ball properly,” (Gould) signifying that women can develop their children’s athletic qualities, a traditional male role. When Gould illustrates the mom taking over the responsibility of the typical sporty father figure, she argues that women are as apt as males to excel and mentor in physical activities. She later describes X winning the seven-lap relay race, displaying that learning athletic skills from a mother, instead of a father, is not a disadvantage, disproving the idea that all females and males fit the cliché.

While Gould’s “Story of X” questions binary gender norms, Ruth Padawer’s New York Times article “When Women Become Men at Wellesley” breaks down the binary idea of gender itself, while debating the issue of who should attend women’s colleges. Gould reasons that conventional ideas of gender are limiting and serve no purpose, supporting those that identify as a different gender than their sex, or somewhere in between, as some in Padawer’s article choose to. Padawer recounts her discussion with Timothy Boatwright, a student at Wellesley, who identifies as a “masculine-of center genderqueer,” (Padawer) signifying that he identifies as male, but does not take medication to change his physicality. Padawer writes that Wellesley students in between the two ends of the gender identification spectrum are “breaking gender barriers, fulfilling their deepest yearnings and forging ahead even when society tries to hold them back,” (Padawer) exactly what women’s colleges intend to inspire their students to do. She indicates that although women’s colleges were originally founded to give women an educational opportunity, they now serve as a safe, inspiring place that urges gender minorities to fight for gender equality, unlike Gould’s staff and faculty who ostracize X and force a gender identification test. Padawer utilizes the uplifting language of “deepest yearnings” and “forging ahead” to show the revolutionary, powerful significance of the fact that the everlasting struggle for feminism, although originally aimed to empower women, has modernized to rally for gender minorities throughout the spectrum.

Feminism further promotes rights of genderqueers by pressing the idea that relationships do not require a male role and a female role that balance each other out, because not all males have the same traits, and neither do females. Hanna Rosin mulls over sex and relationships in her article Why Kids Sext, in which she illustrates strong adolescent curiosity regarding sex, which scares adults, though the effects of their curiosity are usually harmless unless an adult becomes involved. Due to Louisa County’s adults’ fear from recent sexting scandals, Rosin goes to investigate, and encounters a group of teenage boys in Louisa County, who boast that if a girl refuses to send them naked pictures, “You say, ‘I’m trying to get serious with you.’ You call them beautiful,” (Rosin) and the resistance is gone, portraying  people who have failed to realized that individuals have distinct personalities. The aspects of a personality that are affected by gender are solely in place because of societal standards, rather than innate instincts, which is disregarded by Louisa County’s boys. Relationships, whether purely sexual or legitimately emotional, consist of people who are attracted to each other, and do not have to include the unpleasant stereotypes of the manipulative man with uncontrollable sexual desires and the foolish, weak woman that allows herself to be manipulated. The feminist movement’s fight for equal respect strives to eliminate those stereotypes that Rosin finds are so prevalent in Louisa County. Liberal feminists acknowledge that emotional relationships may include balancing each other’s personality traits out, but are mainly based on love, implying that a conventional male and female are not necessary. The idea that love is love opens up a role in relationships for those who are not the standard female or male, which is helpful to adolescents experimenting with sexual orientation and identification. Teenage experimentation would be more stressful and concealed if feminists had not questioned the classic template for a perfect  romance.

The expanding support for genderqueer people in the U.S. allows teenagers to figure out the vital parts of who they are with less fear or pressure to follow a specific path. Adolescence is the time when most people discover the basics of who they are: their sexual orientation, their gender identification, and their major interests. Rosin gives evidence that sexting is simply harmless sexual exploration, and Padawer exhibits that transgenders are helpful for those sexual discoveries. Padawer observes that trans bodies are seen as an in-between option, and describes Timothy explaining that “no matter your sexuality, a trans person becomes safe to flirt with, to explore with,” indicating that because trans people are not viewed as 100% female or 100% male, people feel safe experimenting romantically with them. If a lesbian woman pursues someone born as a female who identifies as man, she can say that they were a woman originally, so she does not have to rethink if she is straight or bisexual. Though helpful for adolescents, who are finding themselves, this highly objectifies transgenders. Hopefully, as the numbers of genderqueers increase with acceptance for them, transgender people will not be constantly sexualized by adolescents. Still, by accepting all gender minorities, including Timothy, and displaying role models that are not the conventional male, feminist colleges, such as Wellesley, have continued to be an inclusive, inspiring place.
The feminist goal of gender equality and the destruction of harmful stereotypes is beneficial to numerous other struggles for equality regarding racism, classism, and homophobia. Feminism has made outstanding progress, inspiring other minority movements to keep fighting. A minority does not necessarily signify a group that is small in size, but instead one whose amount of power is disproportionate to their numbers. Females make up 50.8% of the population in the United States (Population, Female), yet 100% of U.S. presidents have been male, and 95.6% of CEO’s from S&P 500 companies are male (Women CEOs of the S&P 500), making the female population a minority. Feminists have catalyzed change, gaining the right to vote, creating women’s colleges, and drawing attention to domestic violence. Though feminism has historically been specific to women’s empowerment, feminism has propelled other movements that also fight for an egalitarian society in other aspects, such as race or class. Feminist advancement has brought awareness to inequities in society besides those of gender by preaching intersectional feminism, acknowledging that the female experience will be different depending on class and race, generating advocates for all of the minorities that struggle today, progressing our world towards an egalitarian society in which everyone can thrive.

Works Cited
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"Population, Female (% of Total)." Population, Female (% of Total). The World Bank, 2014.
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Rosin, Hanna. "Why Kids Sext." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 14 Oct. 2014. Web. 19
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"Women CEOs of the S&P 500." Knowledge Center. Catalyst, 4 Mar. 2015. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.