Gender role

In the social sciences and humanities, a gender role is a set of behavioral norms associated with males and with females, respectively, in a given social group or system. Gender is one component of the gender/sex system, which refers to "the set of arrangements by which a society transforms biological sexuality into products of human activity, and in which these transformed needs are satisfied" (Reiter 1975: 159). Every known society has a gender/sex system, although the components and workings of this system vary widely from society to society.

Terminology

Note that many people consider some or all of the following terms to have negative connotations.

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• A male adopting a female gender role might be described as effeminate, foppish, or as a sissy. Even more pejorative terms include mollycoddle, milquetoast, milksop, sop, mamma's boy, and namby-pamby.
• A female adopting a male role might be described as butch, as a tomboy, or as a mannish woman. More pejorative terms include amazon (see amazon feminism), virago.
• Women who maintain a traditionally feminine identity might be described as femme or girly girls.