Gender Roles

I believe the postures are so different because of the gender roles typical straight men and typical straight women are supposed to play in today's society. Men are supposed to be macho and outgoing, so they emulate these traits with their body. I even find that men who are shy will walk around in the straight backed, chest up, and arms down position because that's how they're supposed to walk. Their friends walk that way, the cool guys on tv and in music videos walk that way, so they do too. I will concede though, that guys with self esteem issues tend to walk with hunched shoulders and their head down, yet the never go so far as to lift and clutch their books.

Girls on the other hand hold their books close and have their purses closer. I feel this is because in today's pop culture girls are either made to be overly sexualized, or to be sweet and demure. Yet, despite how popular the sexy female is in movies, tv, and music it is still shameful to idolize or mimic their behavior, so most girls opt for the sweet innocent girl.

To pull this off they have to act shy and bashful. They do this by hiding their chests with their books. They lower their heads so that the hair is in front of their faces, and shuffle around lightly. Though it's hard to determine whether these behaviors are a choice or if these same girls are being affected by their self esteem. By clutching books to their chests they may actually be trying to hide what they believe other people will find unattractive, their "large" stomachs. By keeping their hair in front of their faces they may be hiding acne, or scars, when they move around lightly it's to avoid being noticed at all. I believe that these girls feel, internally, feel they were supposed to be the alluring temptress, but have internalized the belief that their body and beauty are inadequate.

I feel this is the main reason why the two sexes walk so differently, yes men suffer from self esteem issues, but they're not crippled by it in the same way women are. Women are fetishized and sexualized to the point where nothing they do makes them feel better about themselves. So in defense they do all the actions I mentioned above, to hide themselves. They need to open up and see that they're beautiful, and that no one judges them harsher than they judge themselves. They need to lower their arms and open up, this is an observation I would like to see.