Possible roots of the modern ideas of masculinity and femininity?

by Own_Run7734

I'm writing an essay about the effects of social expectations of masculinity on men in the US. I'm planning to break down the terms "masculinity" and "femininity" to commonly associated traits like; physical strength, expression of emotion, cooperation/competitiveness, ect.

I assumed it would be useful to have at least a basic understanding of the history of what we now associate with gender roles came to be. From the information I know right now it seems to have some roots in the idea of the "atomic family," and other similar marketing used in the past few hundred years.

So, people who know a lot about history, do you guys have any good leads I could follow that might help me? (I don't necessarily need anything specific, just a direction I could go to research more!)

Iphikrates

Hi - we as mods have approved this thread, because while this is a homework question, it is asking for clarification or resources, rather than the answer itself, which is fine according to our rules. This policy is further explained in this Rules Roundtable thread and this META Thread.

As a result, we'd also like to remind potential answerers to follow our rules on homework - please make sure that your answers focus appropriately on clarifications and detailing the resources that OP could be using.

Additionally, while users may be able to help you out with specifics relating to your question, we also have plenty of information on /r/AskHistorians on how to find and understand good sources in general. For instance, please check out our six-part series, "Finding and Understanding Sources", which has a wealth of information that may be useful for finding and understanding information for your essay.