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Rodger Lewellen
Professor Biegelson
English 111.20
25 September 2013
Coontz and Gibsons Arguments on Gender Roles
The texts The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap by
Stephanie Coontz and Warrior Dreams: Paramilitary Culture in Post-Vietnam America by
James William Gibson illustrates the aspects and difficulties of gender roles very well. In these
stories, different historic events such as the end of World War II in 1949 primarily started these
specific issues with gender roles, and the return of troops after the American defeat in the
Vietnam War perpetuated it even further. Gender roles have always been apparent in cultures
around the world, but never were they challenged as much as after these historic events.
The issue with gender roles that Coontz is conveying is dated in the 1950s era. After
World War II had ended, the men that had been fighting returned home. They took their jobs
back, and the women that had been working outside the home were demoted back to the
homemaker status. If they did not lose their jobs, then their position was taken down in ranking
and pay. Now not everything was bad, the United States economy was flourishing even more
than it did in the roaring 20s; for example, thirty one million of Americas forty one million
families were able to afford their own home, (Coontz 25). The bulk of the population believed
that in order to obtain complete personal satisfaction, one must be married. The typical family
format during this period was that the male was the breadwinner, and the female was the
homemaker, (Coontz 13). This format was named by many the nuclear family, and although it
was the most popular family style in the 50s, a very few percent of families fall under this

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category today, 10 percent to be exact (Coontz 13). Even though this seemed like the perfect
decade since the economy was prospering and families were abundant, there were downsides as
well as the opposite genders fought for their rights and lifestyle they actually wanted to lead.

Even though many of the women that had been homemakers in pre-World War II times
returned back to the home after the war, many of them were not satisfied with their regained
positions of taking care of the family and home after having the opportunity to work an out of
home job. Furthermore, when they did voice their opinions about unhappiness, it was acceptable
for their husbands to beat them. Wife battering was not even considered a real crime by most
people, Coontz states. And even further, Psychiatrists in the 1950s Regarded the battered
woman as a masochist who provoked her husband into beating her, (Coontz, 35). Seeing as how
the gender roles were viewed in the 1950s era, James William Gibson has his own take on
gender roles that assimilates right into what Stephanie Coontz is relaying in her story.

As stated before, historical events have a large effect on the roles and actions of genders,
and the Vietnam War was one of those events. This war was different than the others that
America had been engaged in, we did not return victorious, and moreover, a large percentage of
the population was not in favor of the fighting that had been taking place. Due to the loss in
Vietnam, the American Century of victory was now over after just thirty years. The identity of
the male gender was being challenged, and many felt powerless after the loss of the war; the way
the warrior had been portrayed for years before had to change. The New War culture was not so
much military as paramilitary, Gibson states, (Gibson 509). Soldiers or Warriors needed to
become more specialized in order to keep up with the increasing technology of modern warfare,

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and to uphold the national identity of the United States which was to be victorious and to win.
Whereas the female gender was struggling primarily Coontzs story, now Gibson indicates the
male gender is struggling to keep the identity that he upheld for centuries.

To further worsen the identity crisis situation at stake for the American white male in
particular, immigration from foreign countries such as Mexico, Vietnam, and Korea made
citizens feel even more like a minority in their own country. Gibson hits this home by writing
that Whites. . . .Also lost their unquestionable dominance at home. . . .For the first time,
(Gibson 510). The glory days of the 1950s were on a quick downslide as the economy that was
going strong and thriving manufacturing industry started to decline; the United States was no
longer a nation free of debt. Moreover, the low crime rates and overall secure atmosphere
throughout the nation gave was to increased crime levels, worsening drug abuse, and widespread
violence. Feminism was quickly conquering the Nuclear Family and traditional home format,
so men didnt recognize how to be considered acceptable any more whether that be behavior, or
socially. In simpler words, the entire male race, especially Caucasian males, found it nearly
impossible to know how to act since their way of life they had known was being conquered by
the opposite gender as well as opposite races.

In conclusion, Stephanie Coontz and James William Gibsons stories which depict time
periods two decades apart both are conveying that both genders and all races have difficulties
from time to time be that with identity, civil rights, or various other aspect of life. Historical
events that have occurred throughout the years vastly attribute to these issues or initiate them
such as the outcome of the Vietnam War, and the return of troops from World War II. No matter

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the time, issue, or movements initiated to change issues and problems, opposite genders will
always have quarrels from time to time, but eventually they are resolved or accepted.

In my essay, I discuss more about the males stance and issues with the gender role topic,
and my group members paper largely discussed the opposite side of the gender role stance.
There is certainly no confusion over what both of us think, and we have very opposing opinions
about the issue from what I gathered.