Charles Blow and his mother’s lives were impacted by their gender. Throughout her life, people thought that Blow’s mother is weak because she is a woman. People thought that they could step over her just for being a woman. People didn’t respect her and thought that she could not succeed. Yet she proved to people that she doesn’t need a man in her life to function. That she could have her own job and support her family by herself. She was able to get a college degree and become a teacher, even though back then it was hard for a colored women to get a college degree.

Charles Blow gender also had an impact on his live. He had to act a certain way to fit in and not seem gay. He had to try and act tough and hide his sexuality. He joined the basketball team and became friends with cool kids so that he could forget about his sexuality. He feared that everyone will be disappointed if he came out. Because he was a man, people expected him to act in a certain way.

Gender didn’t have much of an impact on my life. I guess my parents thought because I was a boy I should be athletic and such. And that I should be nice to women and respect them. Gender has impacted me in the types of friends I made and of certain criteria I must follow or I will seem not a man.