In today's society, gender roles play a big role in shaping the individual. The chosen photograph, which appeared on the Boston Globe website and taken by John Tlumacki, captures the emotion of a three-year-old boy saying goodbye to his father before his deployment, while including references to military masculinity and gender roles. At first glance, the viewer sees the obvious separation between civilians and military police soldiers through physical distance. There is a clear divergence between the structures of these two camps. The male soldiers, all in uniform, have virtually the same postures and blank facial expressions. The civil group, composed in particular of wives and children, is all jumbled together in a disorganized manner. Color is not used to order or group civilians (Tlumacki). In plain sight, the photograph could easily go unnoticed, but considered in the context of the representation of gender roles, it speaks volumes. Gender roles play a large role in the behavior of individuals, and each specific gender role offers punishment or reward to the individual for deviation or conformity. The obvious contrast in this photograph is the emotion shown by the young boy and the statuesque lack of emotion. shown by his father and the other soldiers. Even though the focus is on the young boy first, let's first talk about the importance of the soldiers and what they represent in the photograph. Here it becomes clear that masculinity is at the center of the picture. The soldiers on the left side of the photograph embody the characteristics desired to achieve masculinity. Devor states that there is no hierarchical relationship between different gender roles, but for example...... middle of article ......nity. Works Cited Chaplin, Tara M. and Amelia Aldao. “Gender differences in children’s emotion expression: A meta-analytic review.” Psychological Bulletin 139.4 (2013): 735-765. Devor, Aaron H. “Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meanings of Gender.” Readings for analytical writing. Farris, Basgier, Jankowski, Neal, Oler. Third edition. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin, 2006. 109-118. PrintHinojosa, Ramon. “Making hegemony: the military, men and the construction of hegemonic masculinity.” Journal of Men's Studies 18.2 (2010): 179-194. SPORTDiscus with FullText. Internet. April 15, 2014Richardson, Deborah, Sandy Bernstein and Clyde Hendrick. “Deviations from Conventional Sex Role Behavior: Effect of Perceivers' Sex Role Attitudes on Attraction.” » Basic and Applied Social Psychology 1.4 (1980): 351-355. Premier Business Source. Internet. April 16.2014.