Gender roles and identity

What exactly do gender roles play in your mind?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBC7pilGoPc

In class we watched the Beyonce SNL skit where 3 males instead of 3 girls come as back dancers to Beyonce's music video. The irony, of course, is that ... amongst other things, the title of the song is "Single Ladies". Additionally, the 3 males are wearing attire that is not deemed socially appropriate for males to wear.

a couple things to note:
1. This song was parodied in GLEE with one male and two females. The male is homosexual. What does this mean for gender roles in this context.

2. I believe I read somewhere that one of the dancers is actually transgender. What role does this play?




3. I saw someone post on a facebook (not my own) that they wanted a "Chinese man dress" as a joke. What does this mean for Asian men, that they wear "dresses"? Are dresses deemed appropriate for men? Are they even dresses? The Scottish wear kilts. Is that accepted?
I'm not going to go into the whole detail, but the feminizing of Asian males is a huge issue in the racial imagery. Asian rarely get romantic lead roles in mainstream media. If you dig hard, I'm sure you can find some. Romeo Must Die, for example. But it is the exception, certainly not the norm. It is the racial imagery of men that prevent them from even having the shot of a romantic lead. Even further, if he does end up being a romantic lead, very rarely is it a female of another race. Why? Because of the racial imagery of Asian men (and for that matter, other men of color). I would go more into detail, but end of tangent.

4. Role of sex appeal. How much is sex appeal key to popular culture, in relation to men and women? How about the amount of skin shown? The dance moves? In relation to Kpop (if you are familiar), think of some popular girl groups SNSD, Kara, T-ara, Miss A. ect. And then some male groups: Big Bang, Super Junior, Shinee, 2pm, 2am. And even some slightly less popular groups, like Rainbow or Secret. What role does sex appeal play for these groups individually and also as gender identity. Think of this not only in relation to what they wear, but how they dance, the lyrics they sing... the things that get censored.

Is this a matter of just "how comfortable are you in your own skin? Females can make it in today's society just like a male, look at Hilary Clinton?" Though you can claim females and males are equal, females still make less than males, even if they meet the same qualifications. I was reading an article the other day on expectations of a female professor, and the authority (or lack thereof) that she has. Do you disagree? Would you say that gender roles are equal?