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Greek societal and gender roles
Women in greek society
Women in greek society
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Is Gender the same thing as Sex? This topic is complicated because many people confuse these two as the same thing but they are very two different things. There are several Cultural Myths about Gender and Sex. Gary Colombo, who wrote: “Thinking Critically, Challenging Cultural Myths” who explains that a cultural myth is a shared set of customs, values, ideas, and beliefs, as well as a common language. In “Sisterhood is Complicated” by Ruth Padawer who is a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine, focusing on gender and social issues in “Sisterhood is Complicated” she shows many of the Stereotypes about Gender and Sex and how they are unmistakably just cultural myths. It also has how there are positives being trans at an all women …show more content…
Even the school’s oldest tradition, Flower Sunday — the 138-year-old ceremony that paired each incoming student with an upper-class Big Sister to support her — had become trans-inclusive. Though the school website still describes Flower Sunday as “a day of sisterhood,” the department that runs the event yielded to trans students’ request and started referring to each participant as a Big or Little “Sister/Sibling” — or simply as Bigs and Littles (556).” I joined a sorority this semester at Indiana University of South Bend it is called Theta Phi Alpha and we have Bigs and Littles also. The new members got them within the first week receiving our bids. Every time our Bigs are not at an event they write us a letter like our “Guardian Angle”. My Big is the current Treasurer and I will be the Treasurer next semester. Having a Big to guide me through the process of being a new member to becoming a Collegian has been the best experience of my life. Modern Greek life breaks the traditional concept of gender roles here and form it into a new idea, bringing in things that are more important than who is passive and who is domineering, who cleans and cooks and who hunts and makes decisions. In this paper I’ve tried to build a new lens through which to see that healthy, balanced individuals of both sexes do exist in Greek mythology and that perhaps the dysfunction between sexes seen in the myths is simply a reflection of fallen culture. If we can focus on the things that matter, like creativity and preservation, healing and culture, then we will see the myths as they were most probably seen in Ancient Greece by people more like you and me than we might
The definition of gender has become way more revolutionary and expressive compared to the twentieth century. Gender used to be similar to sex where someone would be identified as a male or female based on their biological genitals however, this day in age it is way more complex. Someone can be born a male but mentally they feel like a male. In “Sisterhood is complicated” Ruth Padawer explains the journey of different transgender males and the obstacles they face while attending Wellesley college. Wellesley is a women’s college that has been around for a very long time and is in the process of the battling the conflict of whether they should admit transgender students. Ariel Levy author of “Female Chauvinist Pigs” tackles the stereotypes and
Gender is not about the biological differences between men and women but rather the behavioral, cultural and psychological traits typically associated with one sex. Gender is socially constructed meaning it 's culturally specific, it 's learned and shared through gender socialization. What it means to be a woman or man is going to differ based on the culture, geographical location, and time. What it meant to be a woman in the US in the 19th century is different than what it means to be a woman in the 21st century. As cultures evolve over time so are the ideals of what it means to be man or woman.
When thinking of ancient Greece, images of revolutionary contrapposto sculpture, ornate lecture halls, and great philosophers in togas are sure to come to mind. As the birthplace of democracy and western philosophy, ancient Greece has had an inordinate influence on the progression of the modern world. However, the ancient Greeks’ treatment of women is seemingly at direct odds with their progressive and idealistic society.
While sex refers the biological characteristics that make up a person, their gender is determined by the behaviors and attitudes considered “proper” by society according to their sex.
Ancient Greek mythology has made its way into public conscience and knowledge. So much so that any person on the street would be able to name at least one deity from their pantheon. From this public knowledge, much is known about the religions including its stories and mythologies. But less is known about a person’s role in Ancient Greek religion and even less about a woman roles in their religion. What roles the Ancient Greek people did play can be gathered from the Greek stories and myths. But more specifically what roles did Ancient Greek women play in their religion. The Ancient Greek myths and stories tell of priestess and women who remained virgins as a way of worshipping their gods. But more questions come from these, why did these women become priestess and what rituals did they perform? Both the reasons behind these motives and the process one goes through to become a priestess must be explored to better a woman’s role in Ancient Greek religion.
As Francisco Collado-Rodríguez states, ‘Gender is understood to be a cultural creation and therefore subject to redefinition.’ Although ambiguous, this could be implying that there are no limits to gender. A person’s biological sex can be easily re-constructed by having operations and taking drugs. He adds, ‘Without limits, personages abundantly transgress the gender marks of patriarchy’. Furthermore, supporting Kjersti Jacobsen’s statement, ‘Sex does not cause gender, and gender cannot be understood to reflect sex’. So, there are no clearly defined borders between gender and sex. Thus, according to the theories of Judith Butler, ‘If the post human being is a construct, it can be reconstructed as man, woman, transvestite, or fully transsexual being, and as homo-, hetero-, or bisexual.’
Greek women, as depicted in their history and literature, endure many hardships and struggle to establish a meaningful status in their society. In the Odyssey, Penelope’s only role in the epic is to support Odysseus and remain loyal to him. She is at home and struggles to keep her family intact while Odysseus is away trying to return to his native land. The cultural role of women is depicted as being supportive of men and nothing more. Yet what women in ancient Greece did long ago was far more impressive than what men did.
In simpler terms sex is the anatomy you are born with while gender is learned through socialization. To say that gender is socially constructed means that because you are born a certain sex you have to act a certain way. For example there are many socially constructed gender roles that males and females both follow. One example of this is how males are given toys that represent weapons to play with while females are given baby dolls and play kitchens. In my view I feel that sex is most central to the identity of an individual because if you are born male or female you are going identify with that sex which then leads to the social construction of gender. An example of an in-group I know I belong to is an athlete. Being an athlete my concept of gender and gender roles have been impacted by the comparison of physical ability between males and
In learning about the feminist movement, we studied the three articles and discussed and reviewed the different authors perspectives on the topic and learned how important the role of woman in Greek Mythology. In presenting the feminist theory to the class we analyzed the three articles, Women in Ancient Greece; Women in Antiquity: New Assessments; and Women in Greek Myth, and discussed how although the three articles provided different views on Feminism in mythology, they all essentially are aiming to teach the same basic concept.
People often believe a person 's gender is based on their biological sex; biological sex is defined as the anatomy you are born with. Gender is the identity of a person based on their environment and how they have been influenced. Which shows that the biological makeup of a person and what gender they identify with has nothing to do with each other. Today gender and sexuality has become so fluent that gender role stereotypes should be changed too; over decades of powerful movements have been made to change stereotypes but the work is not over.
Walcot, P. “Greek Attitudes towards Women: The Mythological Evidence.” Greece & Rome 2nd ser. 31.1 (Apr., 1984): 37-47. Cambridge University Press on Behalf of The Classical Association Article Stable. Web.
Gail Godwin's short story "A Sorrowful Woman" revolves around a wife and mother who becomes overwhelmed with her husband and child and withdraws from them, gradually shutting them completely out of her life. Unsatisfied with her role as dutiful mother and wife, she tries on other roles, but finds that none of them satisfy her either. She is accustomed to a specific role, and has a difficult time coping when a more extensive array of choices is presented to her. This is made clear in this section of the story.
The terms sex, gender and sexuality relate with one another, however, sociologists had to distinguish these terms because it has it’s own individual meaning. Sex is the biological identity of a person when they are first born, like being a male or female. Gender is the socially learned behaviors and expectations associated with men and women like being masculine or feminine. Gender can differentiate like being a man, woman, transgender, intersex, etcetera. Sexuality refers to desire, sexual preference, and sexual identity and behavior (1). Sexuality can differentiate as well like being homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual, etcetera. Like all social identities, gender is socially constructed. In the Social Construction of Gender, this theory shows
The main argument to think about when looking at the relationship between sex and gender is whether it is purely biological or is more than definitely socially constructed. The distinction between sex and gender could be described as simply, sex: the biological makeup of an individual’s reproductive anatomy and gender: an individual’s lifestyle or their personal identification of their gender. Firstly looking at the argument that gender identity arises from biological processes. For some, it may be an obvious answer of women and men being chromosomally different. Women having two X chromosomes and men having an X and Y chromosome. The Y chromosome produces testosterone and other androgens. These androgens allow the male to develop testes and a penis rather than the female genitalia of ovaries and a uterus. It is argued that they all cause male and females brains to develop differently. For example...
Sex and gender are terms that are mixed up from day to day and seen as similarities rather than differences. Sex is what distinguishes people from being either male or female. It is the natural or biological variations between males and females (Browne, 1998). Some of these variations are genitals, body hair and internal and external organs. It is the make-up of chromosomes, men have one X and one Y chromosome and women have two X chromosomes, these are responsible for primary characteristics (Fulcher and Scott, 2003). Gender on the other hand refers to the sociological differences between male and female. This is teaching males and females to behave in various ways due to socialisation (Browne, 1998). Example: masculinity and femininity. Girls are supposed to show their femininity by being non-competitive, sensitive, dependent, attractive and placid. If and when some girls don’t succeed in keeping this image they will be referred to as a tomboy. On the other hand, boys show their masculinity through aggression, physical strength...