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Sexuality in literature
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Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan is a story of seven gay teenagers who are all in different situations and stages of coming to terms with their sexuality. With hopes of making a statement about homosexuality and homophobia, Harry and Craig set out to set the world record for longest kiss; while their friends Peter and Neil are a long term couple, Cooper is just figuring out what being gay means to him and how to deal with it.
When it comes to conceptualizing gender one can think that it is the range of characteristics pertaining to, and differentiating between, masculinity and femininity. In Levithan’s novel, these characteristics include biological sex, sex-based social structures, and gender identity. Each character in Two Boys Kissing
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demonstrates the progressive adoption of various behaviors, gesticulations, and attitudes of the opposite sex, which is known as gender inversion. Although these boys still obtain male to be their biological sex, they are at times worried that expressing femininity will present gender inequality in their everyday experiences. For the reasons above, I would like to focus on the three core concepts: gender identity, gender inversion, and gender inequality in Levithan’s novel. These core concepts tie in closely with each of the character’s identity development throughout the novel. Avery’s unique character was the first to significantly strike my attention because although he was born as a girl, he identified as a boy from a very young age.
Avery is harassed by bullies daily but admirably is able to stay calm and controlled. Society places a large importance on gender and how one performs it, so when Avery’s view from his gender is different from his biological sex, it causes an internal struggle within him because of how society views and expects of gender norms. Avery is a great example of the idea of gender inversion, which is known to be a role reversal of men acting like women and women acting like men, in other words the common way of thinking about homosexuality. In Two Boys Kissing, Levithan does a great job at depicting Avery’s characteristic traits, such a good job that in fact the reader it able to understand that Avery is not “acting” like the opposite sex but rather performing the gender in which he truly believes himself to be. “We wish we could show you the world as it sleeps. Then you’d never have any doubt about how similar, how trusting, how astounding and vulnerable we all are” (20). Avery is just an example of many teenagers who doubt the equality of their …show more content…
gender. Unlike other characters in the novel, Cooper is not portrayed in a relationship. Cooper is secretive about his sexuality and some refer to him as being “in the closet” until his dad reveals he is gay by seeing him flirt with other males in an online chartroom on his computer. Like most teenagers learning their sexuality, Cooper starts to question if people can see that he is different and starts to think that something is wrong with him. Cooper’s father acts out angrily and kicks him out of the house leading Cooper into self-destructive acts. Cooper’s experience with homosexuality is much different than Avery’s, showing us the diverse effects on gay individuals. Harry and Craig are the first to take action in making a public affirmation defending homosexuality.
During the thirty-two hours, twelve minutes, and ten second duration of their kiss bullies, complicated feelings, and angry parents are presented. In addition to gender identity, gender performativity is the idea promoted by Judith Butler that means being something consists of doing it rather than being an objective quality of the body. The seven boys in this novel all preform their gender in distinctive ways. As said in lecture when talking about gender expression, “…gender is like a language we use to communicate ourselves to others and to understand ourselves” (Intro to GWSS Lecture, November 1,
2015). In summation, identifying and/or performing gender, recognizing the equality of all genders, and understanding that gender is not an act but rather an identity all play a part in the novel I chose to read. The three separate stories of Avery and Ryan, Harry and Craig, and Neal explained above leave strong messages that can relate to more than being gay. Levithan captivates freedom, hatred, and equality through a novel about homosexuality.
The article introduces a secondary argument about the society’s view of one gender writing about the other. A woman writing about the man is viewed by the society as a prejudiced person. This is true; in my opinion a female writing about a male is sexist. I feel a woman writing about for instance the flaws of the male character is sexist because both genders have flaws and why should only one gender be put to question.
William Pollack, in his article “Inside the World of Boys: Behind the Mask of Masculinity”, discusses on how boy tries to hide behind the mask and the stereotypical of masculinity. He demonstrates how boy hide their deepest though and feelings and real self. Pollack open the essay with “a fourteen-year-old boy, he is doing badly in school and he might fail algebra, but when teacher or his parent ask about it, he said everything is just fine. He hide his true identity behind the mask, and let no one see his true self.” After read the story, I think the story is really useful source to write an essay about how boy become men and they are emotionless.
Sexuality and Gender in Children’s Daily Worlds article by Thorne and Luria focuses on the relationships between sexuality and gender in the experience of 9 to 11 year old children. The purpose of the authors’ analysis is to illuminate age-based variations and transitions in the organization of sexuality and gender. Throughout this paper we discover how gender and sexuality has become a social and cultural construction that is expressed through young children. At a young age we tend to define and separate ourselves by gender, boys vs. girl. These divisions are enforced around us daily. For example, teachers often tend to separate team by gender whether it’s in the classroom or the playground.
“Boys Don't Cry” portrays the true story of Brandon Teena, a teenager who is faced with a serious sexual identity crisis. Although Brandon was born with a woman's body, he feels at heart and mind that he is a man. Brandon is portrayed as a loving and romantic individual who's not afraid to embrace himself in a world that often dismisses divergency. This unfortunately leads to Brandon's death at the age of 21. Two men, driven by ignorance, jealousy and hate lead to the murder of Brandon. Gender roles and social norms often deem people from becoming their true selves. Boys Don't Cry explores the constant struggle in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community through the eyes of Brandon Teena.
In “Boys,” Rick Moody shines light on the conflicts the boys face. The boys weren’t always prepared for the conflicts they faced nonetheless, they always figured out how to handle them. For instance, “Boys enter the house, kiss their mother, she explains the seriousness of their sister’s difficulty, her diagnosis” (Moody 242). The boys come into the
Through the actions of the male hegemony and the mother figure, both plays show the different perspectives both sexes have towards homosexuality. The patriarchal figures, show an intolerant and abusive perspective whereas the mother figures show a more understanding way of coping with the identities of their sons. By seeing the reactions of both males and females, it is to say that the maternal figures of the play show a more comprehensive attitude towards the struggles that the male protagonist undergo. Both plays are related to today´s society, because there are still families in which homosexuality is not accepted. People are still
An article entitled “How Boys Become Men,” written by Jon Katz was originally published in January, 1993 in Glamour, a magazine for young women. This article details the process of a boy growing into a man and mainly focus on the lesson boys learn that effect their adult lives. These lessons are about how to hold back emotions and never appeared sensitive. The author includes examples of his own experiences as a boy to convey to the reader the challenges of growing into a man. Through the various stories of young boys, the author is trying to prove that the men are insensitive because they had to learn to hide their feelings during the stage of growing up with other boys. The purpose of the author is to explain the women of the world, why men appear to be emotionalist and “macho.” The author’s main idea of this article is to explain why men are insensitive and to help women understand why men sometimes seem “remote” and “uncommunicative.”
In her story, Boys and Girls, Alice Munro depicts the hardships and successes of the rite of passage into adulthood through her portrayal of a young narrator and her brother. Through the narrator, the subject of the profound unfairness of sex-role stereotyping, and the effect this has on the rites of passage into adulthood is presented. The protagonist in Munro's story, unidentified by a name, goes through an extreme and radical initiation into adulthood, similar to that of her younger brother. Munro proposes that gender stereotyping, relationships, and a loss of innocence play an extreme, and often-controversial role in the growing and passing into adulthood for many young children. Initiation, or the rite of passage into adulthood, is, according to the theme of Munro’s story, both a mandatory and necessary experience.
1. In Riseman and Seale’s chapter Betwixt and Be Tween, they focus on how sexual identity can be used to police a male’s masculinity. It can start with something as innocent as a shy, quiet boy who starts to be picked on because he is no assertive or aggressive like the other males. The way he is picked on can be the other boy’s called him a: faggot, gay, homo, or boy lover. This means at a young age boys start to think they have to be a certain way to seem manly: assertive, enjoy sports, and be better than girls in all aspects; these are just a few ways boys try to prove their masculinity. One example that proves this was discussed in this chapter. Some students, both male and female, are given a hypothetical situation about a boy, Marcus,
Judith Butler’s concept of gender being performative focuses on how it creates a sequence of effect or impression. Human have a consistent way of talking about their gender as if it were something that is simply a fact. People go about their lives following patterns that are interconnected with their male or female appearance. They get very settled in the expected behaviors and common attributes of male or female, without recognizing that gender is a social construction. It is difficult to wrap your head around the idea that gender is always changing and being reproduced because it is conversation that often goes unnoticed. Butler realizes that it will be a struggle to get people to grasp the idea that nobody actually is their gender and that
... drives. There are boys in the mountain villages of the Dominican Republic that lack testosterone and “are usually raised as ‘conditional’ girls” (681). Once these boys reach puberty, “the family shifts the child over from daughter to son. The dresses are thrown out. He begins to wear male clothes and starts dating girls” (681). These boys, also known as “guevedoces,” show biological features that produce in later stages of life rather than birth which determines gender role. My female cousin, who was raised by a single father, grew up acting and playing like a boy. She was very aggressive when she was younger but as she grew older, society and human nature has changed her. She is not only influenced by our culture to act in a feminine, lady-like way, but she is now an adult that wants to have a family and become a mother in order to produce off-springs and survive.
In the story, “Boys and Girls”, the narrator is not the only one coming to terms with their identity.
...eeply rooted these ideologies run. Lewis plays with socially constructed ideals of gendered and how they are manufactured and reproduced through a cultural interpellation, where deviating or adhering to the gender subscribed sex categories can have cultural rewards and punishments. The negation of gender roles in the text helps creates gender confusion that expands the dimensions of Ambrosio’s sexuality.
Wilton, Tamsin. "Which One's the Man? The Heterosexualisation of Lesbain Sex." Gender, Sex, and Sexuality. New York: Oxford University, 2009. 157-70. Print.
In Alice Munro’s “Boys and Girls,” there is a time line in a young girl’s life when she leaves childhood and its freedoms behind to become a woman. The story depicts hardships in which the protagonist and her younger brother, Laird, experience in order to find their own rite of passage. The main character, who is nameless, faces difficulties and implications on her way to womanhood because of gender stereotyping. Initially, she tries to prevent her initiation into womanhood by resisting her parent’s efforts to make her more “lady-like”. The story ends with the girl socially positioned and accepted as a girl, which she accepts with some unease.