Kaur 1 Gurleen Kaur English Composition Professor Wynter 20 April 2024 Women: The Reality of the Masculine World Once, author Judith Butler said: “Masculine and feminine roles are not biologically fixed but socially constructed” (Butler). Masculine and feminine are both biologically different, but most of the variations in their characteristics are drawn from cultural norms. Women’s dominance is dependent on men and how men subject females around them to suffer and survive in an abusive or shameful community. To introduce the topic of masculinity and femininity roles in society, author Arron Devor illustrates in his article “Gender Roles in Behavior and Attitude” how two different sexes are separated on the basis of their attitude and behavior …show more content…
Similarly, author Deborah Tannen explains in the article “There is No Unmarked Woman” that the judgmental criteria of society categorize women as marked and men as having similar opinions but remaining unmarked. The point indicates the woman’s position in the community under a male-dominated society to survive for her dreams, along with tags and marks on her character. It justifies the claim of Tiller that male supremacy abuses and shames women as compared to males, who are promoted and encouraged in all fields. There is a clear validity to Tiller’s claim by authors Devor, Sandberg and Maria that women are abused or shamed as compared to men because they faced judgmental tactics for behaving against the societal limits. Kaur 2 The fact inclines when authors Sandberg, Maria, and Tannen point out that women are dominated by male society because they are categorized in a certain position on showing their boldness for their dreams and ideas. The plot of the article shares women’s humiliation and torture of patriarchy by Tannen and Devor because women tend to face more challenges and struggle to present themselves. Moreover, women are more likely to suffer from marks and …show more content…
The reason behind this common and challenging reality for females is illustrated when Tannen states: “If a woman’s clothing is tight or revealing (in other words, sexy), it sends a message – an intended one of wanting to be attractive, but also a possibly unintended one of availability” (Tannen 2). It regulates the reality of the world, which is ensured by Tannen: women have to face challenges at every level, even if they do nothing. The clothing of women is the most challenging matter for them which leads to judging them and hitting on their calmness and submissive behavior and pushing them to become exploitative. If women dress well, it's a challenge for them to face comments that people make about being attractive. On the other hand, if a woman is not dressed well, she still has to face people’s comments about her being poor and not having a good sense of style as a challenge. Masculinity is more opting for the dominance of females, which leads them to feel emotionally and physically weaker than them. The indication of patriarchy takes place when Devor illustrates how women lack their values and face down their own personalities. The point gets clear when Devor explains: “Masculinity thus becomes “innately” valuable, and femininity serves a contrapuntal function to delineate and magnify the hierarchical dominance of masculinity” (Devor 5). The purpose of Devor’s example is to ensure that males are naturally referred to as superior and valuable, whereas
In Deborah Tannen’s “Marked Woman, Unmarked Men” she illustrates how she believes the way women carry themselves are more looked upon then the way a man does. When it comes to women they had to take what they look like into consideration and each decision that the woman has made, carried a meaning. Men have to make decisions as well, however their decisions are not as notable as woman. I support Tannen’s argument about women being marked. Woman are marked by what they wear to who they marry. Nonetheless, I do believe both genders are marked in some kind of way. Men are marked, just not to the extent as woman are. And when they are marked it is not as open and discussed. When Tannen did include men into her argument she made her observation
Both Deborah Blum’s The Gender Blur: Where Does Biology End and Society Take Over? and Aaron Devor’s “Gender Role Behaviors and Attitudes” challenges the concept of how gender behavior is socially constructed. Blum resides on the idea that gender behavior is developed mainly through adolescence and societal expectations of a gender. Based on reference from personal experiences to back her argument up, Blum explains that each individual develops their expected traits as they grow up, while she also claims that genes and testosterones also play a role into establishing the differentiation of gender behavior. Whereas, Devor focuses mainly on the idea that gender behavior is portrayed mainly among two different categories: masculinity and femininity,
In the book Difference Matters, Brenda J Allen, begins writing about how gender matters in society. One of the main topics that she talks about is how in today’s society the male gender is the more predominate gender. As the reader, she has brought to mind many new ways to view how males earn more money then females, how we classify jobs as masculine or feminine, and also how society excepts males’ vs females to act and preform in the work force.
In one of our class discussions on hegemonic masculinity, we attempted to define a general list of characteristics or behaviors that one should have in order to attain this ideal. However, there was no consensus on these qualities. Frequently, the qualities that we would suggest would be those that were the opposite of qualities associated with women. For example, if we would categorize being emotional as a trait assigned to women, we would assign the trait of being impassive to men. This would also occur when we considered which behaviors would be considered masculine. While we assumed women would perform work inside of the house, we assigned men to work outside of the house, doing activities such as maintaining the yard or fixing the car. Most of, if not all of, the qualities and behaviors we assigned as being a part of hegemonic masculinity perpetuated the idea of gender inequality. When we assumed that those characteristics would be considered aspects of hegemonic masculinity, we restricted them to only being assigned to men because if a woman could possess those characteristics, it wouldn’t be considered a masculine aspect. This also explains how hegemonic masculinity can perpetuate
This article was written to bring attention to the way men and women act because of how they were thought to think of themselves. Shaw and Lee explain how biology determines what sex a person is but a persons cultures determines how that person should act according to their gender(Shaw, Lee 124). The article brings up the point that, “a persons gender is something that a person performs daily, it is what we do rather than what we have” (Shaw, Lee 126). They ...
Suggested roles of all types set the stage for how human beings perceive their life should be. Gender roles are one of the most dangerous roles that society faces today. With all of the controversy applied to male vs. female dominance in households, and in the workplace, there seems to be an argument either way. In the essay, “Men as Success Objects”, the author Warren Farrell explains this threat of society as a whole. Farrell explains the difference of men and women growing up and how they believe their role in society to be. He justifies that it doesn’t just appear in marriage, but in the earliest stages of life. Similarly, in the essay “Roles of Sexes”, real life applications are explored in two different novels. The synthesis between these two essays proves how prevalent roles are in even the smallest part of a concept and how it is relatively an inevitable subject.
Prior to the 1970s when the theme of gender issues was still quite foreign, the societal norm forced female conformity to male determined standards because “this is a man’s world” (Kerr 406). The patriarchal society painted the image of both men and women accordingly to man’s approach of societal standards that include the defining features of manhood that consist of “gentil...
Masculinity is a subject that has been debated in our society for quite some time. Many wonder what it means to be masculine, as it is difficult to define this one –sided term. Pairing this already controversial term with “feminist studies” can bring about some thought - provoking conversation. Feminist studies of men have been around for many years with regards to the feminist movement. It seeks to create gradual improvements to society through its main principle of modifying the ways in which everyone views what it means to be a man. Feminist studies of men bring forth the discussion of hegemonic masculinity; how this contributes to the gender hierarchy, the radicalized glass escalator and ultimately the faults of this theory.
MASCULINITY. In this article Watzlawik (2009) examines what elements go into gender constructs and what factors cause masculinity and femininity within ourselves. Thought the article three definitions are explored and examined for pros and cons. The first definition implies “A feminine woman is one who is, and strives to be, attractive to men, and a masculine man is one who is attractive
Being masculine or feminine is something that has become a limiting factor recently and in past history. Society views a person based on their sex; male or female, and categorizes the individual according to their gender (Cambridge, 2011). For centuries, women have been associated with certain characteristics such as being weak, domestic, and not capable of responsibility yet, men are seen as strong and dominant (Keller, 1994: 234). The entertainment industry gives people the image that males are more dominate over females by showing females as the foremost parental figure, homemakers, and sex objects. Culture has set very defined roles for each gender, and these roles are driven and promoted by the hit television show, Desperate Housewives.
Society has females and males alike typecasted into roles which have basic characteristics that are the reverse of each other. Although this has begun to change over the past thirty years, typically the man was seen as superior to the female. This superior image is one that today, is slowly on its way to being reduced to one of complete equality between the two genders.
Women – beautiful, strong matriarchal forces that drive and define a portion of the society in which we live – are poised and confident individuals who embody the essence of determination, ambition, beauty, and character. Incomprehensible and extraordinary, women are persons who possess an immense amount of depth, culture, and sophistication. Society’s incapability of understanding the frame of mind and diversity that exists within the female population has created a need to condemn the method in which women think and feel, therefore causing the rise of “male-over-female” domination – sexism. Sexism is society’s most common form of discrimination; the need to have gender based separation reveals our culture’s reluctance to embrace new ideas, people, and concepts. This is common in various aspects of human life – jobs, households, sports, and the most widespread – the media. In the media, sexism is revealed through the various submissive, sometimes foolish, and powerless roles played by female models; because of these roles women have become overlooked, ignored, disregarded – easy to look at, but so hard to see.
Human beings have been, and always will be, dichotomized into either male or female. When determining a person’s sex we often look for differences in facial features, body shape or mannerism’s, but another promising way to determine a persons sex and one that is most often used today, is through gender roles. Gender roles are behaviors that portray masculinity or femininity. The theory behind gender roles through multidisciplinary viewpoints is the focus of this paper. Throughout history and in every culture these roles have shifted and transformed into what society says is expectable. In this analysis, gender roles will be examined through a sociological, biological and evolutionary scope.
Sex and gender are attributes to our identity. Sex describes the physical and biological factors we are born with, for example male or female genitalia, as quoted from blackadder “A boy without a winkle is a girl” (Elton and Curtis 1998). Whether we have oestrogen or testosterone hormones also tells us if we are man or woman. Gender however is in relation to stereotypes of masculinity and femininity, and expectations of what characteristics men or women should portray. Anyone given the opportunity to describe men, they would say words like dominant, non emotional, macho, aggressive, and to be the provider and protector of his family. This essay sets out to examine if masculinity is socially constructed and to do this the theories of gender, media, historical societies and even sexuality will be analysed throughout.
Masculinity and femininity are two terms, which have been interpreted differently throughout history. Both the males and the females have responsibilities and duties but these duties differ based on one’s gender. Gender has played a prodigious role in the economy, politics, and the society. Everyone starts making interpretations of the strengths and weaknesses based on one’s gender. These interpretations are not always based on his or her ability but is usually based on his or her gender. Males tend to be judged as extremely strong and unfashionable in terms of appearance. Whereas, females are judged as expensive and very fashionable. Males and females both differ in their abilities and their enjoyments. Fashion, entertainment, and strength are three topics, which are used to define masculinity and femininity in the 21st century.