Baby X Research Paper

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INTRODUCTION
While doing research, I stumbled across a story about a Baby X who was raised in a world where gender norms did not apply to this child. No one knew the gender of Baby X. Growing up the child wore gender neutral clothing, played with both dolls and trucks, and participated in both ‘feminine’ activities such as baking, and ‘masculine’ activities such as relay races. However, parents of Baby X’s friends thought that Baby X was a ‘misfit’ and a ‘bad example’ and people from the community demanded to know the child’s gender and force him or her to behave like whichever it was (Gould, 1995). Why did so many people have a problem with Baby X resisting the typical gender norms? Why must a child be identified as either a boy or a girl and act in accordance to their sex? Gender norms are extremely inherent in society and many conform to these social rules. Although there are endless possibilities to study when it comes to gender norms, this paper is going to focus on the construction of masculinity and how it is problematic in the way that many people in society view it and reinforce it.
POWER, KNOWLEDGE & THE SELF
In order to understand how the concept of masculinity was created, we first need to look at why norms are so often blindly followed in the first place. Foucault believes that there is a relationship between power, knowledge, and the self which encourages our reproduction of societal norms. These three concepts are intertwined and all have an impact on each other. Power is evident in almost all aspects of life and Foucault understood it as assumptions of truth that, “when embodied in specific codes of knowledge and practice, give some people immediate practical power over others” (Foote & Frank, 1999 p. 163). In or...

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...9). It is through this resistance and criticism that the dominant discourse can be challenged and destroyed.
CONCLUSION
Overall, the concept of masculinity has become widely accepted as truth in society. History has shown that men have been expected to live up to standards constructed by those in power in order to be viewed as ‘real men’. Unfortunately, this norm has rarely been challenged and it can cause many problems including thinking that a man who is out late at night is dangerous, or it can stem out to larger social issues such as homophobia. Thus, we must stop accepting these norms as true and instead search for our own truths. Social workers must become aware of the power that is present in working relationships and attempt to help clients build their own identity while using minimum domination and working in the least oppressive way (Foote & Frank, 1999).

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