Gender Deviance Essay

1329 Words3 Pages

In contemporary society, many social issues involving gender still prevail today and influence many of our everyday life choices, from what one wears, the jobs one pursues or how one may think. In this essay, the issues being discussed involve the importance associated with gender, essentialism and deviance around gender inequality.
Introduction
Society has planted a representation into people’s minds on how each gender is supposed to be constructed. When one thinks of the word gender, the initial responses are male and female but gender may be represented in many additional terms. As defined, “Gender refers to the social expectations that surround these biological categories.” (Steckley, 2017, pg.256) Gender is something that is ascribed, …show more content…

Deviance is defined as a neutral term, “It simply means straying from the norm or the usual.” (Steckley, 2017, pg.155) It is not necessarily meaning that the act of deviance is bad, but it is seen to be this way due to it being out of the norm of a society. A couple who is homosexual and holding hands down the street could be an act of deviance to many people who disagree with sexuality differences, but to others, it is seen as a normal act, especially in recent generations. These examples of social issues are caused by the norms created by society that have a control of what may be seen as right or wrong and what may be socially acceptable. These social issues make it difficult for non-heterosexuals to be themselves and live comfortably in their own skin. Many have difficulties admitting their sexuality due to the feeling of disappointing people around them such as family, or feeling the judgement that they are not how they were expected to be like. Although different sexualities have been more acceptable as years have passed, there are still many others who have prejudice opinions without reason as to why they may disagree with the concept. Many religions such as Islam and Judaism play a part in thinking this way because they are taught that the act of having different sexualities is considered a sin, which would be seen as wrong. For others, it is simply based on what one’s personal opinion may be towards the

Open Document