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How are gender roles socially constructed
Gender in modern society
Gender in modern society
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Lorber argues that it possible to strive for genderless society. Based on Lober work “Night to his Day” sexuality and gender is socially constructed. Is it really possible to have a non gender society? In order to understand the how gender and sexuality are associated with a person identity, we need to define the term sex and gender. Sex is biological ,it the physical sex organs one is born with. Gender, on the other hand, is more associated with society and parental influence. Gender is an identity that people identified with. Because their no boundary to how people can take a turn on gender identity. Because Lorber view gender identity and sexuality associated more with socially aspect that it gave her the impression that the biology behind …show more content…
Gender and sexuality is two completely different thing. In fact I have to argue that Lorber and Jhally is wrong to to view socialization as the only theory that best explains gender. According to Jhally explanation in the video “ Gender coded” gender is social construct and is useful for stressing the aspect of femininity and masculinity . In the video Jhally claim that there is nothing natural about gender identity. It confine with gender norm. Later in the video, he explain that “ women were use to ease and remove the idea of homosexual from male. And male and female are defined through each other” (code of gender). Women are weak, vulnerable, mental drifting and emotional. While men are strong, more relax,calm, active, and are emotionless. Femininity is viewed as submissive/ powerless female, who present themselves according to society's standards. Unlike masculinity that dominant gender norm. Gender’s critical view like Lorber and Jhally act as a disadvantage to analysis because they’re missing out on the biological view. As Jhally mention men are women are defined through each other. Social construct is just the image use for display. Biology behide a person sexaulity can not be ingore. Both biological and social construct contritute to a person sexuliaty there for it unreasonably to strive for non gender …show more content…
Gender specialist might argue that biological aspect didn’t really contribute to a person’s identity except for people’s sexulaity. Which others may agree that social influences contribute to people's behavior and how they define themselves based on the surrounding around them. I acknowledge that gender roles does influence a person personalities. But it takes more than just socially influences to determine one's identities. According to Harris, “Considering the case of the opposite sex identical twin: he was told he was a girl but he didn’t feel like a girl”(208). The boys felt that he was never himself. Harris is saying that children understand who they are without being taught. Depending on the situation, biological or social factor will impact a person's identity more than the other. From what I see , social construct is only part of a story. For example, CeCe Mcdonald transformation story of her transforming into a women, socially constructed her identity as a female. The way McDonald present herself as a child growing up and enjoying do girly thing is the result of what she define as later in life. Although Cece identified as a woman her biological sex is use to determine which prison cell they put her in. In this situation her biological sex was use to determine her sexuality. And Mcdonald was put in
The creation of an identity involves the child's understanding of the public disposition of the gender normalities, and the certain gender categories that
Basically, what one needs to know before proceeding to read through this analysis of gender development is that gender identity refers to “one’s sense of oneself as male, female, or transgender” (American Psychological Association, 2006). When one’s gender identity and biological sex are not congruent, the individual may identify as transsexual or as another transgender category (cf. Gainor, 2000). Example, Jennifer in the book, She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders, who brought us through the struggle of living a transgendered life from start to finish. Also, the formation of gender identity is influenced by social factors, such as family, friends, the environment, etc. For example, fathers tend to be more involved when their sons engage in gender-appropriate activities such as playing baseball or soccer rather than wanting to become a dancer or a cheerleader.
In the end gender roles and sexuality typically do hold a connection. The connection may differ depending on the country or the people involved, but the connection still does exist. Individuals also choose to practice sexuality in different forms. Each form connects to masculinity and femininity in a unique manor. Therefore the connection between the two terms (gender roles and sexuality) is present.
As Lorber explores in her essay “Night to His Day”: The Social Construction of Gender, “most people find it hard to believe that gender is constantly created and re-created out of human interaction, out of social life, and is the texture and order of that social life” (Lorber 1). This article was very intriguing because I thought of my gender as my sex but they are not the same. Lorber has tried to prove that gender has a different meaning that what is usually perceived of through ordinary connotation. Gender is the “role” we are given, or the role we give to ourselves. Throughout the article it is obvious that we are to act appropriately according to the norms and society has power over us to make us conform. As a member of a gender an individual is pushed to conform to social expectations of his/her group.
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
First; comes, the notion of nature. West and Zimmerman term this as sex, referring to a person’s biological makeup through genitalia, having a penis or vagina, or simply chromosomal pairing of XY or XX (29). Although there is no escape or control an individual has, if their foetal tissues formed into a penis or vagina, biology does play an underlying role in an individual’s identity and personality formation which is socially constructed. What is the correlation between biology and socially constructed gender then? The case study West and Zimmerman present of “Agnes, a transsexual person who was born (31), ” and raised a boy, but went through sex reassignment surgery, and identifies as a female, shows that although biology may result in a certain genitalia, an individual’s response to that may be one that is conforming or opposing to it. By the terms conforming and opposing I mean to say that Agnes could have either continued to
The the book introduces the topic by defining sex and gender. Sex refers to the biology of your body, there are two aspects within this concept: primary sex characteristics and secondary characteristics. Primary characteristic is the genitalia which you are born with. Secondary sex characteristics has to do with the hormones; distribution of male and female hormones. Gender on the other hand is a societal concept that comes along with gender roles; which is when society places roles on how each gender should act. This is where sexist stereotypes such as “girls like pink and boys like blue” come about. Gender roles become impacted by other factors such as: religion, class, race, culture to name only a few. Culture and other aspects alter what is perceived as the norm; some cultures recognize an androgynous gender, while the concept is still taboo in many cultures. This chapter, assesses how patriarchy prevails given the fact that gender roles create an environment meant to benefit males more than
From a young age , many individuals worldwide are socialized according to their gender and what is appropriate for males and females. Socializing according to ones gender starts from the moment you are born when the nurses give you either a blue or pink blanket to wrap the child in. This allows society to known whether the child is a male or female. The double standard for gender occurs within many areas of development for instance the clothes one wears, the toys that are placed with, the jobs and careers one chooses in their later life. Attachment given by a child's parent reinforces an individual to be socialized and children can also contribute how their parents treat and see them , these are social constructs within parenting (Ambert,2012). All of these things can be gender separated and still are in today's society. Another area where males and females are socialized differently is in the area of sexuality and what is acceptable for males is not always for the female gender. Gender specific norms govern the appropriate amount of partners , when it is acceptable to engage in sexual activity and what motivates ones behavior (Kreager &Staff, 2009). This shows society individuals are socialized according to their gender because males are socialized into behaving a different way than girls but it still be accepted as a norm. Women are taught that it is okay to have sexual relationships but they need a reason, example being in a committed relationship, where as men just need a place. This is a common perception based on ones gender , formed from a western conservative view point ( Fugere et.al, 2008). Gender socialization is a process where boys are seen to be given wings and girls are to be given roots (Myers, Spencer, Jordan...
The text "Dueling Dualism" by Anne Fausto-Sterling claim is that sex and gender are constructed. Scientist construct gender and sex through their research and studies and this creates the way society views sex and gender. Sterling writes, "... human sexuality created by scholars in general and by biologists, in particular, are one component of political, social, and moral struggles about our cultures... At the same time... incorporated into our very physiological being... Biologists...in turn refashion our cultural environment"(Sterling,5). Sterling, sure enough, realizes how sexuality is viewed by biologist but also how it can change the perspectives of sexuality in a society. Biologist have "refashion our cultural environment" and are reshaping
In reality, gender is not based on one’s genetic make-up or their reproductive organs. Expanding on this, an individual does not have any control over their assigned gender, but everyone has a gender identity, which is one’s internal sense of being male or female. From a sociocultural perspective, gender roles have the greatest influence on gender as a social construction. Gender roles are the attitudes, behaviors, rights, and responsibilities that particular cultural groups associate with each sex. In regards to gender, the social construction theory acknowledges the connection the topic has with power and meaning, and states that social interaction, or “language” controls how these things are portrayed to individuals. Similarly, sexuality is socially constructed in a sense that, one’s sexual orientation depends on what they are taught to be “socially acceptable”. For example, a person who is raised by homophobic parents would most likely be taught that every aspect of homosexuality is wrong, and therefore they would be influenced to be heterosexual. While many would like to believe that people are born with their sexual orientation, that is far from the truth. All in all, when looking at the big picture, it is clear that race, gender,
There is an ongoing debate on the issue of gender and some scholars, present gender as being similar to sex. However, according to Butler (270) defines sex as the state of being either biologically female or male; with this definition, Butler refutes the traditional binary opposition amid biological sexes, holding that the conception of binary biological sex is a product of social construction. On the other hand, gender is defined as the behavioral, psychological, cultural traits that are traditionally associated with the binary conception of biological sexes that is either male or female. In the traditional setting, gender or rather gender identity was believed to be a direct expression of an individual’s biological sex, but Butler refuted this assumption
Before one can delve into the emotional and scientific rabbit hole that is human sexuality, one must understand that a person's biological sex is not the only contributing factor in sexual orientation and sexual behavior. Each person has hundreds of characteristics that affect what we call sexual orientation, but most of them fit into about 6 different categories. The first is biological sex, which is inscribed into the DNA. That is what a person is born with, and most likely the label doctors give at birth. Next is gender identity, which is what gender a person identifies with. Regardless of parts one is born with, this is the trait that describes whether a person feels like a man, or a woman, or something in between, or nothing at all. This is why sex is an incorrect determination for the pronoun used to describe a person because it assumes their gender identity to be the same as their biological sex, and that is not always the case. If a person's gender identity is unknown or different from their biological sex, one should use the pronoun gender to describe him, her, or it.
Men and women are very different, especially when it comes to sexuality. They have different feelings and emotions. Gender role expectations influence a huge impact on our sexuality. Gender roles refer to how a person behaves as male or female, we close to masculine or femine, which are chararestics that yourself or other notice. Boys and girls have always been treated differently. Males are treated more as the tough one, with no emotions, and females as the one’s whoe were emotional and needed to more attention.
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...
Gender and sexuality can be comprehended through social science. Social science is “the study of human society and of individual relationships in and to society” (Free Dictionary, 2009). The study of social science deals with different aspects of society such as politics, economics, and the social aspects of society. Gender identity is closely interlinked with social science as it is based on the identity of an individual in the society. Sexuality is “the condition of being characterized and distinguished by sex” (Free Dictionary, 2009).