Socio-autobiography
There is no society where gender is considered to be insignificant. China is one such society where gender roles and inequalities have developed over time and remain present today. As I have spent the majority of my life in New Zealand, I have been exposed to many Western perspectives on gender. However, being the first generation to grow up in New Zealand meant that many traditional Chinese views on gender norms were still incorporated into my upbringing. This socio-autobiography will explore sociological gender concepts across time and cultures, and how they have shaped my life. My focus will be on “doing gender”- with an emphasis on my “tomboyism” as a child-, gender inequalities within my family structure, and the enduringly …show more content…
I too began to adopt some feminine behaviours during my teen years. In particular, I began to work harder at having a pleasing appearance, through learning how to apply makeup and having more feminine choices of clothing. The social pressures to fit in with the crowd were especially prevailing during this time. I did not completely discard of my tomboy identity though, and played for my high school basketball team for three years. This is a better example of what Butler called gender trouble. I chose to play a masculine sport, but I did not see myself as being any less valid as a female. Hence, I was "troubling" the binary categorisation of masculinity vs femininity (Matthewman et al., 2013), by realising that gender in fact existed on a spectrum. I hence allowed myself to express both masculine and feminine …show more content…
From a young age, the act of categorising imposes societal expectations onto us in terms of how to ‘act’ a certain gender. Although individuals have the opportunity to deviate from social norms, the overarching expectations of males and females still remain powerful in society, and create inequalities between genders. Traditional gender stereotypes are still evident in Chinese culture and continue to influence the lives of Chinese families such as my own. While many social reforms are emerging, it is difficult to eliminate the deep-rooted traditions of a male-run world (Sangwha, 1999). Hence, the potential for change that will lessen gender inequalities is largely dependent on the continual acknowledgement of gender issues as public issues rather than private
There is no society where gender is considered to be insignificant. China is one such society where gender roles and inequalities have developed over time and remain present today. As I have spent the majority of my life in New Zealand, I have been exposed to many Western perspectives on gender. However, being the first generation to grow up in New Zealand meant that many traditional Chinese views on gender norms were still incorporated into my upbringing. This socio-autobiography will explore sociological gender concepts across time and cultures, and how they have shaped my life. My focus will be on “doing gender”- with an emphasis on my “tomboyism” as a child-, gender inequalities within my family structure, and the enduringly …show more content…
I too began to adopt some feminine behaviours during my teen years. In particular, I began to work harder at having a pleasing appearance, through learning how to apply makeup and having more feminine choices of clothing. The social pressures to fit in with the crowd were especially prevailing during this time. I did not completely discard of my tomboy identity though, and played for my high school basketball team for three years. This is a better example of what Butler called gender trouble. I chose to play a masculine sport, but I did not see myself as being any less valid as a female. Hence, I was "troubling" the binary categorisation of masculinity vs femininity (Matthewman et al., 2013), by realising that gender in fact existed on a spectrum. I hence allowed myself to express both masculine and feminine …show more content…
From a young age, the act of categorising imposes societal expectations onto us in terms of how to ‘act’ a certain gender. Although individuals have the opportunity to deviate from social norms, the overarching expectations of males and females still remain powerful in society, and create inequalities between genders. Traditional gender stereotypes are still evident in Chinese culture and continue to influence the lives of Chinese families such as my own. While many social reforms are emerging, it is difficult to eliminate the deep-rooted traditions of a male-run world (Sangwha, 1999). Hence, the potential for change that will lessen gender inequalities is largely dependent on the continual acknowledgement of gender issues as public issues rather than private