Growing up as a child, you are directed and led by your parents. You grow up learning to know certain
Growing up as a child, you are directed and led by your parents. You grow up learning to know certain
We do not possess gender the same way as we possess an XX or XY chromosome. According to the “Doing Gender” thesis by Candice West and Don Zimmerman is an idea that involves individuals acting in a manner that promotes assignment to one of the sex categories. It is a social practice. This thesis…
Whereas Fine studied the neurological differences between genders, Roughgarden moves the discussion to the biological aspect of the social spectrum for human beings. Roughgarden (2004) goes into detail about the evolution of sex, areas of biology, focusing on human development as well as gender and sexuality variation across the country. Roughgarden touches on some of the myths about the social spectrum humans use to construct gender binary. Roughgarden (2004) talks about how when you ask an individual what gender is, they immediately say male or female, which in according to Roughgarden is not necessarily true. Along with this, Roughgarden (2004) mentions in her book the sexual differences every person has.…
What is gender? Is it whether we are born with a girl’s body or a boy’s or does it have to do with how we are raised? Many people have weighed in on this discussion and in his article, “Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meanings of Gender”, Aaron H. Devor discusses how he believes that society is what shapes what we believe about gender. What we are told about what makes us male or female, according to Devor, is what determines what gender we determine ourselves to be.…
Gender Roles Effecting Americas Youth From the moment of birth one’s sex is how people identity who the baby is as a person. ““Women are not born, they are made” same is true for men” (Eckert, 735) throughout our lives our thoughts and actions are the outcomes of creating ourselves into what society believes how our sex should be acting. Both males and female are treated differently by parents and other adults of society, doing their gender work for the child. Buying clothing, and toys to teach the child and show others in society their sex and role that they play.…
How could one’s gender identity develop before their sex organs do? Even if that were the case, how could we tell what a child’s gender identity was before we begin to enculturate them based on their physical…
Gender is constructed by the society. Although individuals are born sexed, they are not born gendered. Learning is required for individuals to become masculine or feminine. Children learn to talk, walk and gesture according to their social group’s beliefs of how boys and girls should act (Lorber, 1991). Gender is a human production which relies on everyone continual “doing gender” (West & Zimmerman, 1987).…
The book Assigned: Life with Gender produced by editors Lisa Wade, Douglas Hartmann, and Christopher Uggen is a collection of articles that talk about gender in the United States from a sociological viewpoint. The topics range from queer parenting to inequality to what the future can offer. A couple of topics I will discuss is gender and its social construction and how women’s bodies are viewed, specifically their breasts, compared to the bodies of men. Gender is indeed socially constructed and a result of influences throughout an individual's development.…
The novel I decided to read and analyze was “Two Boys Kissing” by David Levithan. Throughout the novel Levithan describes the day to day lives of seven different teenage boys and the struggles they face because they identify as gay. I will be examining the concepts of constructing gender, being transgender, and the correlation of compulsory heterosexuality and discrimination against LGBT people. Gender is constructed at a very young age.…
Ever since I was a little girl, I have been taught about what a girl should and shouldn’t do, what a girl should or shouldn’t wear, and even what a girl should or shouldn’t be. And as I got older my identity has slowly conformed to these gender ideas. But, what if when I was younger I hadn’t been taught about gender and what if gender ideals wouldn’t have been pushed onto us by the media? Would I be the same person that I am today, or would I be someone completely different? I would hope that I would be the same person now, but I do not believe that that would be the case.…
Transgender Rights To be transgender means to be the opposite of the predictable notions of being male or female. People coming out as transgender is something that is beginning to be more common in society today. Currently, transgender people face discrimination or even bullying in school. Most citizens who are transgender are confronted with poverty because employers avoid hiring those who are transgender. Transgender students face bullying in school and often attempt to commit suicide.…
Identity is a person 's sense of self-awareness. The terms “gender” and “sex” are often used interchangeably, however, the two words have significantly different definitions. Sex can be argued to refer to the biological essentialism and the idea that we are who we are because of our genetics. On the other hand, gender is associated with the social constructionist theory, presented by Jeffrey Weeks, arguing that the way we are depends on our race, class, and sexuality. Every individual is different within their race, class, and sexuality, therefore, their gender is socially constructed.…
My Responsibility to America At a young age, my parents taught me what it meant to be responsible. They told me that being responsible for something is a way to show respect and appreciation for what you own. For starters, I was given jobs around the house, which my parents told me was my way of showing appreciation for the home I was provided, and it was my responsibility as a member of my family. America is also my home— a home which other brave Americans have paid for and founded.…
Beauvoir attempts to justify women's inferior position in society through referencing their biology and physical capabilities. According to the ideology that "anatomy is destiny", a woman's purpose in life is determined by her reproductive organs and childbearing abilities: "She is a womb" (Beauvoir 23). Now, rather than solely being identified based on their physical absence of male genitalia, women instead become further culturally objectified and defined by their reproductive capabilities. As a result, women are raised to become dedicated mothers and devoted wives, while simultaneously losing their financial and political freedom to their male…
Judith Lorber (1994) describes gender as a type of institution that has established patterns of expectations for individuals based on whether they are male or female. She believes that gender affects individuals and their social interaction, gender is traceable, can be researched and examined. Gender establishes a set of expectations for us to follow and has a huge impact on social processes and its organization. This institution is purely based on a set of learned ideas that have shaped the way our society thinks and has nothing to do with our actual biology.…
Being a part of a Human Sexuality course has definitely opened my eyes to many different topics and issues that are occurring around the world. I believe I have lived a very sheltered life after learning about some of these topics, because I hadn’t even heard of most of them. I liked to think I knew all there was to know about human sexuality simply because I understood sexual intercourse, STI`s, and using protection. But human sexuality involves much more than those three things. Three of the major topics that have made me really think about how uneducated I was in regards to human sexuality were sexual birth defects, gender identity and gender roles, and sexual assault.…