Explain some ways in which gender is both ‘accomplished’ by individuals (McLennan et al., 2010: 107) and the outcome of ‘social constraints’ (Holmes, 2009:61) that constitute us as gendered beings.
In Western society, gender is a binary system of identification that dictates and outlines what behaviours and traits one is expected to have. Individuals perpetuate these gender expectations on a daily basis, and accomplish their own gender by adhering to the roles that have been laid out for them. In this essay, I will explore how gender is assigned and modelled to children and infants, at how individuals fulfil gender expected behaviours and displays, and finally at the implications of the constraints our society places on persons based on …show more content…
In fact, gender appears so important in understanding an individual that it becomes crucial in day to day life to be recognisably one or the other (Rahman and Jackson, 2010). A person’s gender heavily affects the way others interact with them; for men, the conversation may turn to cars or sports, and conversely, women may be spoken to about children or fashion. It seems that gender is a springboard for identifying how to relate to someone, a door that must be able to be opened in order to proceed comfortably. In answer to this need, it appears that gender becomes somewhat of a performance – something that individuals do and embody rather than are by nature (Holmes, 2007). Like actors who must play their role, overwhelmingly men wear their hair short and women long, women wear dresses and men pants. A feminine or masculine appearance is the first indication of gender, followed by behaviours (McLennan, McManus, and Spoonley, 2010). It is expected that men should be dominant, and show leadership; that women should be polite, and appear beautiful. Wharton (2005) uses an example of a flight attendant whose employers enforced strict rules of appearance on their female attendants, including weight restrictions that they checked on a regular basis …show more content…
These differences are believed to be inherent and cover not only preferences of appearance, inclinations to behave in certain ways, or general personality traits, but also the individual’s ability or skill in specific areas. Long running assertions such as men being better at maths and science, and women being better at empathising and identifying emotion (Holmes, 2009) are often thought to be categorical, when in fact the differences are, if at all statistically supported, average at their most robust (Wharton, 2005). Wharton (2005) comments, “Social arrangements are justified by arguments about differences between groups”, a claim made true not only by female-dominated professions like teaching and hairdressing, and male-dominated professions such as labour and politics but on a larger scale the belief that women are homemakers and men “bread-winners”. Historically, the “messiness” of women’s bodies – the menstrual cycle – was thought to make them incapable of the rational decision making that was necessary for political discussion (Holmes, 2009). Therefore, until the late nineteenth certainly, women were entirely excluded from both politics and voting rights. This lent to a power imbalance within the home, with men considered the authority on all things public, and women expected to focus on all things domestic, including the raising of children and keeping of the home. Consequently, even when
In Western society, gender is a binary system of identification that dictates and outlines what behaviours and traits one is expected to have. Individuals perpetuate these gender expectations on a daily basis, and accomplish their own gender by adhering to the roles that have been laid out for them. In this essay, I will explore how gender is assigned and modelled to children and infants, at how individuals fulfil gender expected behaviours and displays, and finally at the implications of the constraints our society places on persons based on …show more content…
In fact, gender appears so important in understanding an individual that it becomes crucial in day to day life to be recognisably one or the other (Rahman and Jackson, 2010). A person’s gender heavily affects the way others interact with them; for men, the conversation may turn to cars or sports, and conversely, women may be spoken to about children or fashion. It seems that gender is a springboard for identifying how to relate to someone, a door that must be able to be opened in order to proceed comfortably. In answer to this need, it appears that gender becomes somewhat of a performance – something that individuals do and embody rather than are by nature (Holmes, 2007). Like actors who must play their role, overwhelmingly men wear their hair short and women long, women wear dresses and men pants. A feminine or masculine appearance is the first indication of gender, followed by behaviours (McLennan, McManus, and Spoonley, 2010). It is expected that men should be dominant, and show leadership; that women should be polite, and appear beautiful. Wharton (2005) uses an example of a flight attendant whose employers enforced strict rules of appearance on their female attendants, including weight restrictions that they checked on a regular basis …show more content…
These differences are believed to be inherent and cover not only preferences of appearance, inclinations to behave in certain ways, or general personality traits, but also the individual’s ability or skill in specific areas. Long running assertions such as men being better at maths and science, and women being better at empathising and identifying emotion (Holmes, 2009) are often thought to be categorical, when in fact the differences are, if at all statistically supported, average at their most robust (Wharton, 2005). Wharton (2005) comments, “Social arrangements are justified by arguments about differences between groups”, a claim made true not only by female-dominated professions like teaching and hairdressing, and male-dominated professions such as labour and politics but on a larger scale the belief that women are homemakers and men “bread-winners”. Historically, the “messiness” of women’s bodies – the menstrual cycle – was thought to make them incapable of the rational decision making that was necessary for political discussion (Holmes, 2009). Therefore, until the late nineteenth certainly, women were entirely excluded from both politics and voting rights. This lent to a power imbalance within the home, with men considered the authority on all things public, and women expected to focus on all things domestic, including the raising of children and keeping of the home. Consequently, even when