‘“Night to His Day’: The Social Construction of Gender,” Judith Lorber’s article written in the mid 90s, describes western societies as having two genders: men and women. Lorber explains that, while they not wholly separate genders, transvestities and transexuals are “crossover genders” (2007: 43) floating in between society’s two genders. Society’s framework for gender affects everything a person does from the moment that person is born, without them even knowing it. The clothes a person wears, the friends a person makes, the job that person ultimately does or does not get: all affected by gender. Gender bending, which is when a person dresses or acts against the gender society has assigned them, is a means for transvestities and transexuals
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Lorber states that, “paradoxically.. bending gender rules and passing between genders does not erode but rather preserves gender boundaries” (2007: 45). The two keywords in Lorber’s statement are “rules” and “boundaries,” because as long as society functions within those established rules and boundaries, the two gender framework will not be uprooted. The man who dresses in feminine clothing is still acting within the two gender system because ultimately a woman is what society sees. Lorber’s assessment is correct because in order to really erode gender boundaries there needs to no longer be a two gender system that people can float between; there needs to a more open ended and more individualistic approach to …show more content…
While recognition and acceptance of non-binary genders is the right way forward, more needs to be done. Ideally, the rules and boundaries of gender need to be loosened; the idyllic portrayal of what a man and woman are stripped away. A society that operates on newborn babies to mold them into a two gender system and uses language as a means of keeping the two genders distant, is both ignoring the millions of people who do not fit into the system and actively fighting against biology which tells us that the genders are not so different. A person who does not fit their gender should not have to choose between the gender they were assigned and the gender they were not. The spectrum of gender is not a venn diagram with distinct boundaries, but rather a boundaryless space for individuals to determine who they are for
Lorber states that, “paradoxically.. bending gender rules and passing between genders does not erode but rather preserves gender boundaries” (2007: 45). The two keywords in Lorber’s statement are “rules” and “boundaries,” because as long as society functions within those established rules and boundaries, the two gender framework will not be uprooted. The man who dresses in feminine clothing is still acting within the two gender system because ultimately a woman is what society sees. Lorber’s assessment is correct because in order to really erode gender boundaries there needs to no longer be a two gender system that people can float between; there needs to a more open ended and more individualistic approach to …show more content…
While recognition and acceptance of non-binary genders is the right way forward, more needs to be done. Ideally, the rules and boundaries of gender need to be loosened; the idyllic portrayal of what a man and woman are stripped away. A society that operates on newborn babies to mold them into a two gender system and uses language as a means of keeping the two genders distant, is both ignoring the millions of people who do not fit into the system and actively fighting against biology which tells us that the genders are not so different. A person who does not fit their gender should not have to choose between the gender they were assigned and the gender they were not. The spectrum of gender is not a venn diagram with distinct boundaries, but rather a boundaryless space for individuals to determine who they are for