Nacirema Gender Roles

I really didn’t think much about the difference in the roles that gender. I was always taught that everyone is equal no matter who they are or what they look like. I only thought of gender as male and female. Most cultures exhibit a specific configuration or style. A single significance pattern of perceiving the world often leaves its stamp in the society. Examples are "machismo" in Spanish-influenced cultures, "face" in Japanese culture, and "pollution by females" in some highland New Guinea cultures. Here Horace Miner demonstrates that "attitudes about the body" have a pervasive influence on many institutions in Nacirema society.
The focus attention is on gender, the social roles that are assigned and learned based on cultural concepts about …show more content…
I want to make my focus on this topic about cultural concepts about the nature of sex differences, and their place in social life. In all cultures, gender roles have differed to some degree, but the differences have not always entailed differences in access to social honor and power. Socially learned gender roles, the conditions on which access to honor and power become differentiated by gender, the diversity of male and female roles in the world's many cultures, and the existence of cultures in which there are more than two culturally identified genders. Most cultures exhibit a particular configuration or style. A single value or pattern of perceiving the world often leaves its stamp on several institutions in the society. Examples are "machismo" in Spanish-influenced cultures, "face" in Japanese culture, and "pollution by females" in some highland New Guinea cultures. Here Horace Miner demonstrates that "attitudes about the body" have a pervasive influence on many institutions in Nacirema …show more content…
The social construction thesis is one explanation of how societies devalue and subordinate women. It has been explained that “the structure and organization of society is built on gender stereotypes, hence ensuring that existing unequal power relations between the sexes are sustained.” Subordination and exclusion of women take place through the uncritical application of “stereotyped (often traditional and implicit) ideas, symbols, and roles.” Analysis of how such stereotypical assumptions are socially constructed and shaped by gender-based judgments regarding women’s attributes, characteristics, and roles is critical, regardless of whether they are accurate. These assumptions are important sources of social meanings, norms, and values on which social structures are built and perpetuated. Eliminating some of the most hidden, yet pervasive, forms of discrimination against women requires the dismantling of gender stereotypes. Such gender stereotypes are remarkably resilient and resistant to eradication or reform. Some gender stereotypes, such as the stereotype of women as primarily caregivers, seem constant. Other stereotypes might fade for a time, but they might reemerge in other forms. An example of the application of the stereotype of