The social constructionist theory of gender is perhaps best summarized as “gender is performative, that is, something you ‘do’” (Launis and Hassel, 27). In this way, gender is constantly being created by all levels of society and by each of us on a personal level. On September 12th, Huffington Post released an article online written by Rebecca Walden titled “Young Ladies of the SEC, cover it up!” in which the author berates the wardrobe choices of female college students at a recent football game she attended at the University of Alabama. It is clear by the directness of her rhetoric that she wishes to influence the “young ladies” she is addressing. However, what she may not realize is how her article contributes to the social construction
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Still, the article resurfaced on various websites, providing a means for it to continually influence those who read it. Undoubtedly, in the article, Walden socially constructs gender through slut shaming, a form of horizontal hostility. This is due to the influence of internalized oppression. In turn, the writer perpetuates the notion of a binary gender system that we simply cannot ignore. Walden’s condescending tone and sexist comments are prime examples of slut-shaming, an active form of horizontal hostility that reveals the social construction of gender based upon a binary gender system. For instance, she writes to the young women of Alabama, “More than once at the last ballgame, I wished I could have wrapped my elephant scarf around one of you.” Clearly, this demonstrates Walden’s notion that she not only believes the young women to be dressed inappropriately, but also that she herself must put a stop to …show more content…
The answer to this question: internalized oppression, a phenomenon that reveals the social construction of gender based upon a patriarchal society. This is a society that only identifies two genders, male and female, and deems that these two genders have separate characteristics they must present in order to be accepted, the very basis of the gender binary I am building up to explaining. Launius and Hassel define internalized oppression as when “members of marginalized groups come to internalize the dominant group’s characterizations of them as lesser or inferior” (87). Throughout her entire article, Walden reveals that she is influenced by internalized oppression through the very fact that she believes women should not have the right to dress however they want. With lines like “I wished you understood that a trend can be interpreted as fun and flirty without being tasteless”, it is evident that Walden believes that women need to dress in a certain way to be perceived as having what she later refers to as “class”. This reveals a belief that women must dress and act in a way that reflects the desire of others, and not their own. Clearly, such is an example of an attempt to take away a group’s power over their choices and actions, a clear indication of the belief that this lesser group does
Still, the article resurfaced on various websites, providing a means for it to continually influence those who read it. Undoubtedly, in the article, Walden socially constructs gender through slut shaming, a form of horizontal hostility. This is due to the influence of internalized oppression. In turn, the writer perpetuates the notion of a binary gender system that we simply cannot ignore. Walden’s condescending tone and sexist comments are prime examples of slut-shaming, an active form of horizontal hostility that reveals the social construction of gender based upon a binary gender system. For instance, she writes to the young women of Alabama, “More than once at the last ballgame, I wished I could have wrapped my elephant scarf around one of you.” Clearly, this demonstrates Walden’s notion that she not only believes the young women to be dressed inappropriately, but also that she herself must put a stop to …show more content…
The answer to this question: internalized oppression, a phenomenon that reveals the social construction of gender based upon a patriarchal society. This is a society that only identifies two genders, male and female, and deems that these two genders have separate characteristics they must present in order to be accepted, the very basis of the gender binary I am building up to explaining. Launius and Hassel define internalized oppression as when “members of marginalized groups come to internalize the dominant group’s characterizations of them as lesser or inferior” (87). Throughout her entire article, Walden reveals that she is influenced by internalized oppression through the very fact that she believes women should not have the right to dress however they want. With lines like “I wished you understood that a trend can be interpreted as fun and flirty without being tasteless”, it is evident that Walden believes that women need to dress in a certain way to be perceived as having what she later refers to as “class”. This reveals a belief that women must dress and act in a way that reflects the desire of others, and not their own. Clearly, such is an example of an attempt to take away a group’s power over their choices and actions, a clear indication of the belief that this lesser group does