The Social Construction Of Gender In Judith Lorber's Night To His Day

What behaviors are considered feminine and what traits are considered masculine? Being either male or female in today’s society begins with the classification of gender depending on the sexual organs each human is born with. Judith Lorber talks about what it means to “do gender” in “Night to His Day”: The Social Construction of Gender. When men act “manly” and when women do things in what is considered to be “girly” this is known as “doing gender”. To begin with, everyone is born with a name and a gender status whether it is the correct one or not. What I mean by that is depending on the sexual organ a person is born with will define whether or not a newborn is labeled as a girl or boy. As a baby there is no say in who and what a that baby …show more content…
I believe that society has been changing over the years and more men are doing women’s responsibilities such as cooking, cleaning, and shopping for kids’ clothes. Women are now receiving the same job titles as men and there are plenty of females going to the gym and becoming strong, even stronger than a lot of guys. People can “do gender” and also do the things that interest them whether or not they are following the gender rules. What I feel that “doing gender” means is being a girl and acting like a girl and also being a male and acting like a male. An example of this is being a female and having painted nails, wearing dresses, and also putting on make-up. This means females are doing things that normally their gender would do. As for males when they “do gender” they watch football, play sports, and play video games because that is what is considered the norm for …show more content…
The structure of the body, the style of humans, facial hair, and names are also considered to tell the difference between men and women. Men are known to have flat chests and a muscular body. Women are known to have breasts and a noticeable buttocks and no muscle. By “doing gender” women are meant to have their hair nice and long and have a nice body figure and for men they are to have short hair, big muscles, and a strong body. The rules of “doing gender” have been changing and people want to change their lives and experience what it is like to “do gender” of the opposite sex. People who want to completely change their genitalia to that of the opposite sex are known as transsexuals. In doing so, they want to be able to change their lives and experience something different that will make them happy and no longer abide by the rules of what society says. Some men who do not necessarily like the gender they are born with will dress and act like women. Women who are not happy with their gender and are more interested with that of a males will wear men clothing and behave like a man. This is known as being a transvestite only by changing the style and clothing of a gender rather than actually changing the