Gender as a Social Construct Essay

Gender, race, and culture are social constructs, biased ideologies shaped by society. A society of those who share common perceptions, of an individual, group, or idea. Social constructs are ideas that are deemed to be natural; however, these ideas are not realistic in the world today. Gender roles, a set of concepts centered on masculinity and femininity of expectation of men and women. Although socials constructs have established rules for who we are expected to be, ultimately it is a box that…

By exercising your sociological imagination, it helps to understand how life is conditioned by social institutions. C. Wright Mill’s defines sociological imagination as the ability to “grasp history and biography and the relations between the two within society” (Manza, pg 6, 2013). Essentially, he is saying that this allows a person to take control of their life, instead of accepting the circumstances that are handed to them. By using our sociological imagination, we can understand our…

The act of S/M rejects the idea of gender construct and opens a door for exploration and performance of power. S/M in comparison to performative acts is a “theatrical exercise of social contradiction, it is self- consciously against nature, not in the sense that is violates natural law, but in the sense that it denies the existence of natural law in the first place” (McClintock 1993, 91). Therefore, these practices escape from the idea of being normal or socially appropriate. In regards to…

The consensus that ‘sex’ refers to biological components that define men from women while ‘gender’ refers to cultural constructs influencing masculinity and femininity is groundbreaking. Distinguishing ‘sex’ from ‘gender’ has cultivated radical ramifications that have reshaped studies of the human body and behaviour - particularly in the fields of anthropology, and science: both medical and social. This understanding provides an intellectual foundation to pioneer human studies to new paths -…

and Gender," the sixth chapter of Ann Oakley’s 1972 book Sex, Gender, and Society. In the chapter, Oakley discusses the difference between sex and gender. Oakley defines sex as a biological differences, male and female, and gender as a cultural classification, masculine and feminine. The purpose of this report is to assess on this chapter. In order to do this, I will give a brief summary of the chapter and then discuss Oakley’s main arguments. In this chapter, Oakley emphasizes that gender is…

to gain equality, a new social movement must either become part of the existing Capitalist sphere, or fail to find “naturality.” Ironically, the system that defines the acceptability of these new movements is quite possibly entirely unnatural, yet this does not negate the reality: Capitalism holds a monotony over social identity, and therefore progress made is only progress in relation to traditional Capitalism. Subsequently, there will never be a moment of genuine social transcendence until a…

living in a society where our bodies are owned, policed and subjected to follow the norms due to the social construct attached to a single word. To better understand the way in which a society “owns” our bodies from a simple construct of a word, we examine multiple perspectives from people of different races, genders, geography, and backgrounds. From literally being owned due to the social construct of race, to having to change the way we dress because it is not what is expected and finally to…

The encounter of Alison and the truck driver cracked Alison’s perception of gender norms and her social construct of gender. She was exposed to something that was foreign and strange to her, she was overjoyed that there was someone like her in the world, and she wasn’t alone anymore. This encounter also resonated with Alison’s father but instead of awe, he was fearful, which is seen when Alison says, “But the vision of the truck-driving bulldyke sustained me through the years… as perhaps it…

Gender Roles The post World War II era was the golden age for traditional gender roles. The majority of the population wanted the same family dynamic of a breadwinning father, nurturing stay at home mother, mild mannered daughter, athletic son, and dog all held within a white picket fence. In this dynamic, everyone fit their gender roles like a glove. The glove fit comfortably until the late 1960 's when the feminist movement began to sweep the country. It was at this time that people began to…

I chose to focus my observational study on gender biases (between male and females) that occur during the cleanup period of a meal. The observation took place on March 27th, 2016 in my home located in Montville, NJ. After Easter lunch I observed, for thirty minutes, the “cleanup period”—the period where the table is cleaned, food is put away, and dishes, utensils, and glasses are washed. I observed twenty individuals. Eleven participants were male and nine participants were female. The age range…