Each person should be taken as an individual, and the media has started to reflect these views in all areas. Even if cultural manipulation does not exist, there still would be differences between males and females. In conclusion, I would like to reiterate my assertion that the gender roles are a social construct. Gender roles are not innate. It’s almost as if Draco himself established these gender roles, and death was the penalty for opposing his law.
Words such as “fag” or sissy would hinder his ability to live authentically and partake in activities that are outside the gender binary. Dorianne Laux includes male typical professions such as “chief, chef, serf, or sheriff” to establish empathy between the reader and the men that are being referenced. By including “son, brother, husband, and lover” the author normalizes these men and highlights that like any other gender, their emotions are valid. The overall theme of the poem is to highlight the notion that though men are thought to be stoic creatures they are emotional beings that should be allowed to express themselves
According to sexologists John Money and Anke Ehrhardt, sex and gender are separate categories. “Sex, they argued, refers to physical attributes and is anatomically and physiologically determined. Gender they saw as a psychological transformation - the internal conviction that one is either male or female (gender identity) and the behavioral expressions of that conviction” (Sterling 4). Although there are biological differences between the two sexes, but gender roles are socially constructed. They determine how males and females should think, speak, dress, behave and interact with society.
Synthesis #1 Our concepts of gender are constructed by our biological characteristics and societal factors. In many societies, these concepts of gender, and the differences in men and women are rooted in tradition. The moment a child is born a kind of social construction begins. A child whether girl or boy will most likely be shown some behaviors on how they should behave according to their biological characteristics. Throughout history, we have seen the same stereotypes placed on gender, men should be strong and brave.
Reading 1 of The Lenses of Gender by Sandra Lipsitz Bem focused primarily on how society has viewed men and women through looking at the history of religion, theories, philosophies, and law. Bem uses her research to teach readers of the main differences that have historically set men and women apart from one another in the areas of male superiority, biological differences between the male and female bodies, and the roles that the sexes have maintained in cultures. What I found most significant was the general belief throughout all areas of historical research that Bem presented, that men are the “standard” for humans, and women’s ability to be pregnant and have children is extra, or “other” than the standard. Not only did the mentioned cultures
There is a widespread debate about how kids develop gender identities. The nature side of the debate argues that masculinity is inextricably linked with the male body. In this view, masculinity is associated with the biological male sex and having male genitalia, for example is regarded as a key aspect of masculinity. However some have suggested that while masculinity may be influenced by biological factors, it is also culturally constructed. Proponents of this view argue women can become men hormonally and physically and that many aspects that are assumed to be natural are linguistically and therefore culturally driven.
Moving on to the third theory, the identification of oneself as a male or female is the basis of a self-identity that is universally held to be the outcome of certain bodies, genitals and their attributes. To establish the behaviour of men and women in quite definite and particular ways, biological reductionism is suggesting that the biochemical and genetic structures of human beings are dominant on that part. Men are widely held to be more domineering, hierarchically oriented and hungry for power, while women are perceived as nurturing, child rearing, and domestically disposed. However, many individuals in cultural studies and other humanities have claimed for the complete plasticity of sex and gender. Biochemical and genetic structures are
Social forces are common in cultures all around the world. Whether it is the compulsion of women to get married and have children or the thrust upon men to be adequate in supporting such families, there is clearly a boundary line that has been created between genders and what is expected of them. Judith Lorber’s “Believing is Seeing: Biology as Ideology” claims that gender is socially constructed. This theory illuminates a study on recreational steroid usage by Matthew Petrocelli, Trish Oberweis, and Joseph Petrocelli, titled “Getting Huge Getting Ripped: A Qualitative Exploration of Recreational Steroid Use.” By using Lorber as a frame to analyze Petrocelli’s work, I have concluded that expectations embedded in bodybuilding result from
Under the patriarchal society, inequalities in gender relations impact both men and women from social, emotional and material perspectives (Connell, 2001). The dominant belief that men are physically tougher causes them to dominate dangerous and toxic occupations in society with little attention addressed to the impact on their health status (Connell, 2005). Furthermore, the stereotype of hegemonic masculinity causes men’s sexuality to be more constrained by homophobia and a taboo of showing emotional signs of vulnerability and fear (Connell, 2005). However, the under-privilege of women suggests even greater inequalities between genders. Throughout history, women have always been supressed by men, especially when women were once viewed as being physically too delicate to participate in the public sphere.
Judith Butler’s discussion of sex and gender essentially disengages the misguided notion that sex and gender are intrinsically linked to each other. There is a stereotypical concept that a male has a masculine gender, whereas a female possesses a feminine gender. Butler asserts that there is no necessary connection between a person’s sex and gender. Butler’s interpretation of gender, similar to