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sexism how its impacted
sexism effect on society
sexism how its impacted
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As highlighted by the author, Mary Louise Adams in her article, “Excerpts from The Trouble with Normal”, ‘a norm’ “can be defined as something that is usual, typical or standardized” (Hacking, Adams, 2003). Norms are often already so established that most individuals do not realize how much they have shaped society and the people who live in it. Audrey Lord tells us that being a “White, thin, young, heterosexual, Christian, male” defines the characteristics of being “normal” and “privileged,” in which she calls “the mythical norm” (Perry, 2011). We use our sexuality, race and class as a way of giving ourselves an identity for the world to see. This identity will ultimately allow us to understand our place in the world and give …show more content…
It is simply not enough to just state your sexuality without constantly trying to prove it to people. The Egan V Canada case shares the story of inequality between gender and heteronormativity. The case brings to our attention that the gender we choose to identify ourselves by should be accepted by people and the law. We are born to believe that sexuality and gender was bred in us biologically, therefore being anything but normal is unnatural and wrong. In reference to the article, ‘Girls Wear Pink and Boys Wear Blue, the authors, reminds us that “oppression emerges from the concept of gender and the process of gendering” (Newman & White, 2012). The two authors argue that there is nothing in nature that distinctively determines a single colour that should represent one gender. The colours pink and blue have separated the female and male gender for decades because it became a socially and cultural acceptance. I argue that there is nothing in our society that proves that heterosexuality is normal. If we strip gender down straight to the core and ignore religion and class, it is easy to see that society has normalized gender to fit in with the trends of
Most people want to be normal. The definition of normal however, depends on the culture of the person making the judgment. Far too often, normal is defined in America by looking at the actions and beliefs of the average white middle class family. This definition of normal fails to let other cultures to be accepted, creating distance and misunderstanding.
It is 9:00 PM on a Sunday night. Televisions all across America tune into MTV. Millions of viewers will now spend the next thirty minutes watching a television program titled 'Jackass'. While watching this program, the viewers will observe everything from people eating hard boiled eggs in an attempt to purposely vomit, to a man testing out various self defense devices on himself. Next week viewers will tune into the same program to see the same kinds of stunts performed. The reason that America watches these kinds of programs, and the participants in them perform these stunts, are because 'norms' are being broken. A norm is something that is generally accepted by a society as the right thing to do, or the way things are supposed to be. For example, a norm would be to enter an elevator and stand facing the front for the duration of the trip. Breaking that norm would be to enter the elevator and face the back for the duration of the trip. It is not what is expected. Different norms exist in different societies, and when these norms are broken within these societies people pay attention, because it is not an occurrence observed on a regular basis.
As each decade passes what implies and defines 'conformity ' changes as societies norms grow and transform yet the strength of its influence remains constant when stood against the wall of rebellion. Individuals such as the artist in Kafka 's Hunger Artist who craved to be adorned for hid differences of normality were seen inhuman by the audience 's eyes. While people like the cashier from A&P by Updike; tried to cross the boundary of social class are view by society as momentarily confused in need of guidance to remain where they rank in class status. And those who indeed bend to the advances of norms that are acceptable may end up like the unknown citizen in Auden 's poem whose identity was forever lost by mass grouping with the another unknowns who never did anything special.
Once you are born, you become a part of a larger group. You will grow up starting at a point in your parent's life and then over time they or even you will change the direction of your families subculture in whatever country you all live in. In America, People strive for the best. Not all get it, but somehow or someone will push that family into a situation where they can move up in the world. Over the years America has came to a point where most jobs pay well and mostly anyone can be considered a middle class resident. In America this is considered normal to the general public. Being normal and striving to be normal is the focus most people try to reach within their lifetimes. Normality is a subculture in itself.
In the photo “Striving for Normalcy” shot by Dorothea Lange, the theme is having fun in hard times. The photo shows a kid with a baseball bat hitting a baseball. They are playing baseball in a depression but are still showing that they can have fun. Dorothea took this photo in California during the dirty thirties aka the great depression. The photo shows that they were in a dried up field with bases and had a crowd playing some good old-fashioned baseball in California. Dorothea took these picture of a field to show that although they were having a hard time they still had fun playing games and cheered him on. The photographer took this picture to show that they may have had a rough life; they always found a way to do something and play and
Avery colors his hair pink, a “strange color choice…for a boy born as a girl who wants to be seen as a boy” (Levithan 65). He suggests that people might assume that he would want to stray from feminine attributes in order to prove a level of masculinity that he must claim by identifying as trans. However, he says that he just likes pink, and that the idea that “pink is female” shows just how arbitrary gender is (Levithan 65). Why is a person’s gender identity instantly accompanied by an infinity of social implications? And why is everything from colors, toys, clothes, or even professions and temperaments considered either masculine or feminine? The construction of gender starts at birth. The assignment to a sex category based on the appearance of genitalia determines how babies are dressed, named, and treated throughout their lives (Lorber 20). Even when discussing their newborns, parents tend to respond differently, describing their baby’s physicality using gender stereotypes. Often, newborn boys are described as “tall, large, athletic, serious, and having broad, wide hands.” Newborn girls on the other hand are described as “small and pretty, with fine, delicate features” (Renzetti and Curran 77). Children learn from a very young age
In today’s society we as humans are aware and accepting of more identities than we ever have been before. Civil rights movements all over the world are advocating for everything from marriage equality, to laws protecting gender-queer people. However, it isn’t perfect. Just as there will always be racists and homophobes, there will always be people who say gender identity is a choice. Well, a study done earlier this year proves those people wrong.
Society has taught us that the clothing we select somewhat defines our normalcy. Children’s gender neutral clothing is very hard to find. Even when locating a pair of red overalls today, they usually have some type of male associated emblem on them like a football or a truck. As author, Jeanne Maglaty points out, “Pink and blue arrived, along with other pastels, as colors for babies in the mid-19th century, yet the two colors were not promoted as gender signifiers until just before World War I—and even then, it took time for popular culture to sort things out” (Smithsonian, 2011). As pointed out in her article, with the onset of ultrasounds and prenatal testing, the more individualized clothing, nursery items and accessories became. Today, we are not only inundated with gender specific clothing but the color scheme has also crossed over to Legos, notebooks, sporting equipment etc. It is a merchandisers dream and a consumer’s
Even before the moment we are born, models of gender and sexual expression are pressed into us. The colors "pink" and "blue" identify what gender a newborn baby will be, placing these two genders into a type of "box" or "category". The idea that young girls should stay inside to play will dolls and young boys should go outside to be adventurous, also puts these two genders under limitations. Society places these gender roles upon us, in hopes of us acting a particular way to display our gender in the "correct" manner. Society makes us act, speak, dress, groom, and love in a specific way. However, in today's day and age, we are thankfully straying away from these defined roles, and are allowing ourselves to fully express our own view on our
Pink is for girls and blue is for boys. Isn’t that a stereotype we deal with from the time we escape the womb? Gender is part of our social structure, just as race and class are. When applied to Camara Phyllis Jones ' article, "The Gardener 's Tale," men are the red flowers and women are the pink. From the moment of birth, men and women are put into different pots. (UK essays,2015). For decades Psychologist have been conducting experiments to determine what has an effect on a person’s gender identity. Their conclusions show that biological influences, environmental influences, social learning theory and gender schema theory all have some type of effect on gender identity. There are many sides to Nature vs. Nurture, specifically when it comes to gender identity. However, both sides discussed here agree that nature and
In her autobiography, “The Life of an Ordinary Woman, Anne Ellis describes just that; the life of an ordinary woman. Ellis reveals much about her early—ordinary if you will—life during the nineteenth-century. She describes what daily life was like, living a pioneer-like lifestyle. Her memoir is ‘Ordinary’ as it is full of many occurrences that the average woman experiences. Such as taking care of her children, cleaning, cooking the—world’s greatest—meals. It also contains many themes such as dysfunctional families, insensitive men, and negligent parents that are seen in modern life. The life of Anne Ellis is relatable. Her life is relatable to modern day life, however, very different.
These colors also covered a child in that pumpkin patch that day, covered with a tee-shirt and a pair of shorts. “Ah, a boy, I thought. Then I noticed the gleam of tiny earrings in the child’s ears, and as they got off, I saw the little flowered sneakers and lace-trimmed socks. Not a boy after all. Gender done,” (Lorber). This child, me, never grew out of this style of clothing and always went for the comfortable lifestyle avoiding jeans and skirts for more “boyish” graphic tees. Society may look at me and think this person is not ready to be a woman or this thing is not fit to be a man. At the end of the day the only thing I want to be is myself. “Individuals are born sexed but not gendered, and they have to be taught to be masculine or feminine,” (Lorber). Without the ability to specifically identify who or what a person is, a plethora of people feel left in the dark, and aren’t sure what to do without their carefully constructed classification system. Do I even fit in with the social construct of gender? Or am I just this special child X that defies the stereotypes, growing up and leaving other members in the dark just by showing my true
Around the world gender is genuinely seen as strictly male or female. If you step out of this “social norm,” you could be considered an outcast. This disassociation includes, biological males/females, interssexed, and transgendered individuals. These people are severely suppressed by society because their gender identification, behaviors, and even their activities deviate from the norm. Most Americans are exceedingly devoted to the concept that there are only two sexes. Therefore, the constrictive American ideals of male and female gender identities inhibits growth and acceptance of gender expression.
One of the most obvious things that we are noticing in our everyday lives is that people are distinctly different. There are 7 billion people sharing the earth. But how many are considered “normal”? When are people considered abnormal? To be normal is to adhere to a standard or norm, but unfortunately, normality is an impossible and unlikely dream that we will continue to strive for all our lives. We strive for it because it gives us that sense of self that we need to reassure us that we fit in. While undefined, depending on your upbringing, generation and culture, what you consider normal may not be normal for someone else because other countries and cultures have different traditions and practices that they view to be routine; and what in the past has been viewed as normal has evolved throughout the course of time.
...viant, thus marginalized even demonized. While in recent times there has undeniably been a greater sense of acceptance toward homosexuals, there are definitely generalizations that tend to hinder the overall perspective on identity. The issue of sexual identity and gender has recently been brought to the forefront of social discourse due largely to the major activism of the LGBTQ community and countless progressive institutions. Through the recognition of the gender binary one can see that there are an array of preferences for being and behaving. Rather than having to follow traditional roles people should be able to be masculine, feminine, androgynous, aggressive, vulnerable, or indifferent. The issue is not necessarily diversity, but rather openness to gender possibilities and the freedom to experiment and shamelessly explore facets of one’s individual expression.