In “Gender and Social Construction: Who? What? When? Where? How?” Sally Haslanger says that gender is socially constructed. This means that gender does not biologically exist. When we are born, we are either a male or female. You either have boy parts or girl parts - biologically speaking. In some special cases, people are intersex - meaning their sex is ambiguous or they have both parts. When referring to gender, we are speaking in terms of femininity and masculinity - the way a person “acts.” This means that you can biologically be a male who acts masculine or biologically be a male and act feminine (vice versa for the biological females). I think that Haslanger is right to say that gender arises out of social practices and is not a biological …show more content…
When looking at their role in a family, they should meet the family’s economic needs, make the important decisions, and provide leadership. In contrast, women are made out to be creatures who are weak, dependent, and powerless. They need a man to take care of them because they cannot do it for themselves. When looking at their role in a family, they should run the household by caring for the children and meeting the emotional needs of family members. In most cases of the modern world, it is okay for women to become strong and independent by deviating from this social construction. However, God forbid a man shed a tear or do anything that is considered feminine. While people are becoming more accepting of this deviance, it is still not widely accepted by …show more content…
I have long hair, I wear makeup, I wear bras and dresses, and I look like your typical female. However, I tend to just do whatever I feel like doing. This means that while I look like a female, I certainly do not have all of the typical mannerisms of one. If I were trying to appease society, I would be mostly quiet, I would do what I was told, and I certainly not argue against it. These are three tasks that are pretty impossible for me as I cannot sit there and let someone else control me. I think that in my own case, it is a good thing that I am this way. The reason that I look like a female and dress like a female has nothing to do with the fact that I felt forced or obligated to do so. It is simply because I like to do so. Perhaps I was never given a choice at a young age, but I think that even if I was, I still would have chosen to look the way that I do. Also, it is a good thing that I do not act like what society expects women to look like. I like being independent and I refuse to be “owned” by anybody. I am an individual and not someone’s possession and I never will
Throughout the early history of our nation, it was apparent that females were expected to abide by certain cultural and societal norms. Females were often tied to a male member, whether it was their father, husband, or male relative, the mere identity of a female has always been attached to a male figure (Connell, 2003). Due to these gender roles, women have consistently battled with gender inequality. Often times, women were subjected to stay at home, bear children, raise them, and take care of their husband. Assumed gender roles have led society to assume and expect that women were not allowed to do the same things as men. These patriarchal ideas have constrained and restricted women heavily in society (Glick, 2001). Mass media, television, and many other aspects of society have consistently reinforced patriarchal notions and the idea of different roles for men and women (McCarthy,
Let’s travel back in time to about the 1700s and the 1800s, back when women had absolutely no rights as an individual and men were considered superior to women. A time where women couldn’t be anything but a housewife and do anything beside house chores, reproduce, and take care of the kids. Meanwhile, men would go out to the world and work. However, throughout the centuries, women fought for their equal rights until they finally succeeded. Back to the present day, women today outnumber men in graduating college, and in professional programs. Gender roles today took a complete twist compared to how it was back then.
Gender roles between men and women remains somewhat the same and never changing to the flow of the society. Women remains tvhe homemaker of the household while men continue to be the breadwinner of the family. With the continuation of stereotyping gender roles, women continues to lose grounds against men in this society. Even though women has secured a place within the society, they still remain responsible for their duties as daughters, wives, and mothers. The role of women and men remain constrain to the scope of the traditional gender roles and continues to be practice by families who continues to value traditional roles. However, the practice of traditional roles are old-fashioned and unfair to women’s individuality and should evolved into
The relationship between sex and gender can be argued in many different lights. All of which complicated lights. Each individual beholds a sexual identity and a gender identity, with the argument of perceiving these identities however way they wish to perceive them. However, the impact of gender on our identities and on our bodies and how they play out is often taken for granted in various ways. Gender issues continue to be a hugely important topic within contemporary modern society. I intend to help the reader understand that femininities and masculinities is a social constructed concept and whether the binary categories of “male” and “female” are adequate concepts for understanding and organising contemporary social life with discussing the experiences of individuals and groups who have resisted these labels and forged new identities.
Gender is not about the biological differences between men and women but rather the behavioral, cultural and psychological traits typically associated with one sex. Gender is socially constructed meaning it 's culturally specific, it 's learned and shared through gender socialization. What it means to be a woman or man is going to differ based on the culture, geographical location, and time. What it meant to be a woman in the US in the 19th century is different than what it means to be a woman in the 21st century. As cultures evolve over time so are the ideals of what it means to be man or woman.
While sex refers the biological characteristics that make up a person, their gender is determined by the behaviors and attitudes considered “proper” by society according to their sex.
In reality, gender is not based on one’s genetic make-up or their reproductive organs. Expanding on this, an individual does not have any control over their assigned gender, but everyone has a gender identity, which is one’s internal sense of being male or female. From a sociocultural perspective, gender roles have the greatest influence on gender as a social construction. Gender roles are the attitudes, behaviors, rights, and responsibilities that particular cultural groups associate with each sex. In regards to gender, the social construction theory acknowledges the connection the topic has with power and meaning, and states that social interaction, or “language” controls how these things are portrayed to individuals. Similarly, sexuality is socially constructed in a sense that, one’s sexual orientation depends on what they are taught to be “socially acceptable”. For example, a person who is raised by homophobic parents would most likely be taught that every aspect of homosexuality is wrong, and therefore they would be influenced to be heterosexual. While many would like to believe that people are born with their sexual orientation, that is far from the truth. All in all, when looking at the big picture, it is clear that race, gender,
When you mention gender roles in society the first thing that comes to mind usually are stereotypes, or the set labels that society has established on how everyone acts based on the different biological, social, and cultural categories they fit into. Throughout history these stereotypes that pertain to genders roles in society have been proven true. Gender roles refer to a behavioral and social norms that are widely accepted for people of a certain sex. In this report I will discussing the gender roles of the two most recognized types of gender, man and woman, from the perspective of a man and a woman who have lived 65+ years. I will also discuss how those roles have influenced society and how they have changed gradually over the years.
In this article, gender is identified as a social identity that is constructed and reformed throughout life in order to achieve a true sense of identity. It is not a term or label given from biological sex such as male or female that defines ones’ gender role. The writer claims gender is more than a social settlement, that it is not a binary construction of male or female and involves a matrix of genes, hormones, and social influence.
The terms sex, gender and sexuality relate with one another, however, sociologists had to distinguish these terms because it has it’s own individual meaning. Sex is the biological identity of a person when they are first born, like being a male or female. Gender is the socially learned behaviors and expectations associated with men and women like being masculine or feminine. Gender can differentiate like being a man, woman, transgender, intersex, etcetera. Sexuality refers to desire, sexual preference, and sexual identity and behavior (1). Sexuality can differentiate as well like being homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual, etcetera. Like all social identities, gender is socially constructed. In the Social Construction of Gender, this theory shows
Society has planted a representation into people’s minds on how each gender is supposed to be constructed. When one thinks of the word gender, the initial responses are male and female but gender may be represented in many additional terms. As defined, “Gender refers to the social expectations that surround these biological categories.” (Steckley, 2017, pg.256) Gender is something that is ascribed,
While the terms “gender” and “sex” are often used interchangeably, the two words have significantly different definitions. One could argue that sex refers to biological essentialism and the idea that we are who we are because of our genetic material. On the other hand, gender is associated with the social constructionist theory, which argues that the way we are is dependent on our race, class, and sexuality. Because each person is different in their race, class, and sexuality, their gender becomes socially constructed. To argue that gender is not socially constructed would be to say that all people, for example, that are biologically female have the same goals. However, this cannot be true because within the sphere of being female, that individual person varies from the next in their race, class, and/or sexuality, each of which affect their goals and perspectives differently from their sister, friend, and neighbor. One’s gender identity refers to his or her perception of self as a male or female, as well as being masculine or feminine. Because masculinity and femininity are fluid, rather than static, they are dependent on the perspective of the beholder. A person’s perspective is often influenced by their surroundings as well as values with which they were raised, both of which are never identical between two people. Race, class, and sexuality are the underlying factors that influence perspectives and values, thus differentiating the understanding and portrayal of gender identity from one person to another.
In order to grasp the concept of social construction of gender, it is essential to understand the difference between sex and gender. Biologically, there are only two reproductive genital organs that are determinants of sex: the vagina and the penis. Sex is established solely through biological structures; in other words, genitalia are the basis of sex. Once a sex category is determined, gender, a human categorization socially attached to sex, is assigned based on anatomy. Gender typically references social or cultural differen...
Social Construction of Gender is a process, stratification system and structure. The day to day interactions emphasize gender as opposites. Take for instance, conversations, formalities of daily life, sayings, and so on. The social construction of gender is created through social interaction – through the things we do and say with other people. This means that gender it is not a fixed or inherent fact, but instead it varies across time and place.
Different sociologists have given different definitions for gender. However, in its simplest term, gender refers to the socially expected roles and relation between men and women. For example, boys are expected to be the strong ones, aggressive and competitive and girls are to be sweet, caring, and gentle and handled with care. These characteristics, amongst others, are what the society actually expects from individuals based on their sex, but it does not mean that it is imperative for a girl to be feminine or a boy to be masculine which implies that gender is independent of sex. Robert Stoller, an American psychoanalyst, is the first person to have made this observation. While gender is closely linked to sex, they do not have the same meaning. Stoller differentiated between sex and gender by stating that the physical characteristics of a being makes him either a male or a female contrary to gender which makes an individual either masculine or feminine. In other words, it means that sex is what we are born with; either a male or a female and is difficult to change, whereas gender is the character given to us by the society.