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Masculinity a socially constructed concept
Masculinity a socially constructed concept
Changing roles for men and women
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In Sally Sheldon’s work ‘ReConcieving Masculinity: Imagining Men’s Reproductive Bodies in Law’, she argues that, traditionally, the bodies of women are presented as for a reproductive purpose whereas men are viewed as separate from the fetus until it is born. Despite this, she also poses the argument that the male body is being seen as increasingly more involved with the reproductive process.
The main purpose of the article is to point out the differences in the perceptions of the male and female bodies in terms of reproduction. She argues that these perceptions are set up by the conceptions in society about the fragility of the female body in opposition to the male – with the female body described as “weak, penetrable and volatile” and the male as “strong, stable and impermeable”. This translates directly to the ideas Sheldon formulates about the historical difference between the ideas
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She presents her points in a coherent order, moving from explaining the ways bodies are controlled when they become of fertile age to why there are differences between the treatment of female and male bodies during this period. At the end of the paper she summarises her argument and suggests there may be a change occurring. When discussing the relationships between law, feta health and the parents, she provides specific examples of laws that support her stance that the legal system favours women as reproductive bodies (such as the Control of Lead at Work Regulation which acts against all women of reproductive age). The evidence chosen is well chosen as it relates directly to the points Sheldon is making, and includes the opinions of other scholars as well as her own thoughts on each example she presents. Sheldon cites her sources very thoroughly, which leads me to believe that her evidence is pertained from legitimate sources and convinces me even more that her argument is based on
While Darwin left the qualities associated with maternity as a given, Gamble describes the results of natural selection in detail. By juxtaposing the “extreme egoism” (86) of males and the “altruism” (86) of females with “the unequal struggle for liberty and justice” (87), Gamble alters the connotations of the qualities of each sex. No longer are men envisioned as physically and mentally superior hunters that provided for families, but instead as tyrannical oppressors in the classic struggle for liberty. Gamble furthers her explanation of male oppression through sexual selection. With this, Gamble turns the connotation of male superiority on its head, suggesting that this supremacy is in fact a societal artifact, not a biological
In Making Sex by Thomas Laqueur, the author analysis sexual differences throughout the 18th century reviewing physicians, scientist, biologist and how society understood the anatomy and physiology of the human body. Laqueur brig us two sex models; the one-sex model and the two-sex model. He explains who we transition from the one-sex model to the two-sex model. How this two models had impacted our society and created an impact in history had it to do with the fact that a lot of evidence was drawn from science. Laqueur also explains how society constructed sex. He takes this investigation in very detail as he explains and investigates sexual differences.
With the shift from industrial to postindustrial capitalism, our culture has become increasingly concerned with the problem of how to represent subjects in a technologized world. Traditionally, dominant conceptions of the subject have relied on Western metaphysics; naturalized monolithic categories arranged in hierarchic binary oppositions: male/female, human/machine, subject/object, etc. In this system, the discourse of science maintains an isomorphic and mutually reinforcing relationship with the discourse of heterosexuality, since each posits an active, masculine subject and a passive, feminine object. However, the sciences of contemporary capitalism are marked by technologies of reproduction and simulation which transform the world into a web of interconnected, overlapping information codes, asking us to reconsider our “natural” binary distinctions. While these questions have sparked a lively debate concerning technology and the representation of “naturally” gendered bodies, there has been less discussion about the specific ways in which the term “reproduction” links the discourses of science and gender. Reproductive technologies like in vitro fertilization, test tube conception, and genetic manipulation challenge our concepts of human reproduction, transforming bodies from unified organic units to strategic and manipulable systems. Furthermore, these new ways of thinking about human bodies undermine the biological justification for traditional heterosexual gender identities: if all reproduction is redefined as technological, then normative or “natural” gender roles must be reconsidered as well.
Butler, Judith. Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of “Sex.” New York: Routledge, 1993.
The article The Egg and the Sperm: How Science has constructed a Romance Based on Stereotypical Male-Female Roles by Emily Martin explains the social constructs of stereotypes and how they are central to our perception of the world around us. Culture is something that shapes how even biological scientists describe what they discover about the natural world. Furthermore, Martin takes a deeper look into the scientific accounts of reproductive technology.
Gender is such a controversial subject. There are some people who see it as what you are born as whereas other people see it as a choice to be whatever you want. There are people who judge whatever gender you are, no matter the choices you make. Paul Theroux wrote about how restrictive masculinity is in his article “Being a Man.” There are so many more restrictions on being feminine. Theroux’s idea of masculinity being restrictive is being challenged on the account that being feminine is seen as bad, and weak.
Martin (1991) stresses throughout her article that the imagery associated with the female organs is “less worthy than their male counterparts” (p. 486). She also strongly suggests that, according to her feminist perspective, “to avoid the negative connotations that some people associate with the female reproductive system, scientists could begin to describe male and female processes as homologous” (p. 487). Here, she is emphasising on equality. However, later in the text she compares ‘A Portrait of the sperm,’ a micrograph of the egg and sperm to a photo of a dog and fleas, associating the imagery of the fleas with the sperm. This does not only imply negative connotations with the male organ, but Martin (1991) also contradicts herself by submerging in a bias she is already arguing about. She points out a flaw against the egg being portrayed as too feminine, but does not consider the repercussion of the sperm being portrayed too masculine. Moreover, she continues to do this by deliberately and repeatedly mentioning the “small size” (p. 491) of the sperm and calling it “extremely weak” (p. 492). She suggests, “why not focus . . .on the stickiness of the egg, rather than the stickiness of the sperm?” (p. 494), once again, completely dismissing the role of the sperm in fertilization. However, this can also be viewed in positive light as situational irony where the author is seen giving a sense of superiority to the egg which has been, in most cases, absent in scientific literature. This technique therefore increases the effectiveness of her
According to Kimmel, the earliest embodiments of American manhood were landowners, independent artisans, shopkeepers, and farmers. During the first decade of the nineteenth century, the industrial revolution started to influence the way, American men thought of themselves. Manhood was now defined as through the man’s economic success. This was the origin of the “Self-Made Man” ideology and the new concept of manhood that was more exciting, and potentially more rewarding for men themselves. The image of the Self-Made Man has far reaching effects on the notion of masculinity in America. Thus, the emergence of the Self-Made Man put men under pressure. As Kimmel states,
Carol Ann Duffy is one of the freshest and bravest talents to emerge in British poetry —any poetry — for years', writes Eavan Boland (Duffy, 1994, cover). This courage is manifest in Duffy’s ability and desire to revise masculinist representations of female identity and her engagement with feminine discourse, a concept which, as Sara Mills points out: has moved away from viewing women as simply an oppressed group, as victims of male domination, and has tried to formulate ways of analysing power as it manifests itself and as it is resisted in the relations of everyday life. (p.78)
Throughout history, time has created and shaped the ideal type of men, while society chooses what it means to be a real man..The ideal real men needed to be strong, provider of his family, decision maker, economically, educationally, physically, and politically dominant (Myers). The difference between the masculinity of the 20th century and the 21st has changed significantly. The ideal men status in 1900’s was rich, educated, powerful, and successful. In today’s perspectives, men needs to be strong, tall, handsome, capable, and unemotional. The contrast of these two centuries are mostly about men’s social status and appearances. Before, it was all about what a man is capable of doing and how powerful he could be compared to today’s ideal,
Although the argument presented was controversial, it nevertheless constructed many sociological concepts for my understanding of their defense of a patriarchal regime in society. It is useful to learn that our realities and those of the past are constructed by individuals who are extremely subjective and bias. This allows me to be more critical of sociological claims and arguments instead of taking it at face value. Despite its negative implications reflected upon women, the argument was still able to give us a comprehensive reasoning as to what male scholars believed during the nineteenth century, why they believed in what they believed in and gave a detailed plan as to how society should be constructed in order to maintain in what they claim as the “ideal society.” The author’s presentation of this quote in the article broaden my understanding of women’s subordination as a mean to not only upkeep the male’s position in the community but it’s essentiality to the maintenance of the society as a
Martin, Emily. "The Egg and the Sperm: How Science Has Constructed a Romance Based on Stereotypical Male-Female Roles." Gender, Sex, and Sexuality. New York: Oxford University, 2009. 248-53. Print.
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.
Woman, made to ripen a child within her body for three-quarters of the year, made to nourish this child, with a secretion of her organism, for longer than a year, endowed with qualities that make her able to raise and educate the child at least through adolescence, nevertheless receives, in our civilization, the same education as if her functions were equal to man’s (Ferdinando Loffredo, Pickering-Iazzi, 30).
Maxine Sheets-Johnstone argues that the female body as being powerless because of social and political because of traditional Western Civilization’s irreconcilable differences between male dominance and female passivity. Sheets-Johnstone uses example of women being represented as holes especially when it comes to the genitalia also religion showing women to be second class citizens lacking something males have.