Sexism, Racism, Discrimination: A World of Deficiencies

It’s a Boy!!! Baby blue balloons floating on the lawn of the local flower shop catch my attention as I pass by. Why is the balloon “baby” blue for a boy? Why is it “pretty” pink for a girl? What is “baby” blue? Society constructs gender roles in every aspect possible from the day of conception to the day of death. Most often when someone asks, “Is it a boy? or Is it a girl?” they aren't really asking about details of the child’s genitalia, they are already placing the child in a particular status for life. The inquirer is often seeking a deeper truth: the reality that our bodies, including our sex, are an important, necessary part of our identities as whole entire human beings and that one's femininity or masculinity will be expressed in a multitude of ways. Gender is a social construct and a very important one in society. Gender plays such an immense role in society it would be impossible not to have an effect on race and class

Race cannot be classless or genderless without a purely equal society. Class is most often based on race and individual class is often based on gender within its own overall societal class. Race being genderless or classless would eliminate the functionalist’s view of society. A functionalist believes that society functions with many different classes and positions and everyone is needed in the form they are, whether it’s poor, uneducated, minority, woman or man. Race is not classless in almost every society in the world because race almost always assigns a class, it is an ascribed status.

Gender is enacted differently in every race, class, and culture throughout the world. Regarding gender and race, women are perceived differently in every race and almost always lower status than men. A w...

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...eople that have common motives and goals, accepted roles, established status relationships, accepted norms and values relevant to the group and development of accepted praise and punishment, with each other and create a social group.

Race class and gender all play a significant role in the daily functions of society, and are all ascribed statuses. Race and gender often reflect class, and class is often based upon race and gender. People function in society in groups, established from a common goal, and are divided by the best interest of its members and the common goal at hand. Race and class can never be genderless or classless and class can never be raceless or genderless, until society is equal. Observing “live” society solidifies the concept that race, class, and gender all combine to serve a purpose in an unequal society: discrimination and oppression.