Introduction
Ariana Grande was interviewed over the summer after her break up with rapper, Big Sean. During the interview Grande talks about her past relationship with Big Sean and also talked about the double standard for women’s sexuality that is in place. She talked about the ideal double standard on how a man is glorified if he sleeps around and is encouraged to do so. However she found it frustrating that women who engage in sexual activity is seen as “loose” or even how women feel ashamed and/or embarrassed if and when they talk about sex. Her main argument in the interview was centered at that women should be able to make mindful choices when they decide to be intimate and sexual with their partner (Greer, 2015). Women should not focus
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12). What is ok for one to do is not acceptable for another to do although they are equal. This standard is upheld by media on almost every outlet. This can range from women showing off their sexuality to the men being praised for sleeping around or having lots of women around him in one setting. An outside source goes on to state “Under the rubric of the sexual double standard, highly sexually active men are praised or rewarded with high status, whereas highly sexually active women are derogated or suffer a damaged reputation” (Marks, 2008, Pg. 84). In the society we live in a man can have a many sexual partners as he pleases and studies actually show that men do report having more sexual partners than women (Chapter 12). Not only is it glorified and encouraged but there are some countries that practice polygyny which is when a man has more than one wife making it acceptable in various cultures. There are instances where a woman has multiple husbands as well and this is referred to polyandry. A woman’s sexuality is always glorified and placed on a peddle stool in some cases. Men love to admire the female body like to cat call when they see something they like. However, if and when a woman acts in the sexual manner that men glorify them to be in, then the woman is looked at …show more content…
Traditional gender roles are the behaviors and practices we adopt from learning and what has been passed on from past generations. We learn these from our fathers, mothers, grandparents, and peers. It’s a set of unwritten laws that each gender operates under. These roles have no exception. This soon becomes a problem in society because it creates sexism based off of traditional principles on what each gender should be doing or how they should be acting. Research suggest that “Sexism is defined as prejudice or discrimination toward people based on their gender” (Marks & Zaikman, 2014, Pg. 334). Sexism correlates with the double standard of women on the aspect of it being acceptable in society for men to promote sexual activity and women being bashed and looked down upon when they promote their sexuality. There has been more prevalent news of women taking the stand on their sexuality and bodies. The double standard that exist in America has more recently raised attentiveness in society with such campaigns as Free-the-Nip. The free the nip campaign is a fight for equal rights amongst women. The main ideology of the campaign is for women to have equal rights when it comes to being bare chested in public, the same rights that men have (Reporter, 2015). The double standard here is society saying that women should not be allowed to be bare chested taking
Sexism is very prevalent in society today. Women are often not seen as wives or girlfriends but more of as a personal maid or sex object to men attracted to her. Men value the looks of a female before anything else. If a woman is dressed more revealing than another there will be more men that get the idea that she’s not the person she actually is. This leads to more sexual harassment between men and women that is often to be thought of as the female 's fault. An example of this when women are cat called on the street and feel ashamed of their appearance but if it was a man in the situation it would be odd. The female is often made to think that she is the one who promoted these advances on herself as evidenced by Bonnie Tsui in “The Undress Code”. The female within the story believes that a sweater that had no sexual intention to it was perceived as the wrong way by a former co-worker which lead to the constant stalking of the female. She did nothing to promote these activities because she did not feel that way towards the man at
The values and rules of traditional community add great pressure on an individual 's shoulder while choosing their identity. While women 's have relatively more freedom then before but however values of traditional communities creates an invisible fence between their choices. It put the young women in a disconcerting situation about their sexual freedom. Bell demonstrates the how the contradiction messages are delivered to the young woman 's, she writes that “Their peers, television shows such as Sex and the City, and movies seem to encourage sexual experimentation... But at the same time, books, such as Unhooked and A Return to Modesty advise them to return to courtship practices from the early 1900s”(27).
Aaron Devor’s essay “Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meanings of Gender” describes how despite popular belief, gender and sex are not directly related and how social norms affect individual’s choice of gender. Devor‘s main argument is that gender is not determined by genitalia, but instead by the individual's own choices. Michael Kimmel’s essay “Masculinity as Homophobia” claims that gender equality is a positive thing for males and that social norms force men to act a certain way. Kimmel’s main argument is that men are always having to protect their masculinity in order to prevent themselves from appearing weak. Both authors present compelling arguments for both gender equality and for how social norms influence individuals’ gender choice. However, the two authors approach the same topic in different ways. Kimmel takes a more laid-back approach to the topic by using simple words and a conversational tone that relates to the casual gender sociologist. Devor writes a more sophisticated essay using complex terms and a more formal tone that relates to the serious sociologist that research gender studies.
According to Human Sexuality in a World of Diversity 's gender role is a “learned role by observing behaviors of their parents, peers and media” (Rathus, Nevid, & Fichner-Rathus, 2014, p. 25). Research shows how gender roles in America have evolved and have changed over the last centuries, although there could be many reasons for this change I will examine some causes for the change in gender stereotypes. The following topics were studied during my research: Increased technology and access to internet, violence and explicit content in video games, movies and television shows resulting in gender stereotypes. In addition, the media can have a large influence on societies perception on how women and men are should look like which are sometimes
Well what is gender and what do we mean by gender roles? “Gender describes the socially-constructed roles and responsibilities that societies consider appropriate for men and women” (World Health Organization). All people on earth are affected by gender and the stereotypes that surround it. A person should be able to choose who they want to be and not be scared. Things are changing. According to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, “same-sex sexual harassment extends to where the victim is singled out due to failure to conform to accepted gender stereotypes” (Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP). This is very important for everyone to know and understand. It allows people the ability to express themselves in any way they choose, without the anxiety or fear of being harassed for their decisions because they are a certain gender. This has only o...
Since the dawn of man, sex has played a crucial role in society. Before they learned to read or write humans were engaging in sex and without it none of us would be here. In today’s society, sex has grown to become much more complicated. If I were to ask a group of people on the street what they believed sex was? I bet they would have a hard time answering. The question puzzling society today is how do we define sex? Can we define sex? These are questions raised in Tracy Steele’s article “Doing it: The Social Construction of S-E-X”. This article is about the current questions and issues that have been raised about sex within today’s society. In this paper I will summarize the key points of the article, while sharing my own thoughts and opinions of Steele’s findings.
The way individuals discipline their body is analogous to how they act towards the idea of power and status. How bodies are trained to emit gender distinctions is similar to how people tend to clothe their bodies. The way people tend to “sit, stand, gesture, walk, and throw” are different depending on their performance of masculinity or femininity (Martin 297). Women’s bodies tend to be more “confined, their movements restricted (Martin 297).” The term “femininity” defines the idea that the female sex is perceived with specific traits and characteristics. Crossing their legs, sitting up straight, having a softer voice and light footsteps are all ways in which women become naturally embedded to the gender norms. She is ascribed to be more gentle, nurturing, and emotional, and weak. These traits she attains are given by society the moment she is born, creating an idealized sexually more inferior identity than that of a male. By analyzing the socially constructed gender profile of men, it is easy to see how society creates a more dominant and powerful facade. They are stereotyped to being more aggressive, highly sexual, strong, competitive, emotionless, and in control. These socially constructed differences confines males and females to particular character profiles that limit their equality as a whole. The bodies are gendered “as a product of social doing; constituted through interaction (West and Zimmerman 175).” The way male and female establish their gender order in society correlates to their mentality as a whole. Overall masculinity is more valued than femininity in society. Masculinity correlates to gender privilege. An inequality that gives males the access to more power, resources and positions due to the traditional notions of gender roles. Men are given a greater advantage because he is deemed more capable to fend for himself. He is given greater power in the working field and
Nudity: a controversial topic from the beginning of time. It has raised questions such as: Should girls have to cover their shoulders when in the classroom? What is the appropriate length for a pair of shorts? And one of the more famous campaigns should women be allowed to “free the nipple.” Recently nudity has been used by celebrities to show support for presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. This is a controversy because some people believe that a woman using her body as a sexual image promotes the idea that others also have the right to view and support the idea that women are sexualized objects. In this article “Katy Perry’s naked vote reveals more than she wanted” written by Barbra Ellen explores this controversial topic by using many rhetorical devices.
A man does not have to fear not being attractive, a “good guy,” or an “asshole,” and women do not have to be viewed as “whores”or “virgins” and seen as prey. Serano argues for a world that “women are allowed and encouraged to be sexual without having to be nonconsensually sexualized...and men can be respectful of women without be desexualized”(421). Most adults are using their smart devices on an everyday basis, and social media has proven itself to be a key player in the spread of information. With the advent of social media, adults can raise awareness for and promote equal roles in society for men and women through popular pages like those of celebrities. The local and national government can also promote such a lifestyle. Conventions and seminars are often used to raise awareness for a certain cause. Such events can be sponsored by the state to help adults change their perspective, leading to a change in mindset. As long
...is morally degrading and perpetuates the idea that women are mere sexual objects,” (BBC News.) This shows the awful things they go through in order to get what they truly
In this article, Shaw and Lee describe how the action of labels on being “feminine” or “masculine” affect society. Shaw and Lee describe how gender is, “the social organization of sexual difference” (124). In biology gender is what sex a person is and in culture gender is how a person should act and portray themselves. They mention how gender is what we were taught to do in our daily lives from a young age so that it can become natural(Shaw, Lee 126). They speak on the process of gender socialization that teaches us how to act and think in accordance to what sex a person is. Shaw and Lee state that many people identify themselves as being transgendered, which involves a person, “resisting the social construction of gender into two distinct, categories, masculinity and femininity and working to break down these constraining and polarized categories” ( 129). They write about how in mainstream America masculinity and femininity are described with the masculine trait being the more dominant of the two. They define how this contributes to putting a higher value of one gender over the other gender called gender ranking (Shaw, Lee 137). They also speak about how in order for femininity to be viewed that other systems of inequality also need to be looked at first(Shaw,Lee 139).
It’s socially acceptable in Brave New World society to have multiple sexual relationships with different people. Everyone is aware of who’s with who, and often people will switch partners with others with no form of jealously present. However, in world culture, it’s the opposite. More often
It has been said that “Society has always defined for us what it means to be a man and what it means to be a woman, what a man should be like and what a woman should be like, and these traditional definitions of gender roles have limited and even harmed individuals”. The theme of sexual politics comes to mind for this quote. One can define sexual politics as the relationship of the sexes, male and female regarding power. Society’s definition of this can limit an individual in their gender role and restrain a person to not be themselves.
From a young age , many individuals worldwide are socialized according to their gender and what is appropriate for males and females. Socializing according to ones gender starts from the moment you are born when the nurses give you either a blue or pink blanket to wrap the child in. This allows society to known whether the child is a male or female. The double standard for gender occurs within many areas of development for instance the clothes one wears, the toys that are placed with, the jobs and careers one chooses in their later life. Attachment given by a child's parent reinforces an individual to be socialized and children can also contribute how their parents treat and see them , these are social constructs within parenting (Ambert,2012). All of these things can be gender separated and still are in today's society. Another area where males and females are socialized differently is in the area of sexuality and what is acceptable for males is not always for the female gender. Gender specific norms govern the appropriate amount of partners , when it is acceptable to engage in sexual activity and what motivates ones behavior (Kreager &Staff, 2009). This shows society individuals are socialized according to their gender because males are socialized into behaving a different way than girls but it still be accepted as a norm. Women are taught that it is okay to have sexual relationships but they need a reason, example being in a committed relationship, where as men just need a place. This is a common perception based on ones gender , formed from a western conservative view point ( Fugere et.al, 2008). Gender socialization is a process where boys are seen to be given wings and girls are to be given roots (Myers, Spencer, Jordan...
Gender and sexuality can be comprehended through social science. Social science is “the study of human society and of individual relationships in and to society” (free dictionary, 2009). The study of social science deals with different aspects of society such as politics, economics, and the social aspects of society. Gender identity is closely interlinked with social science as it is based on an identity of an individual in the society. Sexuality is “the condition of being characterized and distinguished by sex” (free dictionary, 2009). There are different gender identities such as male, female, gay, lesbian, transgender, and bisexual that exists all around the world. There is inequality in gender identities and dominance of a male regardless of which sexuality they fall under. The males are superior over the females and gays superior over the lesbians, however it different depending on the place and circumstances. This paper will look at the gender roles and stereotypes, social policy, and homosexuality from a modern and a traditional society perspective. The three different areas will be compared by the two different societies to understand how much changes has occurred and whether or not anything has really changed. In general a traditional society is more conservative where as a modern society is fundamentally liberal. This is to say that a traditional society lists certain roles depending on the gender and there are stereotypes that are connected with the genders. One must obey the one that is dominant and make decisions. On the other hand, a modern society is lenient, It accepts the individual’s identity and sexuality. There is no inequality and everyone in the society is to be seen as individuals not a part of a family unit...