Everyone has a sex and a gender: where sex is a biological term that is rooted in the anatomy of our bodies and determines whether a person is a girl or a boy (male or female) and gender is identified by whether a person is masculine or feminine and the idea of gender is imposed upon because it is a social construct. Gender, gender roles and gender representations are cemented implemented by the people that surround us, hence, Butler (2010:482) writes that, “one is not born, but rather becomes a woman”. Therefore gender- Masculinity and femininity is taught.
Heteronormativity is the normalization of behaviour tied to the presumption of heterosexuality, which adheres to a strict gender binary. Gender binary is an important part of heteronormativity
…show more content…
By implying that gender is an act, it means it is something that can be performed, therefore making it constructed and scripted. So it would be safe to assume that the way one acts, walks, talks, gestures and carries themselves defines their gender and constructs their gender identity, so without the ‘acts’ of gender, there wouldn’t be gender. Butler (2010:407) further more goes on to say that, “the act that one does, the act that one performs is, in a sense, an act that’s been going on before one arrived on the scene”, basically a fancy explanation for ‘scripted’. To put this statement in …show more content…
However, the historical concepts of what certain genders should be are already established; those who do not fit into their cultural signs of gender are punished for it because we live in a heteronormative society. So in a heteronormative society such as ours, a body that performs unexpectedly or a gender that does not perform according to its sex is a threat to society reifying the importance of gender performance, not just a performance but an appropriate gender
Gender is not solely taught. It is perceived labeled and in some cases adopted. Gender recognition is taught through contrast. Unconsciously as I walk the streets of New York City, I mentally label everyone who walks by me. Yet I pause and acknowledge those who are less instinctively male or female (masculine or feminine). A man with long fine hair comes off to me as more effeminate.
To start, Gender is constructed by society and therefore, it is constantly changing over time (Lorber, 2003). Gender is something that is acted out in each person’s everyday life or the routines of everyday activities. Gender is mostly carried out with simply thinking about the actions of specific genders. Gender roles are often expected soon after a child is born—a girl according to the gender roles, should wear pink and a baby boy should wear blue. Comments are often made before a child can even cognitively understand the idea of gender, such as, “he is going to be such a strong little boy,” or “she is going to be such a princess”. These ideas lead to socially-constructed gender and why men and women behave the way that they do.
Judith Butler’s concept of gender being performative focuses on how it creates a sequence of effect or impression. Human have a consistent way of talking about their gender as if it were something that is simply a fact. People go about their lives following patterns that are interconnected with their male or female appearance. They get very settled in the expected behaviors and common attributes of male or female, without recognizing that gender is a social construction. It is difficult to wrap your head around the idea that gender is always changing and being reproduced because it is conversation that often goes unnoticed. Butler realizes that it will be a struggle to get people to grasp the idea that nobody actually is their gender and that
Viewing gender as something one must always adhere to and play the role of creates a view of set sexualities for people. For example, men are expected and allowed to be sexually promiscuous while women are not and face slut shaming, harassment,
The concept that gender is limited strictly to two categories, male and female, has been around since the beginning of mankind. The notion, also known as gender binarism, states that “human beings are by nature either male or female” (Shalko). In past societies, people have followed this idea of only two genders; however, in more recent years, people have uncovered a whole new variety of gender identities. This concept is called gender fluidity; it is the idea that gender has no boundaries that prevent people from expressing who they really are. In today’s world, gender is a touchy subject to speak or write about. Many people are unaccepting of the idea that there are more than two genders. It goes against everything they have ever learned.
There are a variety of perspectives which are used in Gendered Worlds to examine gender. First, the androcentric perspective views male as being the moral norm. Creating this standard creates a society in which women are seen as deviant since in theory women do not fit the standard. Examples of this would be using words such as “mankind” or using “he” when talking about both females and males (Aulette, Wittner, p. 60). Another example would be using male-oriented words such as “guys” when referring to a classroom full of diverse students. Another perspective is gender polarization which refers to the way that diverse aspects of the human experience are linked to sex differences. Men are supposed to be withdrawn, unemotional, and dominating, while women are supposed to be emotionally submissive and irrational. Certain traits are imposed upon individuals because of their specific sex. If society had decided that pink was a color that was for males and blue for females then that would be the new social norm, and that would be the new characteristics of gender. An alternative viewpoint of gender would be essentialism which views gender as a fixed biological or psychological trait that does not vary among individuals over time. However, a female might start adopting behaviors that are considered masculine such as having short hair or walking with hands in the pockets to avoid the harassment she might encounter on the streets. This female would be doing gender according to
Gender differences are best understood as a process of socialization, to organize the roles each individual have to fulfil in society. From parents to teachers, religions, media, and peers; we observe and make sense of the behaviors exhibited by the people around us since young. We imitate and construct our own understanding of how to be of a particular gender, and of how to position ourselves. Parents socialize their children based on their biological sex, and this process starts as soon as the sex of the baby is known. Gender is hence socially constructed.
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).
Gender identity is defined as the outcome of the habitual performative acts that an individual partakes and which are controlled and given shape by the culturally and socially enforced gender norms. The outcome of gender identity there was the illusory effect that demonstrated that an individual’s gender was based on the roles that they were expected to carry out either feminine or masculine and which were viewed as natural because they are associated with the biological sex of the individual. This paper seek thereby to carry an evaluation of the theory of gender performativity developed by Butler and as it is presented in “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution.”
The the book introduces the topic by defining sex and gender. Sex refers to the biology of your body, there are two aspects within this concept: primary sex characteristics and secondary characteristics. Primary characteristic is the genitalia which you are born with. Secondary sex characteristics has to do with the hormones; distribution of male and female hormones. Gender on the other hand is a societal concept that comes along with gender roles; which is when society places roles on how each gender should act. This is where sexist stereotypes such as “girls like pink and boys like blue” come about. Gender roles become impacted by other factors such as: religion, class, race, culture to name only a few. Culture and other aspects alter what is perceived as the norm; some cultures recognize an androgynous gender, while the concept is still taboo in many cultures. This chapter, assesses how patriarchy prevails given the fact that gender roles create an environment meant to benefit males more than
In our present world, people understand and view gender in different perspectives, or “lenses.” The idea of gender that we see specifically in our present society today is very extensive compared to what it was years ago. We see a variety of different kinds of gender, whereas only years ago it was two: male and female. Personally, I have seen this in our society because I have met people that identify as many different genders that aren’t specifically just male or female. The word “gender” holds an important place in our language, specifically in today’s society, because it has determined who we are, how we identify ourselves, and ultimately our roles in society.
Therefore, gender brings is the action through which what it names is brought into being; masculinity or feminism. It is the language that constitutes and construct gender identities meaning gender comes after language. The extent to which a person performs the gender determine how much real a gender is. An outside gendered self or a self-preceding isn’t there; gender identity is not necessarily constructed by “I “or “we”. Social conventions enactments which is due to our retrospective reality results in subjectivity characterised by self-willingness and independence as contended by Butler. From this we learn the prerogative nature of gender identity, is determined by the situation in which one is in like society, contact etc. therefore certain social positions can potentially produce a privileged
One important thing to understand is that these acts of gender are not done in isolation or done on an individualistic level – this cannot be targeted merely by changing actions on that level. Acts are a shared experience and a collective action – and since gender is understood as an act, gender is never one’s alone. While every single individual acts out gender in their own one, but it is still done in reference to certain sanctions and prescriptions that it is never fully one’s own. Acts are in themselves public, as the choice to ‘perform’ such acts means to render implicit social conditions explicit. The “play” of gender requires both the ‘script’ of gender, and the personal interpretation of acting out such a
When we say that we “do gender”, we are referring to accepted role taken by both females and males in a society that comes to play in their everyday lives. West and Zimmerman stated that doing gender involves, “complex socially guided perceptual, interactional, and micro political activities that cast particular pursuits as expressions of masculine and feminine natures,” (West & Zimmerman, 2014, pg. 121). That had lead to individuals conforming to what society deemed as appropriate for their gender and the implications that follow. By characterizing sex, we are doing gender, which creates societal norms that influence both female and male behaviors. By classifying people as either male and female, we are solidifying the culturally agreed upon
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...