“Beni, I have something to tell you,” my friend Marie said to me one year ago. “I am a lesbian.” At that moment all my views and beliefs about homosexual individuals were shattered. Marie has been in my life for about 13 years now, and is a very good friend of mine from the church. Growing up, she has been a tomboy that expressed herself in ways that deviated from the female gender norms, or ciswoman (Wood, 2013, p. 26). “Sex is a designation based on biology,” therefore, Marie’s sex is female (Wood, 2013, p. 19). Gender, on the other hand, is “socially constructed and expressed” (Wood, 2013, p. 19). Marie’s personal view of her own sex is female, also know as her gender identity, but the way she displays her gender through clothing and actions coincides with a masculine gender expression (Wood, 2013, p. 21). For example, while most of the girls and women at our church were dressed in nice skirts, dresses, and blouses with heels, jewelry, and makeup, Marie would be wearing baggy shorts or jeans, loose t-shirts, and sneakers. She never put on makeup and even chose to wear clothing from the men’s department in stores because that is how she felt comfortable.
Marie hasn’t always been this way, however. In her house, her mother has multiple baby photos of Marie dressed in floral, pastel colored dresses with bows in her hair. I have also seen some of her old toys that include several baby dolls, tea sets, and fashion games. These artifacts express female gendered nonverbal communication. “An artifact is a personal object that can both express identity and influence how we see ourselves, …[and] personal objects for children define them as feminine or masculine” (Wood, 2013, p. 126). Parents send artifactual messages to their childr...
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...ifferent ethnicities, abilities and disabilities, class appearances, sexual orientation, and gender identities” (Wood, 2013, p. 74). Specifically, my friend Marie is represented by the intersectionality characteristic of this third-wave. She is a Lebanese, Catholic, female, lesbian. Shouldn’t the harassment she receives for all these separate identities be taken into consideration? “Third wavers focus on the intersectionality of oppression, pointing out that race, class, sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity are intricately woven together and must be addressed holistically” (Wood, 2013, p. 75). By addressing these individual differences, third wavers are giving a voice and a feeling of belongingness to women like Marie.
Works Cited
Wood, J. T. (2013). Gendered lives: Communication, gender, & culture. (11th ed., pp. 19-130). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.
Rhode, D. (2000). Culture Establishes Gender Roles.Male/female roles: opposing viewpoints (pp. 22-24). San Diego, Calif.: Greenhaven Press
It is often found that the stereotypical “butch” and “femme” pairing are more visible than other lesbian relationships. However, this does not mean that they do not exist. The ever-growing popularity of the lesbian social sphere has symbolized both difficulties and effects of identifying with such a label. The label or identity itself, though distinctly separating lesbians from “normal” heterosexuals begins to exhibit pre-existing conflict experienced by gay males: “there’s always been something wrong (Aldrich, 38).” This quote implies the conditioned and ingrained belief that homosexuality’s “taboo” existence was more than just wrong, but distasteful and something that society should look down upon for being an “abnormality.” Sometimes, this social reality for lesbians made it hard for them to “come out the closet” and be visible. This experience is exemplified as “The repressed lesbian has a harder time of it, for she is less aware of her abnormality (Aldrich, 41).” Additionally, to be able to clearly and accurately identify “the lesbian is to meet the many women she is at close range; to see her against her various backgrounds, hear her sundry voices, and familiarize yourself with the diverse facades of her several lives (Aldrich, 42).” Here, the presence of the “double life” is demonstrated to further analyze the lack of privileges that the lesbian community had, including the social aspect of their
Wood, J. T. (2011). Gendered lives: Communication, gender, and culture. (9th ed ed., pp. 1-227). Boston,MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
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).
Is homosexuality considered a choice to have or not? Homosexuality is something someone is born with. Someone can not just choose whether they are straight, bisexual, pansexual, or homosexual. People sometimes want to be one, but they end up being the other, which is not their choice. People go through life thinking being a homosexual is considered a choice and for attention, but that isn’t at all what people do that for. In “Is Homosexuality a Choice?” the article states: “Supporting gay marriage becomes equivalent to supporting the construction of wheelchair ramps. The ‘gays can’t help being that way’ approach is reminiscent of the old view of homosexuality as a psychiatric illness” (Mallory, Marcia, Scientific American). This is saying
Gender differences are defined in Invitation to The Life Span as differences in the roles and behaviors that are prescribed by a culture for males and females. Examples given in our text is gender specific toys for girls, like Barbie and an appropriate gender specific toy for boys would be matchbox cars. We also learn that 4 year olds apply these differences to traditionally gender specific jobs (Berger, 2010). The examples in my life would be as a child I was often given dolls, stuff animals and tea sets, because all girls like tea time.
The acceptance of “abnormal” sexualities has been a prolonged, controversial battle. The segregation is excruciating and the prejudice remarks are so spiteful that some people never truly recover. Homosexuals have been left suffering for ages. Life, for most homosexuals during the first half of the twentieth century, was mostly one of hiding: having to constantly hide their true feelings and tastes. Instead of restaurants and movies, they had to sit quiet in the dark and meet each other in concealed places such as bars. Homosexuals were those with “mental and psychic abnormalities” and were the victim of medical prejudice, police harassment, and church condemnation (Jagose 24). The minuscule mention or assumption of one’s homosexuality could easily lead to the loss of family, livelihood, and sometimes even their lives. It was only after the Stonewall riots and the organization of gay/lesbian groups that times for homosexuals started to look brighter.
The concept of sexual orientation, which is a person’s romantic and emotional attraction to another person, is a modern sociological construct (Macionis, Jansson, Benoit, & Burkowicz, p. 190, 2016). The predominant classifications of this concept are heterosexuality, meaning the sexual attraction to someone of the opposite sex, and homosexuality, the sexual attraction to someone of the same sex (Macionis et. al., p. 190, 2016). With the large majority of society’s acknowledgment towards these two sexual identities, it leaves little to no room for those who find themselves in neither ends of these categories, to receive any sort of recognition. More specifically, the visibility for those who establish themselves as bisexual, defined as the sexual attraction to people of both genders, face misconceptions from a portion of society (Macionis et. al., p. 190, 2016). Whether it may be from heterosexuals or homosexuals, someone who falls in between the two identities seem to encounter greater difficulties in gaining social acceptance. Despite having its place in the term, LGBTQ, which is an abbreviation for the community of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and people of other sexual orientations and
Wood, J. T. (2013). Gendered lives: communication, gender & and culture (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Lorber grabs the attention of any reader by using some effective strategies and stating that discussing gender is considered equal to “fish talking about water”( Lorber 1). Therefore it meaning that a fish cannot think of living without water and similarly human beings cannot ponder the thought of living without gender. Judith Lorber has also compared the questioning the authenticity of gender to the rising of the sun. So, it is clearly understood that gender, though being practiced inevitably in our daily lives, many of us fail to accept that it is a way of organizing our lives and practicing gender is like practicing to organize our disorganized lives.
Throughout today’s society, almost every aspect of someone’s day is based whether or not he or she fits into the “norm” that has been created. Specifically, masculine and feminine norms have a great impact that force people to question “am I a true man or woman?” After doing substantial research on the basis of masculine or feminine norms, it is clear that society focuses on the males being the dominant figures. If males are not fulfilling the masculine role, and females aren’t playing their role, then their gender identity becomes foggy, according to their personal judgment, as well as society’s.
Kendal, Diana. "Sex and Gender." Sociology in Our Times 3.Ed. Joanna Cotton. Scarborough: Nelson Thomson, 2004. 339-367
Homosexuality in Today's Society. In today's society, there exists a mixture of issues which tend to raise arguments with people all over. There are a handful of topics that always seem to escalate these differences between people to the point where one who earnestly participates in discussion, debate and argument can direct their anger towards their feelings on the person themselves. Some examples of such delicate subjects are the death penalty, abortion, and euthanasia.
Kessler, Suzanne J, and McKenna. Gender: An Ethnomethodological Approach. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985.
Wood, J. T. (2011). Gendered Verbal Communication. Gendered Lives: Communication, Gender, and Culture (10th ed., pp. 118-137). Boston, MA: Cengage.