The PowerPoint presentation for Unit 3 discussed sex and gender, gender stereotypes and explored terms like transgender and transsexuals. Some generations ago, it was commonplace for men to be the head of the household and the sole breadwinners. Women were expected to cook, clean, look after the children and have a hot, homemade supper ready for their husbands when they came home from work. In today’s society, these standards are not so stringently adhered to. Women can be just as competitive as men in many facets of life and many men are content to be “Mr. Mom”. I also chose to discuss the article “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”. Peggy McIntosh, the author of the article states that white privilege is alive and well in today’s society despite the fact that people in the United States do not think they are racist because they were “taught to recognize racism only as an individual acts of meanness of members of my group, never in invisible systems conferring unsought racial dominance on my group from birth”. We …show more content…
I have a better understanding that gender is not determined by sex and I have more insight into some of the terms like transgender and binary sex. I particularly like the fact that we are free to challenge heteronormality and one example of that is the fact that there has been a steady increase in the amount of Canada’s female engineering students.
Overall we live in a nation that allows us to choose freely and live openly. People like Nellie McClung, who fought for social reform for women, was one of many individuals who helped bring us to where we are today. Conversely, I believe, however, that white privilege plays a role even in Canada as we have many more options available to us as compared to our First Nations peoples. Things like healthcare and living conditions are some prime
“These denials protect male privilege from being fully recognized, acknowledged, lessened, or ended (Shaw, Lee, 86).” It is hypocritical that men are getting the heat for not recognizing their over-privilege when white people cannot recognize their own. White female feminist who advocate equality, and seem to fail to realize they have more privileges than most other minorities. Peggy McIntosh tries to recognize her white privilege in her daily life, so she composed a list of fifty-four observations. From her observations McIntosh drew the conclusion that her morals have been affected, because she believed in equality for all, yet she did not realize she had a dominance which opened many doors for her. We see daily that the white race has more power over other races. In her essay she mentions: “At school, we were not taught about slavery in any depth; we were not taught to see slaveholders as damaged people. Slaves were seen as the only group at risk being dehumanized (Shaw, Lee, 87-88).” If students were taught to see slaveholders as damaged people, then it could impact white privilege which “needs” to remain
Gender Matters is a collection of various essays on feminist linguistic texts analysis, by Sara Mills. Mills develops methods of analyzing literary and non-literary texts, in addition to conversational analysis based on a feminist approach. The author draws on data from her collection of essays gathered over the last two decades on feminism during the 1990s. The essays focus on gender issues, the representation of gender in reading, writing, and in public speaking. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of feminists’ analysis of sexism in literature and the relation between gender and politeness. The article is informative for my research paper, as my topic is going to cover language analysis of the text and who women reading and writing differs according to the discourse analysis within linguistic, psychology, case studies audiences and surveys. The book would be helpful, particularly the last three essays that discusses gender, public speaking, the question of politeness and impoliteness in public speaking. Mills’ analysis is not complete without including the idea of global notions of both women and men, to see whether women and men write and read in the same way globally. Therefore, an update would enrich the book’s discussion section. Although, Mills addresses the class and race theme in language and public speaking, I will only look into the role of language that plays a part in doing or reducing gender in literary, non-literary texts and in conversation.
The film and literature presented in this unit was an eye opener to the modern western views regarding race and gender. In this western society we view a male as being strong, powerful, a provider for his family, the head of the household and many other characteristics that relates to what a man should be. When growing up as a child into adulthood we’re stimulated by the many books and movies of a woman being second to a man, a stay at home mom while the man is at home making ends meet just trying to provide for his family and we accept that role because in this western society that’s the ideal role as a woman where we look up to the man as a safety blanket and that’s all we’re brainwashed to know. We were never told about how powerful
One of the points that Peggy McIntosh makes that truly impacts me is when she states, “I think whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege, as males are taught not to recognize male privilege.” I must say that I agree with this point, but not in its entirety. In high school I was always taught that throughout history women were treated differently than men and that because of this, men have been able to attain a better position in society, mainly in the workforce, and in this way I was taught about male privilege. I believe that it depends on the type of education one receives that determines whether or not males are taught to recognize male privilege. I also believe that the way men view their male privilege is heavily influenced by race, culture, and one’s values, which McIntosh does not mention. For example: in my family we were taught not to treat the women in our family any different than the men and have always supported them in any care...
McIntosh, P. (1988). White Privilege and Male Privilege. Wellesley College Center for Research on Women: Working Paper No. 189, 1-20.
In her article, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” Peggy McIntosh writes about the privilege white individuals get without noticing it. McIntosh talks about how whites are taught to not recognize their privilege. McIntosh having a background in Women’s Studies, she also talks about how men have more privileges than women, yet they rarely recognize it. In the article McIntosh claims that “After I realized the extent to which men work from a base of unacknowledged privilege, I understood that much of their oppressiveness was unconscious.”
The premises that race and gender are social constructs mobilized anti-racism and feminist movements, including education and research, to counter the issues encompassed within these two forms of discrimination. However, while there are many arguments supporting the problems surrounding white supremacy as well as the sexual oppression of women, the combination of both race and gender lacks examination in comparison. Racialized women are commonly associated with being sexually available and exotic, despite feminist movements against the objectification of women. Because women are underrepresented in arguments against race, and issues of race are underrepresented in arguments against the sexualization of women, racialized women are marginalized and continue to face both racism and gender inequality.
Most of the current social work clients and workers are women. This gender is also over-represented among women, which implies that women continue to face considerable issues in the modern society despite the changes in the traditional role of men and women in the society. Social welfare policy are usually developed and implemented to confront various issues in the society including the plight of women. However, recent statistics demonstrate that social welfare policy does not always meet women’s needs effectively. This is regardless of the fact that sexism and heterosexism play a crucial role is shaping social welfare policy. Therefore, it is important to develop effective social welfare policy
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.
This essay will discuss the ways sexuality is gendered and their impacts towards both men and women by exploring the contemporary heterosexual scripts from a sociological perspective on three main aspects; i.e. sex drive, desire and power. It studies how men are deemed to have a higher sexual edge than women, who acts as the relationship gatekeepers. This essay analyses the theory that women predictably pursuits love and relationships while men are more sexually controlled by lusts and cravings. Sexual dominance and passiveness is another traditional script inspected in this essay, focusing on how men are always expected to be the prevailing initiator thus devouring more power in relationships while women stays being the weaker, submissive receivers.
It will be one of the luckiest things in the world if people could just do what they love in their careers, and pursue their dreams without any fears or worries about how society and others judge them. However, women in this society do not obtain the same rights that men own; many inequalities hinder women to live and work. From this class, I learned a lot about gender affects work, and women and men’ roles can be very different in the work. In many industries, even though women get same education and professional degrees as men do, they are hired at lower rates than men are. Many women meet glass ceilings and find it is hard to attain the highest status in the profession, and this causes the society locks women out of higher level
Gender identity is whether one feels as though they are a male or female. I never really thought about this much until I started taking classes that talked about gender identity. According to society, I am considered a female because my anatomical make up. However, I have never completely assumed the normal gender role or gender role stereotypes. As a child and teen, I loved to climb trees, lift weights, and play football. I did not enjoy playing with dolls, playing dress up or having tea parties, therefore, I did not do those things. I also was not sensitive like other females. As an adult, I do frequently adhere the gender role or stereotypes. Although, I still enjoy doing many male things like fishing, hiking, and camping but I also cook,
Gender And Sexuality: Productive and Non Productive Aspects Gender carries a more social tone. It refers to socially constructed differences between the sexes and to the social relationships between women and men. These differences between the sexes are shaped over the history of social relations and change over time and across cultures. Gender identity depends on the circumstances in which women and men live and includes economic, cultural, historical, ideological, and religious factors. Gender relations also vary according to the economic and social conditions of the society and differ between social and ethnic groups. The definition of sexuality can encompass many things. This can mean the feelings we have about ourselves as sexual beings, the ways in which we choose to express these feelings with ourselves and others, and the physical capability each of us has to give and experience sexual pleasure. Sex is the total sum of physical characteristics that distinguish males and females from each other. The most distinctive difference in characteristics is that man and women have different reproductive organs. This is pretty obvious and so are other traits like facial hair, deep voices, and muscular builds. Current Scenario: If you are questioning your sexual orientation or gender identity, you probably have already figured out that society is telling you what it wants you to be. Families, religions, and different cultural and ethnic institutions communicate expectations to us, both in direct and indirect ways, about how to be. Often as children queer people get a sense that they don't fit with society's codes. It may not be completely clear to some individuals at first in what way they don't fit; instead they feel a vague sense o...
The gender issues in today’s society are issues to discuss because they are tainting the lives of people from an early age. This is important because girls and boys are showing increasing levels of insecurities that are arising due to fundamental gender issues in society. The masculine stereotype is one the most prevailing causes of gender issues in society, especially the issue of sexism. Our society must address this issue because the cycle of sexism only feeds into peoples’ insecurities. Men should not feel obligated to objectify women to feel masculine and women should not feel like they must be sensual and beautiful to have value. The stereotypes that are being placed on men and young boys effect the attitudes of the women around them and creates a cycle of hypersexualization and sexism, leaving the relationships between genders tainted and women feeling less confident in themselves. By changing the way people think men and women are supposed to be, we can change the way our society values one another and in turn, become a more equal and respectful society.
Society has shaped the thoughts and minds of many individuals and because of this personal beliefs towards LGBT people came into play. Society was constantly telling people that there was something wrong with them if they were LGBT and that they would go to hell for it because God did not approve of it and it was a sin. I would like to say that because society was judging people and denying them, that they were committing a sin. It is not their place to decide the fate of certain people, the only person that can make those decisions is God. God is the one that decides whether we are deemed worthy to go to Heaven or not. With that being said, I grew up in a family that is very religious on one side and the other side had their person beliefs