Analysis Of What Makes A Woman By Elinor Burkett

Gail Collins, the first female editorial page editor of the New York Times, outlines the history of women in her book America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines. tells the narrative of women's history with minimal bias and with language that is accessible and in a familiar tone. On the other side of the spectrum lies Angela Y. Davis. Greatly involved with the civil rights movement, Davis was a Black Panther Party and well as the communist party. The active nature of Davis causes her writing to be extremely bias.

The reading in this assignment made me understand and appreciate the lives of others. Transgender are just like you and me. They have the same goals and inspirations. However, their hardships are more drastic then normal. I got the chance to be educated on trans 101 with this assignment. I have taken so much away from these readings. It has helped me be more understand of what transgender go through. Having the opportunity to have the two articles side by side to make my notes and analyzing. Finding the connections between the two and disconnect from society to transgender communities.

This article from “The Real Truth about the Female” by Barbara Ehrenreich targets many beliefs that women were underestimated. The main theory suggested in this document is that, women had to follow the traditional duties. Early theories are being questioned as a result to women proving many things over the years that were often overlooked. Ehrenreich states in his article, “it does strongly suggest that in the Stone Age family, Dad-the-hunter was not the only provider.” There is a great amount of evidence that suggest the theory that women worked as hard as men. Adrienne Zihlman and Nancy Tanner stated “among surviving “hunting” peoples, most of the community’s calories—up to 70%—come from plant food patiently gathered by women.” This fact

Janet Mock’s story was very interesting to me because it brought about a new approach to people discovering that a person is transgendered than I had seen. For example, in the film Three to Infinity: Beyond Two Genders, one of the individuals, Zander King, recalled how he had been harassed on the street for being transgendered. Nicole in Amy Ellis Nutt’s book also experienced some harassment while she was in the process of becoming a girl. I liked how Janet Mock’s story didn’t have those common examples of harassment. Even though she had to endure her father not always understanding why she wouldn’t “act like a

The article starts off defining the term transgender, and different circumstances where others attempted to ‘normalize’ the homosexual and transgender movements. The article states that transgender people “are deeply troubled individuals who need professional help, not societal approval or affirmation.” (Traditional Values Coalition 1). The article continues, showing instances where the transgender movement won “major political victor[ies]” (Traditional Values Coalition 2), such as California Student Safety and Violence Prevention Act of 2000 which protected transgender children at public schools. The coalition states that the media is helping the transgender movement by portraying transgender people as “misunderstood and persecuted” (Traditional

The book is titled: Pink Think Becoming A Woman in Many Uneasy Lessons, the author of the book is Lynn Peril. The first copyright of the book is in 2002 the type of book pink think it would be the author stating her ideals on what it is to be a woman. The subject matter is the ideal woman meaning what America sees as the ideal woman and the things they have done to create or influence women to go and become these ideal roles. The book shows various pictures depicting how women were looked at as well shows newspaper advertisements and pictures of the different roles of men and women in society. The pictures are there to show the ideology of the time of how people wanted women to basically worship the men and treat them with nothing but love and respect. Also included are quizzes from magazines that were created to test if you were feminine enough. These quizzes were good example of what people assumed the role of a women were. The price of the book varies from place to place and is sold between $10.00-$15.00 the isbn for the book is 978-0-393-32354-2.

In her book “Gender Outlaw: On Men, Woman, and the Rest of us,” Kate Bornstein goes over a lot of the major issues regarding gender awareness and identity politics. She talks about the ideas of labeling ones self, understanding gender differences, how people view laws, behaviors, and the medical and scientific privilege that make transitioning challenging for a lot of people. Bornstein touches on many of the issues today that affect trans people. She includes poetry, pictures, quotes, essays, and a play to raise questions and discuss the idea of gender. This is a great book to introduce and discuss the issues that affect the lives of trans people as they navigate and explore the lines that define gender.

Over the past few years, the issues faced by people who identify as transgender (gender dysphoric) have gained momentum in the media. From Caitlyn Jenner to which bathroom to use, transgender people have made a lot of progress in addressing

Political fear is an important concept which has repercussions throughout politics today. Much of this idea is established in Corey Robin’s work Fear: The History of a Political Idea. In this book he walks through the philosophical origins of the concept, discusses what it looks like at different moments in American history, and offers his own theory of the a form of political fear developed in the United States, which he calls “Fear, American Style.” Next, the dynamics that occurred during the McCarthy era United States are discusses and related back to this idea- that a uniquely American type of political fear is at work here, particularly in workplaces across the country. Finally, through the in class presentations on fear, the implications

There are several sources that tell a person how to be a man or woman. Science tells us by recognizing the X or Y chromosomes. The media shows us through the physically ideal celebrities that grace the covers of magazines and flaunt their bodies in commercials. Sports, wrestling, cars, and blue for the boys. Dresses, make-up, painted nails, and pink for the girls. All of these sources, as well as others, have evolved into an expectation that has become institutionalized within society. This expectation, is placement and belonging into the binary system of person: the man or the woman. In Anne Fausot-Sterling's acrticles “The Five Sexes” and the “The Five Sexes, Revisited”, the

Eavan Boland’s poem “It’s a Woman’s World” illuminates the fact that history has shaped an unfair role for women in today’s society. Boland criticizes the gender bias with regards to the limitations placed on women and their job choices despite their ability to be just as successful in the workplace as men. Regardless of the fact that the bias against women in the workplace is often overlooked, Boland aims to show the shared reaction of women to the gender bias prevalent in our society by using short sentence fragments, repetition, and a fire motif throughout the poem.

What does it mean to be a woman or man? Whether we a man or a woman, in today’s society it is not determined just by our sex organs. Our gender includes a complex mix of beliefs, behaviors, and characteristics. How do you act, talk, and behave like a woman or man? Are you feminine or masculine, both, or neither? These are questions that help us get to the core of our gender and gender identity. Gender identity is how we feel about and express our gender and gender roles: clothing, behavior, and personal appearance. It is a feeling that we have as early as age two or three. In the article, “Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meaning of Gender,” the author, Aaron Devor, is trying to persuade his readers that gender shapes how we behave because of the expectation from us and relate to one another. He does this by using an educational approach, describing gender stereotypes, and making cultural references. He gets readers to reflect on how “Children’s developing concepts of themselves as individuals are necessarily bound up …to understand the expectations of the society which they are a part of” (389). Growing up, from being a child to an adult is where most of us try to find ourselves. We tend to struggle during this transition period, people around us tell us what to be and not to be, Jamaica Kincaidt in her short story, “Girl” tells just that, the setting is presented as a set of life instructions to a girl by her mother to live properly. The mother soberly

The first article is “The Social Construction of Gender” by Judith Lorber. In this essay she states that sex and gender is constructed through the society in which we live and that, “Gender is so pervasive that in our society we assume it is bred into our genes” (Lorber, 64). Lorber’s article takes the standpoint that physical gender expression is such an important topic to individuals because when the conventions of gender are shifted, “we feel socially dislocated” (65). An example of this is when people who are not used to gender shifts encounter a “transvestite,” or in modern terms a transgender person, their perceptions are disrupted. If someone does not express physical gender “normally” with their bodies—i.e. a

West and Zimmerman claim that gender is not something we are but something we do.

The social issue that I chose which affects society today is transgender inequality. These issues are more recently gaining attention and becoming a prevalent topic of inequality within our country. A transgender person is someone whose gender identity, gender expression or behavior does not conform to that typically associated with the sex to which they were assigned at birth. As more and more transgender people share their stories in the media, the social problems that arise from these stories are discrimination within their everyday lives. They suffer from scrutiny and judgment from their peers, and thus many hide their gender identity from family and society. This social injustice can be as simple as a glance or staring, or offensive comments and questions to violent hate crimes. Transgender people are prone to violence and harassment, and often not feeling safe in any aspect of society. They are fired from jobs, denied medical insurance, and being murdered left and right solely for being transgender. “A staggering 41% of respondents reported attempting suicide compared to 1.6% of the general population, with rates rising for those who lost a job due to bias (55%), were harassed/bullied in school (51%), had low household income, or were the victim of physical assault (61%) or sexual assault (64%)” (National Center for Transgender Equality). The structure of this paper will consist of adding all the research that was gathered over the semester, news articles and peer