Richard Dawkins had a concept known as “meme”. Cultural meme was developed as a way of sensationalizing the fact that genes aren’t everything in the world of Darwinism. “A meme can be defined as unit of cultural inheritance which ties into the idea of the replicator the fundamental unit of Darwinism (Brockman, 1995, p. 80).” It can be a place to put fear for the unknown. Gender can be defined as expectations, relationships between, and behaviors fitting to women and men which steam from cultural shaped thoughts and behaviors. Gender is a way to organize the culture, it can be used to describe expected jobs, feelings, and behaviors based on the sex of the individual. In the readings about gender there were a lot of examples of memes. In the Introduction by Bem, she speaks about the history of the western culture and how there are three beliefs about women and men which have triumphed: that they have essentially different psychological and sexual nature, that men are inherently the dominant sex, and that both happen naturally. In regard to Bem’s Lenses of Gender there are two lenses which would fit into the idea of memes. These lenses are: Lens of Androcentrism or male-centeredness, this is when men are treated as human and women are viewed as “other” and the Lens of Gender Polarization during which the male-female difference is overlaid on so many aspects of a society that a cultural linking is created between sex and almost every part of life. Fine’s writing also
Gender can be defined as “sex roles” which are conditions that one considers to be for men or women. People tends to mistake it with sex or thinks that they are both the same. We discussed about the patterns of gender which how the authors of The Kaleidoscope of Gender describes it as “regularized, prepackaged ways of thinking, feeling, and acting” (Spade and Valentino,2017). It becomes an identity for us. We believe that there is and can only be two genders, being masculine for men and feminine for women. These roles has been forced onto us since birth: blue for boys, and pink for girls. You can see the roles being push onto a person throughout one’s life, but we don’t notice it since it’s “normal” to us.
Cultural beliefs about sex and gender determine how they are translated into patterns of behavior.
Gender is actually a set of rules, customs and traditions assigned to people of a particular sex. Gender is not biological but sex is. Rather, according to Lorber, it is influenced by our society and our culture. By proving this claim, Judith Lorber has put forth the example of the man and this example is efficient in distinguishing “gender” as a practice than as an innate attribute.
According to Lorber “believing is seeing” is the idea that people base their knowledge off the presumptions of gender. This reaffirms the categorization of identifying someone as male or female. Thus, physiological differences between men and women are transformed into similar appearing gendered bodies. They state “we see what we believe, whether it is that ‘females’ and ‘males’ are essentially different or that ‘women’ and ‘men’ are essentially the same”’(Lorber 578). Through the conventional categorization of gender, one will see what they believe. “Biology as ideology” according to Lorber means that society, political power, and culture all shape the way that we think. While the physiological makeup of bodies does differ, Lorber argued that
Gender “norms” do not exist because of biology, but because of society. (Cum.) Lorber indicates society is the cause of gender discrimination when she states, “Gendered people do not emerge from physiology or hormones but from the exigencies of the social order…” (Lorber 732). The social order separates “male” and “female”, and constricting them to each gender.
In her article “Sex Differences Are Not Hardwired,” Lesley Rogers claims that although genes do play a role when it comes to sex differences it is not the only factor that effects gender and it is impossible to not include interactive explanations when describing sex differences. The first topic is genetic determinist explanations for sex differences. In this section, Rogers discusses how popular media sources have now become involved in the conversation of genetic explanations for sex differences in behavior. The main message being spread throughout media is “genes cause behavior” and that it is “hardwired” in our brains at birth to be a certain way (28). Rogers emphasizes that this is not the case and that it’s more complexed, but this information
Societal gender binary requires individuals to identify by either masculine or feminine traits (Kachel, Steffens & Niedlich, 2016). Once gender socialisation has occurred, assumptions and stereotypes follow (Holmes, Hughes & Julian, 2012, p.109). If one refutes their gender norm, sexism and discrimination typically manifests. Similarly, stereotypes affect the way people treat others. Using stereotypes to define a person is prejudice and often leads to incorrect assumptions based on the way they act, look or conduct themselves in society. Social reproduction can impact one’s life experiences through limitation and inhabitation of involvement. Allowing for the transmission of inequity from one generation to the next, social reproduction restricts personal beliefs and
In my opinion, his entire career represents an opportunity missed. Richard Dawkins is perfect science communicator in an era when one is sorely needed. Biological evolution is one of the most misunderstood ideas in our world. I think that opponents fail to understand it, but even those who are glad to say they believe it still do not really understand aspects of how it works. Moreover, it is seen as flawed by people when the flaws they have pounced on are errors in their own brain and not in the science they're criticizing.
In chapter nine of The Real World, Ferris and Stein (2014) describe the construction of gender and sexuality in society. They start out by defining sex and gender are not interchangeable, but sex is biological and gender is defined by social or cultural aspects (Ferris & Stein, 2014, p. 243). Furthermore, gender inequality was introduced into the chapter by expressing that in the past, females had less power in society because of their biological differences from males (Ferris & Stein, 2014, p. 246). Although, biological differences are not the only reason why gender inequality exists in society today. For instance, from a functionalist perspective, certain characteristics make women and men better suited for certain jobs (Ferris & Stein, 2014,
The concept of gender has a strong social impact on me. When I was born, I was immediately assigned to a biological sex as a female with two X chromosomes. I was then socially classified as a girl in the society with feminine gender roles. Gender is defined as a social principle which attribute to the roles and expectations of males and females through the years of different societies (Phillips, 2005). Gender can be considered as behavioural, cultural and psychological traits
and its definition in society. They bring forth the idea that gender is a result of actions and
We are taught Gender by our family members from a very young age. For example, girls receive pink gifts and boys receive blue gifts. Shaw & Lee said, “Gender is embedded in culture and the various forms of knowledge associated with a given community.” (Shaw&Lee, p.116.) For example, in one community it might be acceptable for a girl to play football, and in another community the members believe, girl
Gender is used to refer to “the attitudes, feelings, and behaviors that a given culture associates with
Gender is a sociological factor which is a set of relationships, attributes, roles, beliefs and attitudes of human. On the other hand, sexuality can be referred into two traits. First is Biological; second is Physiological. Biological trait is about the difference of sex organs, the production of estrogen or testosterone. Physiological trait is about the difference of facial features, size of bones, shoulders, muscles, fatty issues. According to American Psychological Association, gender and sexuality impacts and is impacted by cultural, political, legal, and philosophical aspects of life. As popular culture is the culture of today, which is always based on universal activities, it is effortless to alter the mind of human so the concept of
In society, the biological difference between men and women is used as a justification for aligning them with different social roles which restrict and mold their attitudes and behavior. Merriam-Webster defines gender as the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex. Narrow minded society of today is not satisfied with the natural difference of sex, but each insist on adding a cultural difference of gender to it. The unsophisticated, ideal physical facts always become associated with the complex psychological qualities (Holter). It is not enough for a male to be a man; he must also be masculine. A woman, in addition to being a female, must be feminine (Magner). In a more evolved and accepting society,