The social constructionist viewpoint on gender and sexuality seems to be the one of the most plausible ways to study and examine the topics. Although biology no doubt has an impact on attraction, and quite possibly gender, society influences the choices of everyone, and whether a person realizes it or not, society shapes their identity. The structure of society and its norms influence everything a person does, including their gender and sexuality. Gender is already considered to be a social construct, and sexuality is well on its way to be considered such as well. People regularly embody something that fits a certain gender categorization in society, usually something within the binary, and then identify with that gender. But, looking …show more content…
Biology and genes would likely only cause a person to have a predisposition to like certain traits of a person, and not necessarily the gender and sex of someone. For example, a male can proclaim to only love women, and happens to fall in love with one, but she turns out to be a trans-woman that never had bottom surgery done. Does that mean the man actually loves men, or does he not actually love the woman? He fell in love with her for her traits and personality, not necessarily how she looked, and him reconciling his definitions of gender and its binary would cause him to realize that it does not, or at least should not, play a key role in how he feels or loves. Any person could say that they are attracted to one gender, two, or all of them, but if all of the people belonging to the group(s) that they like are jerks, or are completely incompatible with them, would the person really get together with someone from that gender, and truly like the relationship and be happy? Also, what does the sexuality mean for those who identity as Asexual? Regardless of what gender the identity or do not identify with, they are still expected to have a certain sexuality in society. When people observe their relationships or lack thereof, they still expect them to identify exactly what their sexuality is, and take their
1. Why did Cato object to repealing the Oppian law? What was the basis of his objections?
The way society is taught to be socialized is salient and goes unnoticed, therefore it is valid to claim that gender is socially constructed through our everyday practices, whether we are aware of the construction or not. With socialization beginning the instant a child is born, the process is continuous through out adolescence and varies dramatically across the two genders. With guidance from institutions and arenas such as education, sports, music and the mass media gender seems to be coerced, as it comes with a scripted set of behaviors and attitudes. This essay argues that gender is socially constructed on an everyday basis. To further explain this thesis the essay will draw on early childhood socialization of masculinity and femininity,
The most commonly preached and accepted social path for an individual is to go through elementary and secondary school, and immediately follow that with some sort of a post-secondary education. We must take the skills we have learned in grade school and apply them, as we become adults. Schools where a student can receive a degree are regarded as the highest quality by society. We are lead to believe that the college or university campus is filled with equality and equal opportunity. In reality, college reaffirms the gender frames we have understood throughout our lives thus far and strengthens that reality even after we graduate. The gendered division of labor that we see in the workplace is
Prior to reading the article Doing Gender, I have never paid attention to the concept of doing gender. I found it interesting how these roles go so unnoticed because they are so enforced in our society. We never stop to think or questions if an individual’s actions are masculine or feminine. For example, some of us are just so use to having our mothers cook and our dad’s do all the heavy lifting but we never stop to think why is it like this or what does this represent.
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.
Real Lives of Most Men." He says to a friend of his "This must be a
It has long been debated where our sexual orientation comes from, particularly whether its biological or social forces driving these behaviors. In regards to homosexuality and bisexuals, some have argued that it may be a choice that these individuals are making.(Levay 2012: 41)Some have even said it is a mental disorder that one can recover from, but there is plenty of data that says otherwise.(Levay 2012: 41)(Levay 2012: 65) I believe diverse sexual orientations develop in humans due to sex hormones during fetal life, gene influences, and other effects such as birth order influences. I’ve come to this conclusion based on the narrative provided via Dr. Simon LeVay’s book Gay Straight, and the Reason Why, and the research that has been compiled showing strong influences from a multitude or reasons. I will also be looking at a research paper by Francesca Iemmola and Andrea Camperio Ciani, who looked into genetic factors influencing sexual orientation in men. It is clear there are gender differences between men and women, and this is probably one of the strongest indicators that hormones can affect the outcome of variations in gender traits.
Many parents voice a fear about their child learning about gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation. They think that hearing, seeing, or learning these things will influence their child. According to research, however, no matter how often children are exposed to these topics they still will make their own decisions later on in life on the matter. Often parents are upset when they hear their children are learning about these terms because they do not know the dictionaries definitions for these words are. According to webster; gender is the state of being male or female, the word typically used to reference social and cultural differences rather than biological ones. Gender identity is a person’s perception of having a particular gender that may not correspond with the sex they were given at birth. Sexual orientation is a person’s sexual identity in relation to the gender to which they are attracted. Many times a person’s sexual orientation can be labeled as heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual. Diversity is an important lesson to teach children especially at a young age. To understand how to best teach diversity about gender in a classroom background information, teaching strategies, and student’s understanding of diversity is important.
Males and females are classed differently from the moment they are pronounced boy or girl. Gender determines the differences in power and control in which men and women have over the socioeconomic determinants of their health, lives and status in their community. Our society moulds how men and women should and should not behave and can be observed in all parts of our society. As a result of these Gender stereotypes men and women have issues which affect their health which are unique to each gender. Males for example are perceived to be greater risk takers as a whole in our society than that of females. We represent risk taking behavior with masculinity and violence, high speed driving and contact sport with the male gender. (Doyle 2005)
The nature and nature of homosexuality is heavily debated. Some people believe that homosexuality is biologically determined and others believe it’s base on ones environment. This topic can be argue to be base on both nature and nurture. Studies conducted in the past decades support both the biological and environmental aspect of homosexuality.
Society has clearly defined boundaries between what is considered to be male or female. The development of an individual’s gender role is formed by interactions with those in close proximity. Society constantly tells us how we should look, act and live based on gender. Family, friends and the media have a tremendous impact on how these roles are formed and the expected behavior of each gender role.
The textbook identifies four approaches to gender development: biological, interpersonal, cultural, and critical. Define each theory. Then answer the following question: which of the theoretical approaches to gender do you find the most valid? Be sure to include at least two examples from your own experience as well as two scholarly sources to back up your claim.
Society should be more open minded with the topic of gender identity. Our society does not like rapid changes when they are publicly made; there is always a dispute or an opposition against those unexpected changes. The LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual) community is the “rapid change” that society finds difficult to deal with. Although, this community has always existed, but it has never been publicly recognized like it is today. Gender Identity is a very complicated topic to talk about because it has so many concepts that only those who find themselves as part of the LGBTQIA+ community can fully understand.
What does it take to be a man or a woman? Our sense organs alone do not determine whether we are men or women. Our gender includes a multifaceted combination of beliefs, behaviors, and characteristics. How do we act, behave, and talk like a man or a woman? Each one of us has a sex, a gender, and a gender identity that are all aspects of our sexuality. These aspects describe who we are, in different personalities and attributes but related. Society’s categories for what is masculine and feminine may not capture how we truly feel, how we behave, or how we define ourselves.
In order to answer the question above this essay will discuss in depth what exactly sex is and what gender is and the differences between the two terms. The research carried out will display that we live in a patriarchal society without a doubt as we look at how gender links to inequality in society. A patriarchal society can be clearly seen from the gender inequality in the labour force which is paid labour and also in unpaid labour which occurs in the household. Another area the answer will reflect on is how gender inequality links to education which overall links to society. Finally the answer below will show how the media also portrays gender inequality and how it affects the people in society.