Genetic Gender Determinism In Cosmopolitan Magazine

In Wittig's “One is Not Born a Woman,” biology is a classifier that naturalizes gender distinction between women and men based on the physical discrepancies. Biology, as a field of science associated with historical evidence, constructs social conventions of gender difference and instills the idea as a permanent fact. The differing role of women and men throughout history is justified by the term “biological predisposition” and “holds onto the idea that the capacity to give birth (gender role based on biological function) is what defines a woman” (Wittig 10). The notion of biology in this term defers authority to the image of science -reasoning that concludes to a fixed and proven answer. The deference

As I was reading The Beauty Bias, by Deborah L. Rhodes, I came across a statistic that perplexed me, saying the total “annual global investment in grooming” comes to $115 billion (Rhodes, pg. 32). This shocking fact provokes a worrisome question: Why do we, humans, spend so much time, money, and thought on our appearance? As a complex question, there are several equally complex answers. However, the simple answer is that everyone else invests their time and thought into your outer shell, eliciting effort from you to improve what they study - your external image. The concern placed on one’s fashion choice or natural features by society takes away from larger, more pressing issues such as the declining economy, or feeding third-world countries.

This article is about, James Charles, Covergirl’s first CoverBoy who’s pushing the gender boundaries in the makeup industry. This article explains the journey Charles took to get where he is today by providing his input about makeup and how he feels about it. The author also give the audience a boys perspective of makeup and being in the makeup industry by interviewing him. This article supports my idea by including the topic of males in the makeup industry due to society change in gender boundaries. Therefore, this article provides a different perspective of makeup that allows me to understand why males wear makeup, why and how they feel about it

The beauty standard is a culturally constructed notion of physical attractiveness that has become increasingly imperative for women and men. However, this standard has become extremely perilous to men and women’s self-image. Camille Paglia, a highly educated individual who earned her PhD at Yale University and became a highly acclaimed author, explicates this conception in her essay “The Pitfalls of Plastic Surgery”. Paglia suggests that the beauty standard idealizes women to look like “sex symbols with an unattainable grandeur” (776). She continues to claim that it forces her audience of higher class women to pay large sums of money in order to alter their features ultimately conforming to a very “parochial” definition of beauty (776). Although Paglia is a highly credible source, she illogically appeals to the reader’s fears in order to persuade them. Paglia fails to give any credible outside sources which affirms her preposterous beliefs. Contrary to her inconsistencies, Daniel Akst, a social journalist and graduate from New York University provides his audience with reputable sources in order to persuade his audience. Daniel Akst believes that there needs to be a “democratization of physical beauty” in which instead of attempting to alter the beauty standard, we must first change how we view ourselves. Akst provides credible sources to establish his credibility where he observes cases studies and cultural experiments from scientists and organizations including:

This chapter opened my eyes even further and made me realize that the reality is that it is hard to disassociate from “cultural obsession with female beauty as an artifice”(p.108), and that I am not alone and it is normal to struggle. At a certain point of my life, I did not enjoy being a woman. For me, being a woman equated to imposed restrictions, makeup, and the subject of men’s whims and jeers. I have come out of this stage, however I still hesitate to wear frilly clothes and makeup.

Ruth Hubbard, a previous Harvard University biology professor, discusses how society politically examines biology and aims to change this public notion. As Ariel Cohen addresses traditional gender roles, Hubbard’s concept directly relates. A person should not be biologically denied an opportunity solely based upon their gender. This book further supports the fact on how historical gender expectations still affect the general public’s opinions.

At our inception we are simply biotic matter without any sense of gender. However as we age, our sense of gender beyond the objective view of our biology reminds us that men are different from women. Are we truly different entirely from one another, or are the differences in gender brought about by our social interactions? Drawing on the works of authors of Anna Quindlen, Virginia Woolf, and Cathy Song, it is apparent that these divides are not rooted in our genetics. Although, on the surface, they agree that socialization is a cause of gender difference, they convey different meanings for our expectations concerning gender. Woolf’s claim is without an outlet by which women can escape the gender expectations society expects of them, which reinforces

Throughout the course of Western civilization and the colonization of the Americas, a particular set of ideologies and customs has evolved that holds a very Eurocentric and patriarchal perspective. This perspective continues to dominate the macroculture of the United States in the present day. These ideologies are constantly recycled and continuously influence social norms as they relate to our concepts of feminine beauty, acceptable gender roles, and many other aspects of modern society. It is easy to overlook these biases if we choose not to question the status quo. However, when examined further, such biases are detectable and in many cases are blatantly apparent. An investigation

Gender and Biological Determinism Are men and women fundamentally different? Are the roles of the sexes determined from the very structure of their DNA? If so, does this correspond with those roles in modern society? These viewpoints - and the consequences of such viewpoints - are discussed in two opinion pieces in the newspaper the Guardian in late April of 2010, in a debate of nurture and nature. Natasha Walter, journalist and author of Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism, describes in her piece how woman are continuingly being outnumbered in the high public offices and positions; that our society reverting to the stage of being ruled primarily by men.

There is a cliché quote that people say, “Beauty is in the eye of beholder.” But in the essay “The Ugly Truth About Beauty” (1998) Dave Barry argues about how women who spend countless hours on their so called “beauty” whereas men seem not to care. Barry uses juxtaposition and exaggeration to poke fun at men and women behavior and shed light on the harm that the beauty industry is doing. When Barry argues his point of his essay he addresses both genders, but more specifically teenage to middle age men and women, but he writes about it in a humorous and light-hearted manner.

Being a woman this heightens my social awareness as how others perceive me. Society dictates ‘the body beautiful’. Magazines, Bill-boards, TV and newspapers constantly suggest the need to have a perfect complexion. This influences

More than ever, the male can express more liberalism through their physical appearance. Even the closely related “new man” of the nineties was constricted in garment choices: “The clothes worn by the models are assertively masculine and often emphasize a broad-shouldered and solid body shape” (Nixon 314). Much unlike those of Suistudio, the models used were portrayed in a masculine manner by the clothes they wore and not by their bodies themselves. Although the earlier was intended to combat the over-sexualization of women in advertisements, the men used are still the prime candidates of today’s masculinity. Today, along with women, men are

The study of genetics includes not only the study of normal DNA, but also of the mutations within a DNA. A mutation is a slightly distorted gene. These mutations can have an effect on a person, both physically and mentally. Although genetics may seem to be just about the genes, scientists are beginning to see a connection between gender and genetic mutations.

Thesis statement: Today I will be answering a few of the questions men have about women which include “ Why are women so insecure?”, “ Why do women think they are ugly without makeup?”, and “ Why do women think men have bad intentions?”.

Science, the one enterprise that is always relied upon and deemed as the credible source of information that makes sense of some of society’s most probing questions. Society allows science to define one’s identity by categorizing individuals into one of two sexess: male or female, based on a socially agreed upon biological criteria whether it be one’s genetic make-up before birth and/or genital organs at birth. In his introduction of Herculine Barbin, Foucault questions the necessity of a “true sex,” a concept, if we may, that has been embedded into a systematic structure of acceptance of modern Western societies that limits, what Foucault calls, free choice. Through his examination of Alexina’s memoirs, the author challenges mainstream ideas