Learning To Be Gender Book Review

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.

Both Deborah Blum’s The Gender Blur: Where Does Biology End and Society Take Over? and Aaron Devor’s “Gender Role Behaviors and Attitudes” challenges the concept of how gender behavior is socially constructed. Blum resides on the idea that gender behavior is developed mainly through adolescence and societal expectations of a gender. Based on reference from personal experiences to back her argument up, Blum explains that each individual develops their expected traits as they grow up, while she also claims that genes and testosterones also play a role into establishing the differentiation of gender behavior. Whereas, Devor focuses mainly on the idea that gender behavior is portrayed mainly among two different categories: masculinity and

Society has exaggerated that the way a man or woman acts is the way they have to be or else they are not normal. The general stereotypes for women include “they don’t play sports, supposed to cook and do housework, not as strong as men.” The general stereotypes for men include “work in the science and engineering field, must be obeyed because they are always in charge, always on top.” In the short story “X” by Lois Gould, the author shows us that gender is not so important when a child chooses to express him/herself in whichever way they want to. Although society wants an individual to act a specific way, it shouldn’t define their way of life, whatever makes the individual happy they should continue to do it without having others judging them.

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

Gender norms, a controversial topic that is prevalent in this world today, is based on acceptable and inacceptable roles that are considered “normal” for male and female genders. Society places stereotypes on almost anything- if not everything- that has to do with gender. Roles that are done by a specific gender group that seems to be abnormal will be judged and will come with a cost. Working against gender norms can result in several costs including bullying, criticizing and rejection.

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.

Candance West and Don Zimmerman are the authors of “Doing Gneder” that was published in ‘Gender Society; on 1987. The point that the authors were trying to get accros in “Doing Gender” was that people fullfille their ‘gender’ just like any other rutine that people do in their life. It is hard for people to avoind ‘doing gneder’ becae it is almost a never ending activity. We do gender each and everyday to where we are onlivion to it. We step into our gender unknowingly while we are interacting and socializing. Children learn frm a ver yound age how to do gender. From a young age girls care about things like lip glass. The little girls associate wearing lip gloss with looking prettier. We make sure that they know how to be a ‘boy’ and ‘girl’. Gender is not at all who we are and it is not our identity. Gender is a mask that we put on when we face others. We don’t act in public like we act when we are alone. Just as stated in “Doing Gender” by Creative Sociololy, “It Is a product of social interaction… production…..A social construction. “ We do gender to avoind being judged by others. A man takin on the characteristics of a femal and vise versa is risky. As stated in the article “Doing Gender”, “…behave outside the boundres…risk…judge harshly…” Society treats the individuals who break the statues quote unfairly becase they are challenginf the system. There is a raise of unequal distribution of power by every person who participates in doing gender. Whne you compare men and

The nurture argument can explain why some people adopt the gender role not expected of their sex. In theory, a feminine boy would have had a set of experiences which have led him to acquire a different gender role from most boys. If gender roles are nurtured, it also explains why an individual’s gender may change over time as anything that is learnt can be unlearnt and replaced by a new set of behaviours.

Judith Lorber’s idea of gender meaning both sameness and difference is the key concept in Night to His Day, an excerpt from her book The Paradoxes of Gender. In Night to His Day Lorber’s main goal in this piece is to show how gender is socially constructed. She does this by stating the many components of gender within society that could be perpetrated either as a social institution (sameness) or what gender is composed of at an individual level (difference). This paper will use examples from Marilyn Monroe’s The Seven Year Itch to demonstrate these components of gender.

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

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

“Gender” is a social construct that is developed solely by our society and the early developmental stages of an adolescent’s life. By introducing youths to the roles, behaviors, expectations and activities that correspond with males or females we give a clear guideline of what is accepted from a young male or female. An individual however can identify his or her gender based on their own system of beliefs without corresponding to their natural biological sex. Our lives are shaped by our true biological identities but the influence of the world and society is enough to define what a male and what a female truly is to an individual.

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.

Gender norms or gender roles are culturally or personally determined characteristics of each gender. For example; girls are supposed to be gentle, sensitive, housewives, quiet, and all around submissive, while men are supposed to be tough, loud/ the ones to speak out, play sports, enjoy outdoor activities, and be in charge. The problem with establishing these gender norms is that it puts woman who like engineering and men who write romance novels in a cognitive dissonance with what they want to pursue versus what society says they should pursue. In Judith Butler’s Undoing Gender she discusses the impact of gender norms on society and the problems with them.

“Learning to be Gendered”: “What does this even means”? No one wants to be gendered. Every individual works hard for what they earn in their life. It should never matter at all what their sex is or how they look. In today’s world, no one wants to be treated better than the other; everyone wants to be considered equal and have the same opportunity to succeed as the person next to them. In addition; to wanting to feel equal there is a law that states that men and women are equal. Then by issuing this law it is stating that no matter your gender, thing that you do should not be treated differently based on your sex. Everyone can be who they want to be because in the United States of America everyone gender I too similar and should never be judge. Both sexes have their own opinion and ways to do things and this should not cause any problems. There is truly no factual evidence that will show that our gender decides everything and while growing up gender is throne aside and only thing that should be treated different is the individuals character. Thus, there should not be gender difference with clothing, color, jobs, income, and sports because everyone should be every to settle their own fate based on their preference and not others.