Taking a Closer Look at Gender

In the excerpt “Why Do We Make So Much of Gender?”, from his 1997 book The Gender Knot: Unraveling Our Patriarchal Legacy, Allan Johnson argues gender through identity and culture. Johnson starts out by expressing opposition on how women are looked at through a patriarchal society and not the biology from which they came. He mentions the feminist argument that women in a patriarchal society are “oppressed” and that this comes from social order (545). He goes on to point out, the focus should be on raising children to adulthood rather than worrying about reproduction. Although, I agree with Johnson’s arguments, there are things in this world that cannot and should not be changed.

Although men and women have significant biological differences, the question whether gender-specific labels stems from these biological differences or are gender constructed remains a polarised nature versus nurture debate. Whether it is through the process of socialisation or genetic make-up, “gender identity” is given from a person’s birth, determining how a person culturally interacts and the expectations society places on them. Along with a “gender identity” comes a whole set of “norms”, “values” and so-called “gender characteristics”, which are supposed to define the differences between a male and a female. According to the World Health Organisation (n.d.), the term “sex” is often used to define the biological and physiological

In every society, there is a profound distinction between the sexes and their roles within said society. In most societies, this is a diverse network of associations that not only covers those features directly related to sex, such as anatomy and physiology, reproduction, the division of labor, and personality attributes.

I cannot argue the fact that men and women are physically different. The physical differences are rather obvious and most of these can be seen and easily measure. I believe nature has created differences between the genders and some of these are hard wired and instinctive; however there comes a time when it gets “tricky to untangle biological from cultural factors.” (Bennhold, 1), and more often than not our society, our culture, as well as our own family are the ones pushing us into accepting today’s gender role

“Feminism is the belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes,” (clio history, 1). Many stereotypes that relate to feminism are either crazy women or women that hate men and believe that women should dominate the world. But in reality, feminism is for both sexes to be equal. Women do not want to take over men, it is simply to be equal in pay, jobs, and in society. With these negative stereotypes that a majority of people believe, the only way to keep feminism alive and active is to shut down these stereotypes and include men in the overall cause. “Men are essential allies in the feminist struggle and have much to gain when they too move beyond stereotyped gender roles; women can not and should not do it alone,” (clio history, 1).

When I think about the differences between men and women, there are many different ways to go about listing their individual distinctions. Although we are both human beings, men and women are in fact totally opposite. Supplementary to the obvious difference, sex type, there are numbers of other subjects left waiting to be analyzed.

lastly, the most significant change in the past 50 years is the roles of gender that has made an incredible turn when it comes to evolution. transition has become more common that ever, if you are not satisfy with the sex you were born like, they can change the outside to meet their inside personality. This is a huge and controversial change and eve tough a small percentage in America are transgender, they often suffer discrimination in various aspects of their lives, including employment. Society doesn’t recognize this changes easily, we all have to respect someone else's

A fairly common misconception regarding feminism as a whole is that its fundamental purpose is to define, dissect, and ultimately mitigate sexist inequalities between men and women. In adhering to this notion, one subscribes to a dominant narrative that ultimately limits oppression to gender, consequently failing to recognize additional constructs such as race and class status which also constitute the complex nature of identity. Therefore, it is imperative to recognize that gender is necessary, but not sufficient as a category of feminist analysis because it is not a definitive facet of all women’s identities and lived experiences.

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.

Social status and structures have definitely shaped the construction and experience of gender inequality. Men and women are constantly analyzed, compared, and grouped together in society. The result of this yields discrepancies in how sexes are viewed by society. Throughout my examination and explanation of gender inequality, I concluded both men and women are victims to gender inequality.

It is no longer a surprise that gender equality continues to be a problem in our society. Although all feminists agree that it is a prominent issue, they have different ways of combating it. Some feminists agree with having a sex/gender distinction, which uses “sex” as the term to describe biological features and “gender” as the term to describe the social standings. Due to his distinction, many feminists believe that the social implications, or gender, needs to be changed to achieve equality. Two approaches that aim to change the social implications of gender are the conventionalist approach and the abolitionist approach. These two approaches believe that gender is a completely social product and should be eradicated in order to achieve

It is difficult to imagine living in a world without the patriarchal roles that are present in society and have been throughout history. In the article “Feminist Criticism,” by Lois Tyson, the idea of feminism and how society has affected feminism is the focus. These ideas are seen because men have more of a voice in nearly everything and the oppression of women is very common; a society set up like this can be described with the term patriarchy which is “any culture that privileges men by promoting traditional gender roles,” where men are cast as “rational, strong, protective, and decisive,” and women are cast “as emotional, weak, nurturing, and submissive” (Tyson, 1). This thought that men are strong and women weak is not uncommon in

Before taking this class, little did I know that gender is a difficult and complex topic to talk about. Some have trouble identifying as either male or female, their gender identity. Gender identity is given to us on the day that we are born. If a baby is born with a penis, then, it is a male. Until the baby is grown up and able to identify himself. Furthermore, being transgender, bisexual, lesbian, or gay is starting to be more accepting in our society. For example, now there are a lot more shows, movies, or ads that are homosexual. However, being heterosexual will always be seen as the norm in out society. Also, being in this class has opened my eyes with the inequality between males and females. Women and men are different biologically. But when it comes to careers or relationships, they should both be seen as the same. Women get paid less than men do. Why is it that women are getting paid less? Women should not be seen as less superior than men. Women are now on the rise to have the same education as men, same careers as men, etc.

The feminine world is one that conveys many assumptions. Assumption to what a women should look like, sound like, act like, and even do. Most of these assumptions have turned into expectations. Once women defy the social expectation, society puts even more pressure on women to conform and be the unrealistic figure. The media relays the visual of the perfect woman in magazines, films, social media applications, the list of mass media outlets is abounding. Furthermore, displaying yourself as a feminist has become an unappealing term and places discomfort to modern society. The reality of the feminist culture is altered to myths in patriarchal society creating obstacles in the feminism movement. In particular it portrays feminist as men hating butch women and displays femininity as unrealistic images for women to meet.

Inequalities have been prevalent since the beginning of civilization. Up until the women’s movement, did we see a shift in feminism whereby women would gain certain rights. Within this movement, the role of the women fell short to discrimination and gender inequalities. The argument stands forth and is true that there are gender inequalities prevailing in all aspects of society. Thus, the concept of gender is not as easy as it may sound; since gender has a role to play in all aspects of society as it depends on all variables which include gender roles and sex. Every aspect plays an important part while discussing social problems faced by women. Gender is