Before I was born into this hectic society, I was assigned the specific gender of “female” based solely on the genitals I possessed. From then on, I was instructed and socialized by the ones I love and trust how to dress, love, carry myself, and act amongst others solely based off my gender assignment. My family was always trying to put me in cute dresses and put all sorts of bows in my hair. I remember them telling me, “You are going to make a man very happy one day,” or “Just wait till you get married to the man of your dreams.” This type of heterosexual enforcement continued to be encouraged in church and throughout the media by socializing and teaching me to believe that one day I would find one man that I would marry and continue to pass on the cycle of heterosexual socialization to my children. Due to all of this exposure, heterosexuality became natural and thus, normal to me; however, this type of heterosexual socialization and heteronormativity is often unrealistic to those who desire a different relationship or family, causing them to feel excluded by a majority of society. This kind of exclusion has made people realize that this type of socialization is dangerous because it makes those who do not fit into this idealistic society feel trapped. It is also seen as unnecessary due to the immense amount of pressure it creates on everyone to live up to society’s expectations and is simply inconsistent with today’s diverse social and familial formations that people
We are socialized to assumed heterosexuality is normal because it is all around us. Most of us are born into a heterosexual, mom and dad relationship. As we grow up looking up to them it becomes normal to see heterosexuality. Throughout my upbringing, my parents did not talk about homosexuality much. All of my family members throughout at least the first two generations identify as straight, so it was not something I grew up being around. Therefore it was never talked about in a positive or negative way. In biology class and church we are taught that we are on this earth to reproduce and contribute to the renewal of civilization. To do this the ‘normal’ way you would get married and heterosexually reproduce. It is taught that the only natural way to have sex is inserting a penis into a vagina. Institutions reinforce this by continuing to teach children throughout their education that man and woman are the normal thing. This belief came from the fact that a female egg cannot turn into a fetus unless it is fertilized by a male sperm. The cycle of heterosexual socialization promotes heterosexism because it is promoted as the ‘right’ thing to do throughout all forms of media and teachings. When all you see as a positive thing growing up is heterosexual, married couples with biological kids you are conformed to think that is the only way to find happiness. Heteronormative socialization excludes many different types of people such as couples who cannot conceive their own
The article “How Boys Become Men” written by Jon Katz, gives a positive statement on how boys still haven’t change and are still growing up the same. Jon Katz, shares with us while walking his dog one day, he saw a boy get beaten by a group of older boys. While walking towards him, Katz asked if he was okay; the boy said yes and begun to swing like nothing happened. I believe that what Jon Katz states is true, because the fact is; boys are always going to think they’re the Alpha Male in every situation. For example: who can climb the highest Rock, who can make a bigger splash in the pool or who can maybe get a girlfriend first.
“Friend stopped, stood still, and braed himself.. see I’m no chicken” (Katz 221). Male maturation is a very complex sophisticated process. In “How Boys Become Men” Jon Katz takes on the challenge and head ache of analyzing this process. He explains how learning one of the central ethics of the gender is experiencing pain rather than showing fear and emotion. We do so by taken on challenges because we feel obligated to in front of our friends in order to not look cowardly. How we demonstrate machismo and lack commitment, how we do whatever we can to fit into the society around us and are willing to do anything just to resemble coolness and absolutely no tolerability of getting pushed around. It called Guy Code, a set of
The struggle for equality has been intense, and still continues to this day. With this being said, much progress has been made in establishing respect and external acceptance for all individuals sense of identity. For example, in 2015 the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Same Sex Marriages, marking a pivotal point in the civil rights movement for the LGBTQ community. For many, this act helped to support their sense of self, a right that been denied for so long. The United States effectively validated the LGBTQ community, giving this group all rights granted to all other citizen’s, However, the creation and acceptance of this community has not had positive benefits for all members. The Gender Binary has been changed, but many distinctions
In our society, there are norms of what is considered to be feminine and what is to be considered masculine, but how are these norms constructed? Through the use of toys, books, and clothing, children are socialized into their “appropriate” gender. These objects provide influence over behavior and appearance, showing boys and girls what is appropriate for each gender. After some investigation it was found that the toys, books, and clothing that children use not only foster the norms of gender behavior and appearance, but also construct gender roles in their young minds.
Watch the classical film Grease and one will understand how relationships function in western Society. The film tells a story of a boy (Danny) and a girl (Sandy) who falls in love. Through a series of misunderstandings they break up, but still care enough about each other that they still try revive their relationship. Through ballads such as Summer Night’s that are still popular today, the film shows how differently males and females view relationships. Danny, for example, describes his relationship in more physical terms while Sandy describes her relationship in much more emotional terms –such as what they did that night. Films like Grease are like a mirror, reflecting societal values and how it socializes its members. It makes clear
My biological sex, gender expression, and gender identity neatly align, there is a level of correspondence as I engage with the surroundings around me. Like many forms of social privilege, that I have, this is a fundamental aspect of my life that I never completely thought about before. From the forms I fill out, the clothing stores I shop in, or identification papers I carry bring few, if any, second thoughts. Yet, for someone who doesn't identify as cisgender, each of these, and many more examples, is a constant reminder that they live in a culture that doesn't account for their own experience. Social privilege comes from an assumption that one's own perspective is universal; whether related to race, language, or gender privilege comes from
There have been many theories and studies in support of the development of gender identity and gender roles. One major theory was the one put forward by Bandura and his social learning theory.
Gender is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex (2017). Gender and the way we carry out gender have been linked to many different terms to try to create a better understanding of why we have or do gender accordingly to what was assigned at birth. Through the process of gender socialization, a plethora of social norms and expectations are bestowed upon all individuals as early as when an embryo’s sex is determined. To further describe and understand the prevalence of gender and its socialization I spent a night and a day with my little cousins Leah age 5 (Female) and Landon age 4 (Male). They are a part of a biracial four-family member household in which their dad works full time and is the sole earner of resources and their mom is in school and works a part time job. I believe the structure of their family is modeled as the typical “American Family” and as far as their family’s classification in an economic class, they would be considered Upper- Middle class. After taking their economic class into consideration I have realized that these children are and will be able to gain access to more resources associated with gender than their lower classed counter parts. Not meaning that they will be more aware of how their gender is supposed to act but they will have access more access to resources like being able to obtain psychological help and education.
Two months later, my family found out that she was dating a woman and immediately, my family started to refer to her as a lesbian while others used the term, “turn to the other side”. My point is, when I was 17 years old, I might not have understood why my family referred to my cousin as a lesbian, like what Fausto-Sterling’s theory pointed out. Today, I have grown and developed a better understanding of the mythology of sex and gender and the societal definition of normality. I believe that the Western society is strongly influenced by religion and biology. For that reason, residents of Western society are being forced to fit into two categories, rather than choosing their own classification. An individual who display signs of an androgynous sexuality experience difficulties ticking one sex and is being forced due to medical reasons. I do not believe that anyone should be forced to compromise their differences in order to fit in a flawed societal definition of normality. I am also majoring in anthropology and I have learnt that gender and sex can be cultural or situational. I think that Western civilization is also highly influenced by gender roles, especially during the early stages of a child’s
In the Skolnick section on “Daddy, Baby, Momma, Maybe,” low-income men who became fathers while in a relationship and those not in a romantic relationship were followed and interviewed during the early years of fatherhood. It is interesting to note that none of the men were married before the pregnancy, as well as none of the men had planned the pregnancy. Both the decision to get married or to have a baby requires much thought, consideration, and planning. Isn’t the problem with the large number of unsuccessful family outcomes with these men not more related to being in this unplanned situation more responsible than their low economic situation? Sure the added stress of being low income does not help a relationship,
Gender socialization and gender roles have always existed in society. When analyzing gender roles, they are not always equal or consistent when comparing cultures, however, the expectations of females and males are often times clearly defined with a little to no common area. The Japanese culture is an example of the defined gender roles that change over time. According to Schafer (2010), because “gender roles are society’s expectations of the proper behavior, attitudes, and activities of males and females”, they must be taught (p.357). These roles define how females and males are viewed in society, their household, and workplace. When examining gender socialization in the Japanese culture, it is important to analyze how gender roles are
Socialization is the process by which culture is learned; also called enculturation. During socialization individuals internalize a culture's social controls, along with values and norms about right and wrong. Socialization is a complex process that involves many individuals, groups, and social institutions.
Gender and sexual orientation is a topic that has been and still today is not talked about in such a way it should be because of how society has chosen to structure and control it. Social stratification is a system in which groups of people are divided up into layers according to their relative privileges (power, property, and prestige). It’s a way of ranking large groups of people into a hierarchy according to their relative privileges (Vela-McConnell 2016). People, who deviate from the norm of the “accepted” gender and sexual orientation that society has placed upon us, are stratified below the norm of a dominating binary gender and sexual orientation. People who are queer face the struggle of mistreatment and an unaccepting society that has been socialized to see and act on gender and sexual orientation to being a dualistic system.