The, The Gender Knot, By Allan G. Johnson

Gender is a topic that not many people are educated on. When people think of gender, they think of boy and girl, people usually think of a girl having a vagina, and a boy having a penis. Many people have their thoughts on how each sex should behave which would be giving people gender roles, girls should play with Barbie dolls, and boys should play with trucks. There is more to gender than just the vagina and penis, In “Understanding The Complexities of Gender”, Sam Killermann talks about the distinct pieces that also comes with gender, like gender identity, gender expression, and biological sex. When people think of gender, the only part people think of is the biological sex.

Gender derives its formative meaning from culture and societal values, it is not a universal entity as there are various cultures, societal values, beliefs, and preferred ways of organizing collective life across the globe and even within a single culture the meaning of gender varies over time. Chapters three and four of Gendered Lives by Julia T. Wood helps to insightfully look at those views, and rhetorical movements (women and men’s movements) that have overtime influenced, defined and given various meanings to gender (masculinity and femininity).

In our society today, there are many ways identity plays a role in how people live their lives, as well as how people are viewed or treated by others. A big part of a person’s identity comes from their gender. Men and women are raised differently, whether it be their beliefs and ways of thinking, how they view their future, or the actions they choose to take throughout their lifetime. In both Katha Pollitt and Silko’s essays, they discuss the differences in the lives of men and women and how these differences result from society’s expectations by using metaphors and life examples to explain their message to the reader, as well as allow the reader to connect to this message.

As Lorber explores in her essay “Night to His Day”: The Social Construction of Gender, “most people find it hard to believe that gender is constantly created and re-created out of human interaction, out of social life, and is the texture and order of that social life” (Lorber 1). This article was very intriguing because I thought of my gender as my sex but they are not the same. Lorber has tried to prove that gender has a different meaning that what is usually perceived of through ordinary connotation. Gender is the “role” we are given, or the role we give to ourselves. Throughout the article it is obvious that we are to act appropriately according to the norms and society has power over us to make us conform. As a member of a gender

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

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.

Women were raised to fit into gender roles, but that would not translate into a “man’s society”. The only solution was to make a hybrid role. As seen with Rosie the Riveter, “she is strong and at the same time beautiful.” (Hall, Orzada, and Lopez-Gydosh) This was a major distinction of the time- there was a mental image of elegant women, but also a hard reality that required women to abandon traditional views. While the definition of women had to change, so did their outward appearances.

These literary writings address how women were influenced by a “hermeneutic” belief system that placed women mutually in unity to abide by a societal “patriarchal” power (King and Morris 23). Again, women could not communicate their feelings receptively likewise, their values and conceptions were a reflection from their husbands. Essentially, the essay

Charlotte Perkins Gilman does a remarkable job letting us get inside the head of her unnamed main character in “The Yellow Wallpaper” giving us a taste of the female psyche, in particular showing how historically some women subject themselves to the control of men. Alternatively, Nick Hornby does something altogether similar with “High Fidelity”, introducing us to Rob Fleming, whose male psyche reveals, among other things, how men focus and base their success one expectations influenced by gender roles. In the paragraphs that follow, I will attempt to compare and contrast Gilman’s and Hornby’s findings regarding the male and female psyche. In particular, I hope to explore how gender divisions have vastly influenced society.

The concept of the masculinity of real men and femininity of real women has been questioned from one age to the next/ from one culture to another. Upon interviewing three people I have been able to identify cultural patterns. When one looks at society from a broad viewpoint we see a divergence among cultures because of the cultural bias’s implanted from an early age. Additionally, movements by men and women have been fortified because of the reactions to the rationales projected by different cultures. Throughout society the concept of real men and women has been inundated by differentiating cultures allowing for a mixing of belief systems however, someone’s principal belief comes from their family heritage.

The history of the world is a complex arrangement of happenings and occurrences that have shaped the current state of civilization. At a fundamental level, history is the driving force behind every element of society that exists today. Within history, there are several factors that have and continue to determine the way in which our society functions. One of the most significant of these factors is gender. Today, conceptions, viewpoints and ideas surrounding gender are always changing. It is this fluidity of thought that ultimately allows society to progress forward and create change. However, gender has not always been as openly discussed. Tracing back through history, gender has consistently been a point of identity among humans.

When contemplating the topic of gender role and its impact on identity one cannot help but realise that these gender roles have a huge part to play on a person’s identity. As gender is a combination of male and female it gives way for a number of characteristics to accompany each sex making them different from each other. This has an important position to play on identity which Kath Woodward stated in her book “Questioning Identity: Gender, Class, Nation” where she said “Without difference there would not be such thing as identity”. (Woodward, 2000, pp.51) Unfortunately, however, with these differences there are inequalities. In this essay I would like to elaborate on this further by looking at the meaning of gender and how it impacts

Gender Matters is a collection of various essays on feminist linguistic texts analysis, by Sara Mills. Mills develops methods of analyzing literary and non-literary texts, in addition to conversational analysis based on a feminist approach. The author draws on data from her collection of essays gathered over the last two decades on feminism during the 1990s. The essays focus on gender issues, the representation of gender in reading, writing, and in public speaking. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of feminists’ analysis of sexism in literature and the relation between gender and politeness. The article is informative for my research paper, as my

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

The film, Mona Lisa Smiles, is actually in the 1950’s era it’s displays story associated with art teacher who teaches preservation college students to question their traditional and social roles. Her aim is to change the old fashioned and traditional ideas influencing the mind of young females. The film displays cultural and social ideologies influencing young female intelligence. It indicated exactly how societal pressures along with acceptability are able to have an effect on young female actions and thinking process as well.