Month: January 2023

Gender

For years now gender has only been associated with; boy or girl or female or male. As time has gone on it has been become such a complex word. There is more to it than just what you identify as, and society has different perspectives on this topic as well.

The westerns had a set of beliefs that associated sex with male and female, gender with masculine and feminine, and sexuality as heterosexual and homosexual. To some those all mean the same while to other they have a completely different opinion of that.

Catherine G. Valentine mentioned in the book The Kaleidoscope of Gender that, “…contrary to the stereotypes of masculine and feminine there are no certainties of absolutes” She then proceeded to say that “…real people behave in feminine or masculine behaviors in certain situations.” I couldn’t agree more with that statement. If you were to put a female into a situation that requires her to stand strong and firm, society would consider that masculine although they view her as a female. So, reflecting back to the westerns beliefs that gender is associated with masculinity and femineity… does that still apply to a situation where one acts opposite than the gender they are viewed as?

Feminism

“Feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression” was stated in the book Feminism Is for Everybody by Bell Hooks. Being a feminist is making a stand for all women rights. It’s to be seen and treated equal as the male gender. Maxine Zinn and Bonnie Dill really touched based on colored women. They mentioned how being a colored person is hard, but different for men and women, but it’s extremely hard for a colored woman. With being not only a woman, but a woman of color I couldn’t agree more. One song that I feel intertwined with feminism as a black woman is “Brown Skin Girl” by Beyonce. This song uplifts women and remind them of their value and worth. It builds confidents in the areas where society might try to tear down.

What is one thing you do to build your confidence?

      KEYWORDS: Gender/ Sex/ Femininity

The article “The Prism Gender” explains that in western culture, people grow up learning that there are only two genders, male and female. The western culture has developed what is called the “pink and blue syndrome” where we are taught about the physical and emotional characteristics of what divides being a male and female at an early age and how to associate colors with our gender, blue for boys and pink for girls. This article goes on to explain how “Sex is not fixed in two categories. Biologist Fausto-Sterling (1993) suggests that sex is more like a continuum than a dichotomy” (Valentine, pg.5). The article then gives examples on how men and women have similar physical characteristics in common such as, men have breasts and can develop breast cancer like women do, as well as lactate.

      KEYWORDS: Multiracial/ Feminist/ Privilege

The article “theorizing Difference from Multiracial feminism” talks about the hardships that multicultural women have to face and also having to have to be a female. One quote that I thought was interesting is “women and men throughout the social order experience different forms of privilege and subordination, depending on their race, class, gender, and sexuality” (Zinn, Bonnie, pg.327). I agree with this quote because for example a man has the higher up when it comes to privilege. Now, when you start adding on things to this man like race, class, and sexuality, the privilege shifts.

The video “Androgynous” is a song about how men and women switch the normal roles of wearing what they want to wear and doing what they want to do even though people may disagree with it because it isn’t a social norm. I liked the music and thought it was interesting because for this song to come out in the 1900’s it is way ahead of its time! If I didn’t know the date the song came out I would have thought it came out only a few years ago. I can somewhat relate to this song because when I was 12 I hated wearing flip flops, especially ones with rhinestones and I preferred wearing shoes. My grandma would get mad and say that girls are supposed to wear flip flops.

I do think the song “Androgynous” and “The Prism Gender” can relate to each other because as the article states “we have explored gender as a product of our interactions with others. It is something we do, not something we inherit” (Valentine, pg.7). In the video it says how a guy wears a skirt and a girl wears a chain and how people can get mad because it doesn’t fit the social norms, but what people don’t realize and want to accept is that gender isn’t something we inherit. We aren’t born knowing that the color pink is (in Western culture) for girls and the color blue for boys and that girls wear skirts and boys wear pants. I think the person who sang the song “Androgynous” would agree with the article “The Prism Gender” and agree that people shouldn’t be mad at the fact that women and men can like things that don’t fit the social norm when it comes to gender.

What are some of your first memories of learning about gender?