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?
Growing up my dad was the only guy in the house with two daughters and my mom. So, growing up I began to grow curious about why he was referred to as a man and we were called girls. As I got older my mom began explaining to me the differences in our appearances and our roles in life based on her perspective, so I guess that’s when I became alert of genders.
Great blog post!
Growing in a two-parent household they always made me know I was a female, but I eventually started knowing what a “female” was is when I got my first cycle. I thought I was dying honestly but my parents both told me it was part of being a woman.
Great post! I really enjoyed reading your take on our readings this week. To answer your question: most of my first or earliest memories on gender come from being taught differences in the roles of men and women from a biblical standpoint because I grew up in an area where those ideas were very prevalent. I remember feeling jealous at times of my male cousins and friends starting at a pretty young age because I noticed the differences in how boys and girls were treated. I remembering thinking that it was unfair because they had more freedom and far less rules on how they should present themselves or spend their time.
Great work! Your question spoke to me.
What are some of your first memories of learning about gender?
One of my first memories about gender was I was sitting with my cousin and we were playing with dolls. As we played she said something about how her two girl dolls were going to get married. I never really thought about it before but I just knew that that was “wrong.” And I told her that! I’m not sure how this was instilled in me so young but somehow I just knew that two girls getting married couldn’t be right. This was obviously based on what my parents and school and Society had taught me. But now I’m a lesbian so…
I really enjoyed your blog, you hit on some great points from our readings for this week. To answer your question, the first memories i have had of gender was when i was a kid. Me and my cousins would get in lost of trouble if we weren’t playing with the right toy. My people would always say boys don’t play with dolls and girls don’t play with the race cars and all the other cool things made for boys. It was drilled into our heads so much that i started to think it was true what they where saying. Glad i grew up to understand that kids are kids and they should be allowed to play with whatever they want.
I enjoyed reading your blog post and that is a really great question. Basically my first memories of learning about gender were when I was in kindergarten and they would separate the boys and girls when we had to go to the restrooms.