"One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman" was a very powerful quote written by Simone de Beauvoir. It is highly prevalent to what we learned this week, sex and gender. I believe when Simone says this, that it is intended for the humans best interest. Basically, she is saying that sexuality is determined by multiple aspects. First of all like Simone I believe that gender is a sense of identity. It is definitely something that is gradually acquired over time. For a woman that portrays more masculine features, I feel like they are more inclined to become gay. It is all about comfort and security, for many people. Each individual grows into who they are meant to become. That is what I got out of the quote written by Simone de Beauvoir.
Sex, gender, and lastly sexuality can be terms that can be assimilated together. During the readings and our class discussion the differences in them became more apparent to me. It was explained as if gender are the pants one puts on, sex is what is in the pants, and lastly sexuality which is the pants you want to get in. In my eyes sex is what you are considered due to biology. Gender is what you are socially considered woman or man. I found this very funny cause it is extremely true. Honestly, the articles were not too helpful to me in realizing the differences between these terms. What was the most helpful was the class discussion about the new sensation Chaz Bono. In class this discussion was by far the most informative about these topics. Chaz Bono is the famous Cher’s son who was at one point her darling daughter. Bono is now on tv’s popular tv series Dancing with the Stars. This has caused a ton of controversy due to his new persona. The publicity is very derogatory and very sad. The media believes that it has a negative impact on kids from all over the world. Media today affects gender roles vastly. On the majority of tv shows people are very bias to seeing the typical male female relationship. That is what is usually aired on television today. When it happens to be different, viewers appear to be shocked. It is very sad to see how bias television is and how derogatory they can be towards certain sexual preferences.
From being born to growing old, we are shaped by society every day. For instance, if you are a male and your mom dresses you up and plays dolls with you, the little boy will most likely be more feminine. This goes for girls as well. Given different circumstance can adjust the way you feel about different genders. The best example I can think of is, is where you live. Say one person is from the traditional, conservative state of Alabama where gays are scarce, to a more prominent gay area like San Francisco, California. The one who lives in Alabama is most likely going to be more scared to come out unlike the one in California. Only because it is not common and is considered completely different. If society was more accepting of what is not considered the “norm” than different gender roles would be more frequent, because our society is not like this it is shaping our world to be more scared.
Morgan Leaf
Society does play such a HUGE role in people turning out the way they do. Nobody would know to tell their female babies how beautiful they are, or dress them in pink, or buy them baby dolls if there wasnt someone or group of people telling them to do so. Parents wouldnt treat a male toddler who falls down differently than a female toddler if someone or a group of people hadn't told them that boys will be boys and need to be tough. Gender roles should really start being more even as womens income becomes more equal and they have the ability to support themselves. With this, these "norms" should be shifting too..but I havent seen it yet.
ReplyDelete