After reading the article "The Social Construction of Gender", I was in shock for a moment. The article explored and laid out the reasons for how gender became an element in our societies as well as how gender shapes our thoughts and behaviors.
Race, to me, has always been the most sensitive and considered subject in relations to our social structures and living in a society where inequality of sexes are not much of an issue, I rarely considered my gender as a process of shaping who I am. Before reading the article, I had always thought gender was solely based on the biological reasons (I was born with female body parts, therefore I am a girl). As I read on, I realized that the moment I was labelled as a female, I was very much limited in the boundaries of what society expects females to behave, think and do. That came quite a shock to me, not in the sense that I was not aware of these expectations but rather how easy and early on it is that gender has subconsciously became a block to me.
I very much enjoyed the article, as it explained the construction of gender on both individual and society levels, how gender attributes to our society as well as how society shapes gender. Gender is shaped because of "not biological, but culture" (Page 124). Gender is no longer confined in biological terms, but rather very much influenced by society.This shines a new light into my perspective of gender and personally, why I act the way I am.
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Click on "Click Here" to an article that discusses the gender inequality of role playing. It is an informal article, so excuse the informal language in it. The author gave very strong opinions on this matter and though short, I think she made a valid and harsh point.
I definitely agree with what you have posted, and am kind of upset that I read your post before I had a chance to come up with my own. When you write about society labeling you a certain gender and containing you to the norms of that gender is very true. I, too assumed that because of biology and my having XX chromosomes instead of XY chromosomes made me a girl. It did occur to me however, the concept of sexuality is not exactly portrayed in this definition. While we learn to act a certain way that is deemed appropriate for our specific gender, what if one does not want to participate in the 'scripted' mating call of prepubescent teenagers. I have often heard from some GLBT friends that 'they were born in the wrong body,' that they are actually a girl 'trapped' in the body of a boy or vise versa. The introduction about X, to me, showed how society taints the purity of the mind of a child and kind of takes away their innocence by applying so many judgements and 'norms' to their everyday lives. At the end when the kids 'still lived confused' was kind of an ignorance is bliss scenario. They were all happy from that point on. It also showed the differences in opinion from one generation to the next. It tends to be that older generations tend to be more conservative when it comes to the topic of sex and sexuality and expressing ones self as either male or female. I believe our generation is more tolerant and open to different points of view. Overall, I too enjoyed the article and Ashley's reactions to the article.
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