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    Relations To Gender2

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    This document discusses gender construction and nonconformity. It argues that gender is socially constructed through parenting and pop culture influences from a young age. Parents often raise children according to traditional gender norms, teaching feminine behaviors to girls and masculine behaviors to boys. However, pop culture and media can also influence children to conform to narrow definitions of femininity and masculinity. The document asserts that while social forces encourage gender conformity, individuals have the power to determine their own gender identity and expression regardless of these influences.

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    Relations To Gender2

    Uploaded by

    api-273242189
    69 views3 pages
    This document discusses gender construction and nonconformity. It argues that gender is socially constructed through parenting and pop culture influences from a young age. Parents often raise children according to traditional gender norms, teaching feminine behaviors to girls and masculine behaviors to boys. However, pop culture and media can also influence children to conform to narrow definitions of femininity and masculinity. The document asserts that while social forces encourage gender conformity, individuals have the power to determine their own gender identity and expression regardless of these influences.

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    relations to gender2

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    This document discusses gender construction and nonconformity. It argues that gender is socially constructed through parenting and pop culture influences from a young age. Parents often raise children according to traditional gender norms, teaching feminine behaviors to girls and masculine behaviors to boys. However, pop culture and media can also influence children to conform to narrow definitions of femininity and masculinity. The document asserts that while social forces encourage gender conformity, individuals have the power to determine their own gender identity and expression regardless of these influences.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    69 views3 pages

    Relations To Gender2

    Uploaded by

    api-273242189
    This document discusses gender construction and nonconformity. It argues that gender is socially constructed through parenting and pop culture influences from a young age. Parents often raise children according to traditional gender norms, teaching feminine behaviors to girls and masculine behaviors to boys. However, pop culture and media can also influence children to conform to narrow definitions of femininity and masculinity. The document asserts that while social forces encourage gender conformity, individuals have the power to determine their own gender identity and expression regardless of these influences.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 3

    Laney 1

    Michelle Laney
    Professor Ditch
    English 114A
    09 December 2014
    Relations to Gender
    There are many misconceptions of gender and sex, such as the two being confused with
    one another. Sex is what an individual is born with, either being female or male. Gender is
    femininity or masculinity that the individual performs. In Western society, being a feminine
    male or masculine female is rather frowned upon. In the readings Night to His Day: The Social
    Meanings of Gender by Judith Lorber and Rethinking Womens Biology by Ruth Hubbard,
    the authors both share a common idea on how gender is constructed; they both share a common
    theme of: parenting and pop culture. Being a female with nonconforming parents, and being
    exposed to the negative sides of media everyday, I can relate strongly to these common ideas.
    The controversy of gender construction is based on the perspective of conformists and
    nonconformists. Conformists of the western society have an ideal theory that men are masculine
    and women are feminine, this is problematic to nonconformists. Nonconformists are accepting to
    masculine women and feminine men. ... our concept of ourselves is socially constructed and
    political because our societys interpretation of what is what is not normal and naturally affects
    what we do Thus norms are self-fulling prophecies that do not merely describe how we are
    but prescribe how we should be (47). Ruth Hubbard uses this to explain how Western society
    views nonconformity and how some people in society naturally adapt to this way of thinking.
    Not knowing the differences of a masculine man versus a feminine woman and a masculine
    women versus a feminine man, my views were very nonconformist. I never understood the

    Laney 2

    controversy of conformists and nonconformists.


    Parenting is one of the few, but crucial, aspects of gender construction. It is one of the
    earliest stages of gender identification, as parents, they have an idea of what they want their child
    to be like; they modify the childs attributes for their desired gender. Judith Lorber explains in
    Night to His Day: The Social Meanings of Construction, Most parents create a gender world
    for their newborn by naming, birth announcements, and dress. Childrens relationship with samegender and different gendered caretakers structure their self-identifications and personalities
    through cognitive development, children extract and apply to their own actions, the appropriate
    behavior for those who belong in their own gender Many feminist parents who want to raise
    androgynous soon lose their children to pull the gendered norms (25). That being said, Lorber
    agrees that parenting is a crucial part of influencing children to act a certain way based on the
    parents views. Luckily, my parents raised both sexes in the family. Growing up with two older
    brothers, I always followed in their footsteps when it came to playing in mud, throwing back and
    forth footballs and dressing as a tomboy. My parents never told me that what i was doing was
    nonconforming but rather they accepted it and never second guessed my gender.
    Social media is another major influence on gender construction in western society;
    children, teens, and even adults are easily manipulated with things in media. Society adapts their
    daily lives with things they find attractive in social media; that includes women being more
    feminine and men being more masculine. In the reading Rethinking Womens Biology by
    Ruth Hubbard, she quotes Different societies have different standards of beauty for women, and
    many of these involve differences in desirable weight In our society changes in style not just
    of clothing but of body shape are generated, at least in part, because in entire industries depend
    on our liking of the way we look so that we will buy the products that promise to change it (48).

    Laney 3

    Social media helps influence young adults to act outside their comfort zone. As a personal
    experience, growing up I was not into barbies. I would ask for Legos for Christmas and my
    cousins would always make fun of me calling me names such as boy. On television, I
    remember watching a commercial of Barbies and little girls playing with them, and then I saw
    only boys playing with legos. So instantly, I changed my whole pleasure of playing with legos
    and started asking for barbies.
    Parenting and pop culture can dictate gender construction but it is up to an individual to
    determine if they want to be feminine or masculine. Growing up, you are not informed about
    gender but as you grow older, gender is then socially constructed by your parents and pop
    culture. Parents can have a negative outtake on teaching their children how to act, or they can be
    nonconformists and teach their children equality. Pop culture can influence children to become
    feminine or masculine by giving out the best advice or children can disobey their rules and be
    their own individual. I have nonconformist parents and I am constantly watching television that
    feeds me information about being feminine. I do not comply with their rules in order to feel
    accepted in society.

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