Patience Ocran, Midterm

  1. How do systems of privilege and oppression function in our society? how do we combat these systems?

Systems of privileges are socially constructed in a way where we grow into its acceptance making it very difficult to do away with. These difference in society where some particular group of people are seen to be more important and deserve a different mode of treatment which is way better than others ends up curtailing the privileges of others especially in States where white privilege is high, blacks suffer. Same way system of oppression is aligned and socially constructed, this mode is the vice versa of privileges where one is subdued and subjected to certain things and treatments that isn’t fair but they have little to do about it. To battle this canker, we must put in place a measure that would psyche people that regardless of races and other factors, they are one and must enjoy an equal share of things. The constitution one way or the other should be enforced to make sure rights, freedoms and privileges are on an equal level for all manner of people regardless their gender and race.

Question 2. What is the concept of intersectionality and why is it important in women’s gender, and sexuality studies.

Intersectionality could be explained as an analytical framework which makes us understand how the aspects of a person’s social and sometimes political identities combine so as to create different modes of discrimination and differences in privilege. It then argues that sometimes some aspects of a society that contribute to discrimination could be roped together so as to prevent too much or an extreme form of any discrimination. It’s very important in women’s, gender and sexuality study because it improvises and settles mainly on feminism where it elaborates that one could be treated either fairly or not based on sex, gender and race. It could be explained with this loop and lapses that other than one factor that would discriminate, other factors could play a different role which might or might not favor a woman which means one way or the other, a woman could be treated on different grounds and not only because she is a woman. Intersectionality would then mean a point where we are then considered at points so as to prevent any form of discrimination through one of its many lapses.

Question 3. Why is it important to organize patriarchy as a system and not an individual identity

Patriarchy can be seen as a social system where men hold primary power and also are dominant in roles of leadership especially political, moral authority some social privileges among others. This style should actually be a system as it’s a practice among societies and not associated to personal identity because in as much as we have it’s social influence men have literally decided to make it a norm and attach it as a personal identity. It is very necessary to understand that because you are a man doesn’t give room or chance for you to associate yourself as the one who is always the head and should occupy certain positions, it shouldn’t be as if being born a man makes you that unique to capitalize on every opportunity and force women to play second. We should then make it clear that it only applies in some instances which could be overridden at any point in time because it’s a system not a personal identity.

Question 4. How is gender constructed and learned in our society? How do we perform gender?

Gender is a socially constructed mechanism that depicts the functions or rests on the functions attributed to masculinity and femininity. We then use being a man or man based on roles as the primary source to understand gender and construct it’s importance and functions. With that being said, we perform gender as we perform our various functions as being a man or a woman living in a society, we are to understand that it means a lot that we know which gender we belong to in order to know the functions expected of us and the fundamental way of knowing this is through being a man or a woman. Gender now constructed as such and its functions becomes its performance based on which side you allocate yourself with socially, we could say that, sexes play a vital role in understanding where you belong to and what is being expected of you.

Question 5. What is the difference between sex and gender? How are sex and gender conflated (converged and confused) within our culture?

Sex is basically understandable as biologically constructed as being born naturally as a man and a woman whilst gender is seen as a social construct to depict the roles played as being a man or a woman. Sexes can be basically differentiated by the reproductive organs where one could be physically categorized into one section and the other but gender can’t be physically constructed and as such would exist as a notion or a norm which allows people to associate themselves with where they belong depending on the roles they play in a society. We sometimes find it very difficult to differentiate between sex and gender where we think being a man means masculinity and being a woman as feminist forgetting roles played are actually highly possible to differentiate that at a point in time only the biological and social differences can be the only mode of distinction needed.

Question 6. What is a double bind? How do double binds function within our society?

A double bind should be categorized as a dilemma in the mode of communication in which an individual or a group of persons receives two and sometimes more reciprocally conflicting messages. A double bind can be in the form where one hears a message verbally as he or she converses with another but sees a different body language reacting, it confuses people. Most at times we have the scenario while people laugh at things that was said which isn’t funny literally to make fun of the other, this is an example of a double bind. In our societies we have sometimes conflicting messages where we feel as though we have our freedoms and privileges as structured but certain limitations make it highly impossible to enjoy such instances. Some of the forms could include restrictions, statements that also take the form of rhetoric and those which have a question and an imperative at the same time are ways how double binds function our societies.

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